Statements at the Meeting of Participants in the Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

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, his pure family, and his chosen companions, and those who follow them with goodness until the Day of Judgment. Welcome, dear brothers and sisters! You are here among your brothers and in your own home, and we hope that the Almighty God grants you all success, helps you, and guides you so that you can, God willing, complete the great task you have undertaken.

The assembly of the Islamic countries' parliaments, which has been in existence for nearly a quarter of a century, holds an important position: Firstly, you, the heads and members of the parliaments of Islamic countries, are representatives of the nations; this is an important point. Secondly, on the other hand, you do not have the diplomatic limitations of governments; you can express the needs of your people and the Muslim nations and the Islamic Ummah in the world with greater clarity and more serious positions. I believe it is necessary to use this important position to fulfill our religious and historical duty. We have a great religious duty towards the Islamic Ummah—all of us; all those who hold a position in any part of the Islamic world; you are among them, and we are among them—everyone has a religious duty, meaning that Islam and religion have demands from us; firstly, we must fulfill them. Secondly, we have a historical duty; as one feels, today the world is undergoing significant transformations; it is pregnant with important changes; the entire world, not just the Asia or Africa region or particularly West Asia; transformations are felt to be occurring all over the world; we must play a role in these transformations. The Islamic world has suffered a severe blow at a certain point; after World War I, the Islamic world was fragmented, and those who had no qualifications, no rights, imposed themselves on Islamic countries—in West Asia, in North Africa—without any justification, without any rights; and the long-term effects of that remain in the Islamic world, and its blows have been dealt; we must not allow such an incident and such an experience to be repeated again.

Important topics are on the agenda of this conference—according to the program given to us—which I will refer to some of them later; but some topics have also been neglected and can be addressed, such as the issue of Yemen, the issue of Bahrain; these are very important issues and deep and severe wounds on the body of the Islamic Ummah; these must be resolved. Of course, the issue of Myanmar has been raised, the issue of Kashmir has been raised. My recommendation to my believing and Muslim brothers and sisters is that we must be clear on the fundamental issues of the Islamic world, the vital issues of the Islamic world; if we are clear, we can create a movement in the world. We need to create a movement in the public opinion of the world and among the elites of the world; there are truths that we must make public; we must influence the public opinion of the people of the world. Do not allow yourselves to be ignored and let the conspiracy of silence erase the important issues of the Islamic world and let the main issues of the Islamic world be overlooked in the public opinion of the world under the weight of the uproar of secondary and false issues. We must not allow this dangerous and overwhelming propaganda empire of the West, which is mainly in the hands of the Zionists, to overlook the important issues of the Islamic world. Now I will refer to some of them; the issue of Palestine is one of the very important issues, indeed the most important issue of the Islamic world, which is completely overlooked, the pressures and problems that exist for the Palestinian nation. In our opinion, it is possible to defeat the Western Zionist media empire; this can be done if we all strive together, we can. The defeat of the Zionists in the soft war is also possible; just as in the hard war, the Zionists were defeated; as you observed, the Zionist regime was defeated in Lebanon, forced to retreat, forced to admit defeat; while everyone thought this was an invincible regime. In the soft war, too, the Zionist regime and its agents can be defeated.

There are several fundamental issues that I will refer to, which are also on the agenda of this conference. One is the issue of Palestine; the issue of Palestine must never be neglected for a moment; the issue of Palestine is very important. What has happened in Palestine over the past seventy or eighty years is, in my opinion, unprecedented in history; as far as we know, I do not find anything similar to this anywhere—not in our time, not in the time close to us, and not in any period of history—that such a thing has occurred.

What is the issue? The issue is that three incidents have been created for a nation: Firstly, they seized and occupied its land; well, in some other parts of the world, lands have been occupied by foreigners, this is not unprecedented, but alongside this occupation, a collective exile was carried out, meaning millions of Palestinians are today in exile; they are displaced from their homes, from their cities and lands, and are not allowed to return; this is two, [meaning] a collective exile of millions. Thirdly, these two incidents were accompanied by a mass slaughter; many were killed at that time; women, men, and children were massacred in cities and villages; a great human crime occurred. This is the issue of Palestine; that is, the incident of occupation, exile, and murder against a nation, not against an individual or a limited group; well, this is an incident that has no precedent in history. Yes, sometimes, for example, in some countries, a number of people have been moved from one area to another, but within their own country; not that a nation is expelled from its own country. For decades now, Palestinian groups, either themselves or their ancestors who were expelled from Palestine, have been living in refugee camps. What does this mean? Such a thing has not happened anywhere in the world. This issue is an extraordinary issue; this is undoubtedly a unique historical injustice; this is undoubtedly a unique historical injustice. And we have a duty; that is, in Islam, it is agreed upon by all Islamic sects that in such cases, they must enter the field, defend, and defend in any way they can; ultimately, this issue must be addressed.

And I believe that this struggle against the Zionist regime will yield results; we believe this. That we think that "there is no longer any benefit and the time has passed," no, it is not like that; even if decades have passed, it will certainly, God willing, and with God's permission, yield results; just as until today, resistance has progressed. You observe; once they—the Zionists—used to chant "from the Nile to the Euphrates," [but] today they build walls around themselves to be able to preserve themselves in that usurped land. Therefore, resistance has progressed, and it will continue to progress. And Palestine is a collection, a country, a history. Palestine, as has been said many times, is "from river to sea"; from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea; this is Palestine, and Jerusalem is undoubtedly the capital of this Palestine, and no kind of blemish can be placed on this fundamental thought and this truth. And what the Americans have done and are doing regarding Jerusalem is a great mistake—of course, this person who is currently in power in America is doing this a bit more openly, [but] others have also continued this method, they have not differed in this regard—this is something that will undoubtedly lead nowhere, and they are unable to carry out what they have claimed. Governments that today assist America in our region are committing treason; everyone should be aware of this; this is a clear betrayal that someone collaborates with an enemy like the Zionists, [but] fights with his Muslim brothers, like what the Saudis are doing today. This act is undoubtedly a betrayal of the Islamic Ummah and the Islamic world. This is the first point.

