Statements of His Eminence in the Gathering of the People of Mashhad and Pilgrims of Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Reza (peace be upon him)

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon our Master and Prophet, Abul Qasim Muhammad, and his pure, immaculate, and chosen family, the guided and infallible ones, especially the remainder of God on earth.

The beginning of the new year under the luminous shadow of the holy shrine of the Eighth Imam (peace be upon him) is a blessing for all of us. Whether it is the dear people of Mashhad who enjoy this great blessing throughout the year or the eager and devoted pilgrims who have lovingly come from other cities and regions. Being present in this holy shrine and under the shadow of this luminous, spiritual, and divine base is an opportunity for all of us to pay attention to the duties that are usually specific to the beginning of the year. Duties related to periods, and among the periods for all nations and countries, is the annual period by which they count their history, life, and age.

Let me say here that we, the people of Iran, are the only nation that calculates both the lunar and solar calendars based on the migration of the Noble Prophet of Islam. The beginning of the lunar year is the first of Muharram, which other Muslim nations also share with us in calculating lunar months; but for calculations that need to be straightforward and precise, other Muslim nations use the Christian Gregorian year, and only our nation uses the solar year, which also begins with the migration of the Prophet. In fact, Nowruz, which is the first day of the solar year, adds another year to the migration of the Prophet and the great Islamic migration and the emergence of the Islamic government. Our solar year is also Hijri Shamsi, and this is the pride of the Iranian nation. Of course, this matter has existed from the past and is not related to recent years; this itself shows the interest of this great nation in Islamic matters, even in the matter of history.

One of the duties at the beginning of the year is for everyone to review their conditions and accounts - both personal and public accounts, both individual and collective like a nation. This is a good excuse for a person to look back and observe the negligence they have committed, the shortcomings and inappropriate actions they have taken, as well as their good deeds once again. That is, my dear brothers and sisters! We all must get used to looking at our past year at the beginning of each new year. Each of the positive and negative points gives us a message.

At the beginning of the new year, I have conveyed some points to the dear nation of Iran and others in a message. In that message, I briefly mentioned the main points regarding the past year. I have also briefly and concisely stated what I expect our dear nation to pay attention to. Today, I will also discuss a few issues concerning the fundamental matters that were important for our nation in the past year, during these days, and in the year that has begun:

The first issue is related to you, the dear and faithful people of Mashhad, which I must mention so that everyone knows. We thanked the entire nation of Iran for the elections that passed because the turnout was very good. However, we must also give special thanks to the people of Mashhad because the growth of participation in the elections in Mashhad, compared to the previous period - based on the report given to me - is about fifty percent. This is a very high figure that indicates good things and requires analysts to scrutinize. Of course, there are prominent examples of this kind everywhere, and in the case of Mashhad, this special prominence was noted.

If someone is as familiar with the country's reports as we are, they will see, as mentioned in that message, that the past year was a busy and fruitful year. Truly, throughout the country in the year 1374, thousands of significant and valuable works - in scientific, ethical, and spiritual fields, in the field of developing and building the country, reviving the values of the revolution, eliminating the ruins left from the war or the oppressive regime - have been carried out or are in progress, which will be completed this year or in the coming years. Truly, a great movement has begun in the country - in the field of work, effort, progress, increasing the country's public wealth, and various developments.

Truly, if someone wants to compare this country with other developed countries, they will see that the Islamic Republic has brought a period of pride for the great nation of Iran in this regard. The spiritual aspects, political issues, and independence and freedom are preserved in their place; in terms of the country's development, what has been done and is being done for this nation is a source of pride.

Some people in the world learn lessons and follow the Iranian model. Some people admire the Iranian nation, and some people envy and oppose the Iranian nation. Of course, some people are unaware of Iran's realities; they are not to blame. As long as the pen is in the enemy's hand and they write whatever comes to their pen against the Iranian nation and say whatever comes to their mouth, we cannot complain about a person from an Arab, African, or European country for not being aware of Iran's situation. Of course, we advertise to the extent of our media's development; but the enemy's propaganda is more extensive, and dozens of radios, hundreds of newspapers, and publications write against the Islamic Republic.

