Statements in the Last Meeting with the President and the Cabinet of the Twelfth Government

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Remaining One of God on the earth.

May the blessed Eid of Ghadir be congratulated to all Muslims, to all believers, to you friends, and to the people of Iran, God willing. The Eid of Ghadir is a very important occasion. The event of Ghadir is among the undeniable events and incidents; now, in the details and corners of it throughout history, some writers and historians have tried to create doubts - all of which have been answered - but in the essence of this event and that the noble Messenger (peace be upon him and his family) introduced Amir al-Mu'minin with this title "Whoever I am his master, this Ali is his master" there is no doubt, and this is among the undeniable events; not that we say this; this is what the great scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, writers, and intellectuals say. For example, that famous Egyptian writer Muhammad Abdul Ghani Hassan, who is one of the approvers of Allameh Amini's Ghadir, among the things he says is that "there can be no doubt about the event of Ghadir"; therefore, the Eid of Ghadir is one of the important issues.

The Eid of Ghadir has been a common celebration since the early Islamic centuries. There are instances in history that the late Allameh Amini (may God be pleased with him) mentions in Ghadir that in such and such place it is written that this incident occurred "and that was the day of Ghadir" or for example "the eighteenth day of Dhul-Hijjah"; meaning that multiple instances in the history of Islam, from the very beginning, during the Fatimid caliphs in Egypt, and in other places, have been mentioned as the Eid of Ghadir.

And the late Allameh Amini narrates this Ghadir narration from 110 companions; that is, there are multiple narrations with credible chains that reach 110 companions. This is significant that this considerable number of companions have narrated this hadith and this incident. In addition, the arguments of Amir al-Mu'minin himself are also very important; that is, Amir al-Mu'minin, that truthful tongue, that eloquent expression of God, in multiple instances against his opponents, has argued about the event of Ghadir; among them, Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) in Siffin reads a sermon for his companions and there he explains the incident of Ghadir and says the Prophet said this way and stood this way, and so on, then he said "Get up, O Ali"; I stood up, he took my hand and said that God is our guardian, He has made me your guardian, and whoever I am his guardian, this Ali is his guardian; this is mentioned by Amir al-Mu'minin himself.

God willing, may this Eid be blessed for all Muslims, may it be blessed for our dear people, and God willing, may the people find happiness and the problems that exist be resolved, God willing.

Well; this session is to express gratitude to the members of the government, whether those who have been here for eight years or those who have been here for less. And know that anyone who has made an effort with the intention of serving - serving the people and working in the way of God - this is not forgettable in the divine court. It may be that the effort someone has made, the anxiety they have felt for an issue, the endeavor they have undertaken, no one knows, it may not be recorded anywhere and not mentioned, but the honorable scribes know, and the knowledge of the Almighty God encompasses everything. Anyone who has worked for God, worked for the service of the people, worked with sincerity, should know that their effort has not been wasted and God willing, they are rewarded with God. This is the real treasure; the real treasure of the period of responsibility is this.

The people of the world use the responsibility of presidency, ministry, management, and similar positions to store something for their own world, to create a foothold for themselves, to create a means for their future. You see, this is common in the world. In the logic of religion and Islamic culture, it is not like this; the treasure is the treasure of the Hereafter. Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) has a phrase in his letter to Malik al-Ashtar that I have noted; in the very early parts of the letter to Malik al-Ashtar - which you know is very long and detailed - in the very first phrases, the phrase he mentions is that he says: "Let the most beloved treasure to you be the treasure of good deeds"; that is, do good work, perform righteous deeds, work for God, strive, keep this as your treasure; the Almighty God will keep and preserve this for you. This is the matter; keep this in mind. Whether I and others know it or not, whether we express gratitude or not, whoever has worked for God, has done righteous work, that treasure is preserved for them.

