Statements of the Supreme Leader in Meeting with the Commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

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

I express my gratitude to the Almighty God for granting us the opportunity to once again visit this luminous gathering, as we have done in previous years. Your assembly, thanks be to God and His grace, is a manifestation of the radiant faith and religious spirit among the youth of the country; an active faith accompanied by righteous deeds. On one hand, you remind us of the brightest memories of our nation; memories of valiant, self-sacrificing, and pious defense against the aggression aimed at destroying the dignity of this nation and undermining the greatness of Islam. You are among the best elements who stood with purity, piety, courage, and selflessness on that day, saving and preserving this nation, this country, this history, and indeed the banner of Islam. Each of you is a historical symbol of those days; may the memory of those days be honored! Our esteemed Imam (may his soul be sanctified) was pleased with this pulsation of faith in your hearts and souls and valued it highly.

On the other hand, your collective is a group of believers, aware, courageous, insightful, and on the path of God, striving for the salvation of Iran and Iranians and for the liberation of all the oppressed of the world from the clutches of tyranny and global arrogance, and God willing, you will continue to be so.

These qualities I have mentioned should all be a cause for gratitude for you, not for pride. God has granted you such success and shown you this path. The Almighty God, with His grace, has assisted you on this path and His favor has guided your hands. Therefore, be grateful. Those blessings are a great privilege, and if you express gratitude, this gratitude itself becomes an additional privilege for you. As soon as you place yourselves among the grateful, a duty arises for you, which is the duty of every aware and wise person, and that is to stand firm on this path and continue this direction and movement. Thus, in the prayer that Mr. Mohaddesi just recited - which is from the noble supplications of the month of Rajab - we say: "O God, I ask You for the patience of the grateful to You." "Gratitude" means acknowledging the blessing; acknowledging that position which the Almighty God has deemed worthy of His grace. Therefore, one must stand firm on this path. And this is the patience that must be continued. First, express gratitude. Secondly, following gratitude, move along this straight path and continue the movement.

My dear ones! This is the source of honor and the ample and great benefit from divine mercy. This is what will prosper the world and the hereafter of this nation and above all, your own hereafter. Appreciate being among those who bear the heavy burden of a nation's happiness. One who is under a burden experiences hardship; however, if this burden is precious, then this very hardship is valuable and must be desired and embraced with heart and soul.

I would also like to mention a point regarding the beautiful anthem that the brothers performed: I request that you remove exaggerated words from the lyrics of these poems and anthems. It is both your dignity to be at the forefront of these paths and the truth of the matter. I take pride in being able to serve you and the people. "The Leader" is only the Almighty God, and by His command and in following and worshiping Him, are the prominent and infallible righteous servants. We are imperfect, inadequate, and weak servants. Our greatest art is to be able to accomplish something amidst all our weaknesses that, God willing, is in accordance with duty. Remove these exaggerated words. When I hear these words, I truly feel distressed.

One of our current issues is the plight of the people of Afghanistan, which is truly one of the great tribulations for a nation. After their brilliant history in fighting against the Russian occupiers and achieving victory, it is worth studying why divine mercy turned away and what caused them to fall into this strange predicament? The oppressed nation, the impoverished nation, the backward nation, the talented nation - with whom I have been closely acquainted for many years - are very talented and righteous people for great works, yet they have suffered such weakness and hardship throughout the past century or less, and now in this manner! Now, the recent great calamity and the sedition of this ruthless group is truly a significant problem for this nation. This is distressing for every Muslim (even if they are not neighbors; even if they do not share the same culture and religion) and for every fair and free person.

Well; the fact that we have many commonalities with them is considered one of the great crimes by global arrogance! Unfortunately, I see that in some of our press, the same line is being followed that Western media, especially American, pursue. This is very regrettable and astonishing! They doubt that these are affiliated with foreign organizations or global arrogance or America! While the matter is clear and evident for those knowledgeable and familiar with regional and Afghan issues. The issue is that a government comes to power that aligns with some of Afghanistan's neighbors and is under their command, so that they can connect the oil and gas transit routes and trade with Central Asia - which they believe has benefits there. That foreign policy and that group of arrogant affiliates are the ones who must invest in this region and their profit lies in this. Thus, they found this group and threw a bunch of ignorant, oblivious, and uninformed people, caught up in various ethnic, tribal, and religious prejudices, upon the people of Afghanistan, leading to the situation you see today. They have not yet achieved their goals and continue to pursue them until they can reach those objectives. If it were not for foreign interference, the problems of this nation would not have reached this extent. If it were not for the conspiracy of oil and gas companies - who want to lay pipelines here and invest and want the work to be under their command and have no connection with Iran so that it does not become endangered - this incident would not have occurred and would not have taken on such a bloody form. Of course, there were differences - there were ethnic conflicts - but it was not accompanied by such intensity and the use of religious, ethnic, and tribal prejudices. Unfortunately, it has become this way now. You see that all the problems of this current world, especially in areas where poor people and weak governments live, trace back to the treacherous fingers of those individuals, and this is a very important issue. The issue of Afghanistan has a humanitarian aspect for us, which is compassion. It has an Islamic aspect, which is a sense of duty. It also has a political and national aspect, which is to prevent the creation of danger for the country and the nation. All aspects converge in our current situation. All officials and stakeholders in the country, including the armed forces, must be prepared to carry out whatever the country's officials and political and security authorities deem appropriate and any path they consider correct and beneficial for the country, decisively and swiftly, in due time. This is our firm recommendation to the IRGC, the army, security agencies, various officials, and media and propaganda officials. Everyone must have the necessary readiness to safeguard the country's interests and fulfill Islamic duties on one hand, and for humanitarian sympathies on the other hand, so that, God willing, we can fulfill our duties. We hope that the Almighty God protects the people of Afghanistan and the people of this region from horrific and great events and saves those unfortunate people from today's plight.