The second point is the issue of Islamic unity. We must not allow racial, regional, linguistic, or sectarian differences to create discord among us. We have said this to everyone, we say it today, and we have always said it. Even those who have openly opposed us, we have told them that we are ready to deal with you brotherly; of course, some cannot do this, some governments cannot do this, but our belief is that the Islamic world, with its large population, with abundant resources, with the extremely sensitive position it holds today, whether in Africa or Asia—whether in West Asia or Central Asia—can undoubtedly form a great power in the world that can be influential. This unity must be achieved; we must synergize, help each other, and send our forces to assist one another. The hostilities that have become common—mostly instigated by America and the Zionists; they are the ones who are creating discord—must be stopped, and we must not allow these actions to create a safe haven for the Zionist regime. One of the enemies' wishes is that within the Islamic world, there are differences, conflicts, wars, and bloodshed, so that a safe haven is created for the Zionists; we must prevent this and, as much as we can, do not allow it.

The third point and a very important point is the effort for scientific advancement. The Western world has achieved wealth through science, has gained international power through science; they have advanced in science and dominated the entire world; however, because they had no faith, because they lacked capacity, they misused this science, leading it to oppression, exploitation, colonialism, and global arrogance. We do not want to do these things, but scientifically we are behind; the Islamic world must strive to advance its youth scientifically. This is possible; we have done this here; we have significantly raised our scientific ranks. All of this work has been done during the sanctions; we have been under sanctions for many years from the aggressive powers; [but] these sanctions helped us to achieve our flourishing, to think of ourselves, to remember ourselves, to benefit from our own forces. Today, we are at the forefront of important fields, while in the past we were very behind. In medicine, in nanotechnology, in stem cells, in nuclear science, and in many other sciences, our youth have been able to emerge, to work, to accomplish great things. The educated, scholarly youth in our country today outnumber those from many countries, or from most countries in the world. Therefore, one of the things that must be pursued in Islamic countries is the issue of scientific advancement, and this is possible; in this regard, we must help each other. [Of course] some other Islamic countries have fortunately made very good progress in this area.

Another point is to expose the false claims of the Great Satan. The Great Satan is America; they have false claims, and these claims must be exposed. One of these claims is the issue of human rights. They are against human rights and talk about human rights and constantly mention human rights and bring it up, while the actions they take are against human rights. Now this person who is in power today expresses these things more openly; others who were before him also did these things, but not as openly; this one speaks a bit more openly and clearly. They speak against Africa, against races, against Latin America, against all people, against Muslims, against everything; that is, they act against human rights, but they raise the banner of defending human rights. This must be exposed; this is a great lie that must be revealed. Or the fight against terrorism; they claim to fight against terrorism. Firstly, they defend the terrorist Zionist government. The Zionist government in occupied Palestine is a terrorist government, and they themselves say so; that is, the Israelis do not deny that they carry out their actions through terror. They say this, sometimes they explicitly state it, but the primary supporter of this government in this region is America. Therefore, they support this [terrorist government]. Moreover, they also support other terrorists. The same ISIS that has become a major problem for some of our regional countries, the Americans created ISIS; they themselves admitted this, confessed to it. This person, in his election campaign, repeatedly accused his previous government of creating ISIS. He was right; this statement is correct; they created ISIS. Until very recently, when ISIS was taking its last breaths in Syria, they were supporting and defending ISIS; [this] is from very recent times. Therefore, they themselves are supporters of terrorism, they themselves are agents of terrorism, but at the same time, they raise the banner of fighting against terrorism [and] these must be exposed, these must be told to the world. I said; you must create a movement, you must influence the thoughts of the world's elites and the public opinion of the people of the world, and tell them these truths.

I say, what we discuss and emphasize with our brothers in the Islamic Republic is based on our own experiences; these are actions that we have implemented in practice; it is not just words. One of my insistences and recommendations to the groups of Muslim brothers in gatherings like this is that do not consider the work finished with a resolution and the issuance of a resolution. [If] you sit in a committee and in the general assembly of this gathering or conference, suppose you issued a declaration, the matter does not end with this; this is part of the work; another part of the work is to follow up and help realize the decisions. Action must be taken.

They have waged an economic war against us. They realized that the economy is important in our country, and for many years they have been waging an economic war against us; they have intensified this [war]. Today, this economic war continues; sanctions are one part of the economic war against us. Thanks be to God, we have not been defeated, we have not been brought to our knees, and we have overcome this problem. God willing, after this, we will also overcome and, God willing, we will turn the sanctions into a tool for our flourishing. We consider religious democracy to be a source of growth, a source of development; both spiritual development and material development. Religious democracy is a very high value that we have benefited from for the world and the hereafter of the people. And with the help and power of God, the Iranian nation has been able to and will continue to thwart America's plots. After this, God willing, we will thwart America's plots. And we hope that this motivation in Islamic countries and among Islamic nations will become so strong that a strong fist from the entire Islamic world will be formed against all the plots of global arrogance. I wish you all success; once again, I welcome you all.

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