Well, let them write, it does not matter. What matters is the will and reliance of this nation and the planning of the country's officials; those who must plan for this nation, draw maps, and preserve the nation's wealth. These are important. When these tasks are done, the enemy can say, write, or insult as much as they want. These do not hinder our progress.

Contrary to some individuals who become anxious, upset, terrified, and angry as soon as a newspaper, an article, a writer, or a politician from a corner of the world says something against the Islamic Republic, I say let them say whatever they want. When a nation knows itself and its path, has made its decision, and has a strong will, the enemies can say whatever they want. Even when it is clear that what the enemy says and does is out of enmity, it will strengthen this nation's will, make its steps more steadfast, increase its reliance on God, brighten its hope, and make its future, by God's grace, better than today.

This is the nation with this will, this faith, and this decision. And thanks be to God, the government is also serving and diligently pursuing tasks. It produces, trades, builds, exports, and imports. Thanks be to God, in all fields - culture, economy, and so on - they are busy working.

Of course, I have a slight concern - which is not related to today; I have had this concern for years - and that is that the economy and the Iranian nation must be separated from oil. We have recently communicated this issue to the serving government to plan for it, and they are planning and have done some work. We must ensure that the Iranian nation and government are not dependent on their oil. Unfortunately, today in the world, oil is dependent on international policies, companies, and major plunderers and world-eaters and the arrogant powers. In truth, oil is in their hands. Whenever they want, they lower its price, reduce or increase production, exclude or include someone in the circle! Oil is ours, but its policy is in the hands of others! Such an asset is a source of trouble.

Of course, our government today makes maximum use of oil and must do so. But it must ensure that it can one day announce to the world that from today until six months later, until a year or forty days later, we want to close the oil wells. We want not to export a drop of oil. The government must be able to decide. It must not need oil.

We have a lot of wealth, natural resources, and domestic production. The possibilities for wealth production within the country are very high. Due to the war, these tasks were not feasible, but thanks be to God, today they are feasible. They must also be done and are being done. The government is also doing this work and must do it. We have recently announced and communicated that this work should begin, and the preliminary work is underway. This plan may yield results in one year, two years, three years, or five years. If, by God's grace, this happens, many of this country's problems will be reduced. Of course, provided that the entire nation; all those who have strong arms, active minds and pens, eloquent tongues, and awake hearts, work together with the same unity that exists among this nation today, and do not let the people be divided.

For this nation, unity is more obligatory than anything else. Unity and agreement have saved this nation in difficult crises. Thanks be to God, today we do not have a crisis. We do not have a major and extraordinary problem. But we also have a complete need and necessity for unity. Everyone must not say anything in their speeches and election campaigns, before and after them, in the parliament and elsewhere, that makes the people feel divided among themselves and creates discord among the people. God forbid, if discord arises, this nation will weaken. The reason we have been able to stand firm so far is your unity and agreement. The more and stronger it is, the more firmly we can stand against your enemies.

And regarding the enemies and foreign issues, I will briefly state something for you, dear people. In the field of global issues, the Islamic Republic believes in international cooperation. We believe that if there is unity among well-intentioned people in the world, the world's affairs will be reformed. However, this task in the world is very difficult. Therefore, we have two types of work in the international arena. One is the main work, which is international cooperation - cooperation with nations, with governments, and joint efforts - and the other is emergency work, which is the struggle.

Yes, we are forced to struggle with the enemies of this nation on the international stage. I wish this nation had no enemies, and we were not forced to struggle with them; but this nation has stubborn, obstinate, malicious, vile, deceitful, lying, and dangerous enemies. We must struggle with them. In the field of international struggle, we have two types of enemies. One is the main enemies, with whom our struggle is, and the other is non-main enemies. We do not struggle with them, but we try to understand them; to correct their mistakes and dissuade them from enmity. This relates to secondary enemies. In some cases, they cannot even be called enemies. The main ones are the primary enemies.