One point I would like to mention regarding the issues of the country: Thanks be to God, since the beginning of the revolution until now, we have been able to emerge from very difficult tests with honor and pride. "We" means the Iranian nation; not just the officials or a specific group. The Iranian nation has been able to save itself from all these obstacles that have existed in its path. These obstacles have varied and these hardships have not been uniform. There was military hardship that you all witnessed. Of course, I should also mention: today there are some who, in the wake of dangerous cultural activities, want to erase the memory of those days from the minds of the Iranian people. They become angry at the repetition of the names of the war and the war zones and "Khorramshahr" and "Shalamcheh" and "Do Koohah" and similar things. They become upset and dislike anything that reminds people and minds of those days. These are the people who were embarrassed and ashamed during that time; because they had no presence in the scene. Because what was happening at that time was a source of embarrassment for them and against those who had their hearts with them. Therefore, they become upset at the repetition of those names and want to erase them from the minds of the Iranian people.

For this reason, the exact opposite of this desire must be done; that is, the glorious memory of the great days of the Sacred Defense must remain with greater strength and clarity, just as it was. Of course, when we say "just as it was," it means that no exaggeration should be made; because there is no need for exaggeration. I do not even think that pens and writings and artistic works can depict what was there to the same extent. So far, we have not been able to show those scenes as they were in the realm of culture, literature, and art. You must strive to keep these prominent and memorable in minds.

In any case, that was a type of military background. We also had political obstacles: in the early years of the 1980s and before that, strange political actions were taken against the revolution, some direct and some indirect. We had cultural obstacles; especially in those first two years of the revolution. Those who never had a clear heart with religion and the people of religion were extremely angry to see a religious system come to power. They did everything they could to erase religious faith from hearts. Of course, in the tumult of that revolutionary day and the people, they could not achieve anything and eventually, one by one, they left the country. Some who remained became isolated. All of this has been endured by this nation.

About six years ago, I felt that a creeping cultural movement was beginning in the country. For what purpose? To target the main point. What is the main point? The main point is the faith of the people. The source of all goodness and blessings is faith. Faith is that clear, certain, brilliant, and radiant truth that was able to save the Iranian nation from oppression and tyranny. It was the same faith that was able to manifest itself in the war. It was the same faith that was able to mobilize the best youth of this country for great works in all fields. Now, if you look, in various fields - construction, innovation, and various inventions - what you see has mostly and primarily been created by these faithful youth. In all various fields, it was faith that was able to break through heavy mountains and smooth out difficult paths and guide the Iranian nation in that direction. They targeted this very faith. Well; how can faith be targeted? The same way that everyone says now, as we have said since ancient times and some still repeat: faith and belief are not something that can be changed by force. They could not change the faith of the people by force! So, with what means could they achieve their goals? With cultural means. They started this and I warned. I have mentioned this many times. Of course, the well-wishers pursued it; but this movement continues.

Today, some, using things they themselves do not even accept, have come to war against the faith of the people and come and some, unfortunately, look at them as deceived and oblivious. Some also, regrettably, assist them. In the circle of those who believe in the revolution, all differences are solvable. Those who accept the revolution, accept the Imam, accept Islam, accept the movement in the path of God, accept sincerity, accept self-sacrifice, accept altruism, any kind of difference in taste, political differences, and differences in viewpoints on any issues of the country are solvable and there is no problem. The problem arises when those who do not accept Islam at all, do not accept the Imam at all, do not accept this system, have fought against this system as much as they could, and when they sat in their homes and saw that their weapons had become dull, they come to hide behind someone or a group and start to meddle with the faith of the people and target it.