Well; the performance of Mr. Rouhani's government in various sectors has not been uniform; what we have seen in this period of time, in some places it was according to expectations, in some places it was not according to expectations; after all, various sectors have made efforts, done things that now Mr. President has mentioned details. In any case, the opportunity to serve is a blessing; that you and I have the opportunity to serve the people, this is a great blessing from God. Many want to serve the people but do not have the means; for example, they need money, they do not have money; they need physical strength, they do not have it; they need social influence, they do not have it; they need an effective and influential position, they do not have it. You who have found an influential position must appreciate this; this is a great blessing that God has given, and every blessing has a gratitude; its gratitude is that in this opportunity, you use all your abilities for God, purely for the pleasure of God, to comply with the command of the Lord, and in our country and in our society to advance the goals of the revolution; this is fundamental.

I also told Mr. Rouhani the other day that the basis of the work must be the advancement of the goals of the revolution. We are a revolutionary country, we have made a revolution, these people have revolted, given their lives, made efforts, endured years of hardship, faced all these dangers and stood firm for the sake of the goals of the revolution and the principles of the revolution; we must work for these goals; the effort and aim must be this and must conform to those goals.

Others must learn from your experiences. Well, now I have particularly noted one experience, a statement that I have repeatedly [in discussions] with you and with the people; now I repeat the same statement; this experience is the distrust of the West; future generations must learn from this experience. In this government, it became clear that trusting the West does not yield results; they do not help us, and wherever they can, they strike; where they do not strike, it is where they cannot; wherever they have had the opportunity, they have struck; this is a very important experience. Domestic programs must not be contingent upon the cooperation of the West, because it will certainly fail, it will certainly be struck. You all, wherever you have conditioned your work to [the cooperation of] the West, you have remained unsuccessful; wherever you stood up and moved without trusting the West, you succeeded. Look at the work; the performance of the eleventh and twelfth governments is like this. Wherever you have conditioned issues to agreements with the West and negotiations with the West and America and such, you have remained there and could not advance; because they do not help, they are hostile, they are the enemy after all; wherever you disregarded them, you set out on your own and utilized various methods - there are a thousand ways, and it is not that there is only one way; no, various ways exist; if people think, they will find various ways for personal, social, and managerial life - wherever you moved like this, you progressed.

Regarding the recent negotiations, it is also good to say a word; you gentlemen are mostly aware of the issues. In these recent negotiations, well, our diplomats have worked hard, some of our diplomats have really appeared well in this matter, but the Americans have firmly stood on their hostile position and have not moved an inch. On paper or in terms of promises, they say yes, we will lift the sanctions, but they have not lifted and will not lift them; they set conditions; they say if you want the sanctions to be lifted, you must now include a sentence in this agreement that this sentence means that later we must discuss and agree on these issues; if you do not include this sentence, we will not have an agreement with each other now. What is this sentence? This sentence is an excuse for future interventions; regarding the JCPOA itself, the extension of the JCPOA, regarding various issues, regarding missiles, regarding the region, that if you later say that no, I will not discuss this matter or for example, the country's policy does not allow or the parliament does not allow, they will say very well, you have violated, so nothing, agreement without agreement. This is their method and policy; they act completely ungratefully and maliciously and have no shame in violating what they promised; none.

Once they violated the agreements and violated them completely without cost. And now, when they are told that you must promise, guarantee that you will not violate, they say no, we do not guarantee; they are now explicitly telling our friends and our diplomats that we do not guarantee that we will not violate; we cannot give such a guarantee. This is how they are. This is an experience; this experience is for the future government, for future statesmen, for active men in the scene; active men in the political scene - it may be that someone is not among the government officials but is active in the political arena - must always keep this in mind; this is a very important experience that we have found and understood in this government and always - of course, this government had this experience more.

We hope that the Almighty God will help. Time is up; of course, there is much to say, but there is no time; a little of our scheduled time has passed. We hope that God willing, God will help all friends and brothers and grant them success to fulfill their religious and revolutionary duties wherever they are, and wherever they are, to remain truly revolutionary and work towards the advancement of the goals of the revolution, God willing.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.