Who is the main enemy for the Islamic Republic? Today, our main enemy in the world is the Zionists and global arrogance. The essence of enmity with Islam and the Islamic Republic system and the Iranian nation is the Zionists and global arrogance.

If we want to translate global arrogance correctly, today it corresponds to the aggressive, arrogant, rebellious, and defiant government of America. Today, the major arrogant powers of the world are them. The story of global arrogance is a bitter story for all nations. Global arrogance means that there is a power in the world that does not pay attention to the interests of nations and the desires of humans. It does not care about human value concepts at all. For it, only one thing matters, and that is itself; that too with a spirit of arrogance, greed, and bullying! That too with the language of force, with violence, with severity, with ruthlessness, and savagery! Today, America is in such a state.

Of course, more vile than America is the Zionist government in occupied Palestine. Why? Because after all, the American government is a government and relies on a nation. Whereas the usurping Zionist government is not fundamentally reliant on a nation! The nation residing in those areas is a nation that is displaced today! Israel was created from the beginning with oppression and murder, with lies and deceit. On that day, a group of oppressive and aggressive individuals, with the support of the British government, came to the region of Palestine. They expelled the inhabitants of that region, and their children and descendants - more than a million people - still live under tents and in camp conditions! Under tents, or something similar to tents, they live in huts! The people of Palestine, outside of Palestine, live in a state of hut-dwelling and camp-dwelling. Their homes and homeland are in the hands of those who have come from Europe, from Australia, from America, from Asia, and from Africa and have created a fake and false nation and live there in the name of a nation, and they also have a government! Fundamentally, such a nation does not exist and has no identity.

The sin of the Islamic Republic is that it says this! The Islamic Republic, unlike other governments that out of fear or with the temptation of America have concealed and hidden this rightful statement, says this statement explicitly and says right is right and falsehood is false. We cannot deny that the Palestinian nation existed, but today it is displaced. We cannot deny that the land of Palestine has been usurped from the Palestinian people; that too not with a seemingly polite method, but with massacre and murder and deceit and lies and the use of force and savagery and mass murder. The Israeli government was created with mass murder and treachery and deceit and savagery and trampling on human values. The rights of a nation were sacrificed in front of the feet of Zionist immigrants who entered occupied Palestine. Throughout nearly fifty years of this fake government's existence, constant suppression and murder and lies and deceit and aggression and attacks on humans and innocents have been the source of its life and continuity.

This is Israel; then the President of America - which truly amazes one - is not ashamed and stands in front of the world's public opinion in broad daylight and loudly says that we want to cooperate with Israel to prevent terrorism! Truly, one is amazed at what this stance is called? This is called negligence and unfairness and arrogance and bullying. What does this statement mean? Even now, the most dangerous and vile terrorists in the world are those who are at the head of power in the oppressed occupied Palestinian country. You want to cooperate with them against terrorism and terrorists?! Which terrorists? Those who have been displaced from their homeland and after many years, under pressure, have become desperate and raise a hand from their sleeve and clench a fist and shout are terrorists?!

We say these truths. We do not keep these truths hidden. We consider it a sin to conceal these clearest truths in this world; so that America may be pleased. Many people around the world - those who have commercial or political relations with us - confidentially tell our agents and people: the reason for America's enmity with you is this Middle East issue and the Israel issue. They say why do you oppose? They explicitly say that this issue of human rights and such trials and women's rights and these things that are said against the Islamic Republic in American and Zionist media are all just talk. We ourselves knew that this is just talk; but now they also admit this.