This is unacceptable. I see that some of the press in the country, unfortunately, are caught up in such a crisis. They must save themselves. Both the cultural institutions of the country are obliged, as well as the security agencies and the judicial system. We believe in freedom of expression and freedom of social activities. These concepts and truths were brought to this country by the revolution and the pioneers of the revolution. Previously, there was no news of these things in this country. There was no freedom of expression and no freedom of social activities, not even a name. The revolution brought these to this country. The Imam gifted these to this country and the blood of the martyrs endowed these values to this country. Those who are guardians of the blood of the martyrs and those who follow the Imam are the standard-bearers of these concepts. There is no doubt about this! However, this freedom is limited and is not absolute freedom. Where is the limit? Its limit is the boundaries set by Islam. If it is to be that some lead people to disbelief and desires, they are not free in this matter. This freedom is the freedom of treachery. If it is to be that some sit and conspire and reflect this conspiracy in a written form, this freedom of conspiracy is rejected. I will wait to see what the responsible agencies do; otherwise, preventing these insidious movements is not a difficult task. The thought that "what will the world say" and "what do the newspapers and organizations of the world say" has never been our concern and should not be. These global organizations and world media are the same ones that you saw how our esteemed Imam (may his soul be sanctified) was received in his spiritual beauty, as a truly exceptional personality - the flagbearer of a great revolution, the beloved leader of a nation, possessing special characteristics that anyone with one of those characteristics would be respected by the cultural institutions of the world: philosopher, mystic, jurist and legal scholar, poet and art connoisseur - how they received and introduced him and how they introduce him now! (Now that several years have passed, they pay less attention to the Imam.) The same media and organizations promote the instigators like these ruthless Taliban with media and propaganda tricks, with the type of photos they take, with the type of caricatures they draw, and with the type of news they prepare. These are such people! Can we think about their words?! Should we wait for these words for the interests of the country and the interests of a nation?!

I do not wait for the permission of international organizations for the administration of this country, and I expect the responsible agencies - the Ministry of Culture, the judicial system, and the security agencies - to do their jobs. See what these people who have targeted the faith of the people in some of these newspapers want from the lives of the people? They insult the revolution: the respected President gave a very good speech at the Imam's shrine, for which I later thanked him. In the newspaper, they wrote as criticism that so-and-so - mentioning the President's name - unfortunately took on the same revolutionary tone in that speech. Is "revolutionary tone" a weakness?! How shameless are they! The memories of the war, the remembrance of the war, the legacies of war and martyrdom, the legacies of nobility and purity in this country, should be rejected, and they should turn to things that they think target the faith of the youth or distract them with specific youthful issues! This cannot be and is unacceptable.

I gave this warning once at the beginning of this year; this is the second time. I make a final argument with the officials! Officials must take action in this regard! They should see which newspaper exceeds the limits of freedom. What is beneficial for this nation, what is true freedom, and what is expression of opinion without conspiracy, should be separated from conspiracy, treachery, misleading, and discouraging the people.

This nation is a revolutionary nation. This country is the country of Islam, the country of Imam Mahdi (may our souls be sacrificed for him), and the country of the Ahl al-Bayt. This country is the country of the Quran. The roots of faith in this country are very deep. Years of arrogant and colonial movements, with all the manifestations of disbelief they brought and introduced to this country, could not separate this nation from its religion and faith. Those who look to the gates of the West, especially America, what do they think?! Let them see what they point to; let them say the same! Let those who have stood against the revolution, against the Imam, and against the people for almost all these twenty years now come and become the leaders of the scene and begin to question the past of these twenty years, the past of this revolution, the past of this nation, and the era of the Imam with insults, lies, and slanders! Can such a thing happen?!

I know that within this nation, the roaring waves of love for the foundations of faith and Islam are surging. I know that the youth of this country - the overwhelming majority of the youth - are raised with a religious and faithful nature; they want religion and find salvation in it. They see that this nation, by adhering to religion and the rope of God, was able to achieve dignity and independence and is ready to defend its religion. Whenever necessary, it defends its religion; and does not think of its own interests and benefits. Of course, everyone must be careful and vigilant that actions contrary to the rules and laws do not arise under the guise of defending religion and the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. We do not need such actions. We have laws. We have order. The revolution is now manifested in the form of a system. The integrity of the system must be preserved. Respect for the system and respect for the officials must be maintained.

Thanks be to God, the government, the respected President, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the judiciary, the armed forces, and various agencies are engaged in their work. Thanks be to God, in all places, there are many faithful, enthusiastic, interested, and sincere elements. Certainly, the attention of the Lord is directed towards this nation and His mercy encompasses this nation and does not abandon it. Just as this nation has triumphed over conspiracies in the past, God willing, it will again triumph over all various cultural, political, and economic conspiracies. Today, everyone must unite and assist the officials and the government so that they can carry out the great tasks that are upon them and, God willing, day by day bring this nation closer to the desired and intended future.

I hope that the Lord of the Universe increases the attentions of the Master of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for him) towards the entire nation and country of Iran, especially you righteous and faithful youth, and may the prayer of that great one encompass you and may the sacred spirit of our esteemed Imam be pleased and satisfied with what we say, do, intend, and decide.

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