I always told those who felt weak: why do you fall for propaganda? Why should you think that when America talks about human rights, it is really worried about the violation of human rights in Iran? They do not care for humans. They themselves are the biggest violators of human rights. They are the ones who, in broad daylight, burned eighty people alive in one of America's cities in a house and did not even raise an eyebrow. What do they have to do with humans and human rights? What do they know about human rights?

Their issue is elsewhere. Their pain is from elsewhere. They say why do you not come to terms with Israel and, like others, sign the death warrant of the Palestinian nation?! This is their issue. I always told everyone this. Now they themselves admit and tell us that America's pressures and economic blockade and hostile and vile propaganda by elements of America's legislative and executive apparatus against the Islamic Republic are all related to the Israel issue. They say why do you not accept Middle East peace? Why do you say this is not peace and is the compromise of the wolf and the lamb? Why do you not come and sign this compromise? They want the death warrant of the Palestinians from us! This is the issue.

So, today at the head of the foreign enemies of this nation - with whom our main foreign political struggle in the world is - is the corrupt, usurping, vile Zionist regime ruling over occupied Palestine and behind it, the regime of the United States of America. The United States of America, with its breadth and length and with its scientific advancements and a large country and nation, has become a plaything in the hands of the Zionists; like a giant whose leash is in the hands of a dog and it takes it wherever it wants! Today, the American government, with the wealth and history and importance it has considered for itself politically, economically, and militarily in the world, has become a plaything in the hands of the Zionists and the Israeli government. When the President of America makes a decision against the Islamic Republic, he goes to the American Zionist assembly and reports there, and it is broadcast worldwide. This is a disgrace for the American nation.

These are our main enemies. Of course, in various parts of the world, there is still enmity and malice against us, but these are not of much importance and are not the main issue. These recent issues of the German judiciary, which carried out a very ugly and disgusting act for the sake of the Zionists, are of this type. Of course, the German government distances itself and says it is related to the judiciary of its country. Both we know and they know that it is not that the German government has no control over the judiciary of its country. There are places we are aware of where they have exerted influence. In truth, it is the pressure of the Zionists on the German government and its judiciary. But it does not matter. These are matters that our government and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs must resolve, and thanks be to God, they are serving well and working and will resolve them. These are not something that should be considered an issue for the nation. What is important for the nation is the point I mentioned; that is, the issue of America and Israel. This is the essence of the matter. Dear Iranian nation! The statement I can present as a summary of seventeen years of the victorious, proud revolution of the Islamic Republic system and as a summary of the views of our late Imam and the views of these people is one word, and that is that any government, group, nation, or person in the world who thinks they can influence the Iranian nation with force and threats is gravely mistaken. This nation, with its eight years of valiant resistance in the imposed war; with its seventeen years of standing against the threats and malice of global arrogance and enemies, has at least proven to the whole world that it is not a nation that can be led to a path or turned away from a path with force and threats. Look at these mothers! These lionesses who sent their children to the war fronts in the way of God - like someone sending them to a wedding chamber - and did not raise an eyebrow. Look at this fighting nation! Look at the Iranian nation, which has passed through such dangerous twists and turns over these seventeen years! At the beginning of the revolution, did you see the various threats of internal enemies, liberals, opponents of the Imam and Guardianship, opponents of the name of Islam for this Republic, and opponents of the name of Islam for the Islamic Consultative Assembly!? In the first period, our great Imam, in a letter he wrote to the Islamic Consultative Assembly, brought the word Islam into the Assembly, which was a very clever act. Imam, may his soul be sanctified, was both wise and clever, and experienced. Imam knew that if the name of Islam had been associated with the name of the Consultative Assembly at the beginning of the Constitutional Revolution - a revolution that was created with the blood of the nation and in the name of Islam and under the leadership of religious scholars - it would not have been separated from Islam for sixty years! Imam knew this. In the letter, he wrote 'Islamic Consultative Assembly'. Therefore, the representatives of the Assembly said this matter must be legalized and formalized. The name of the Islamic Consultative Assembly must become law. In the same Assembly, whose representatives were elected by these faithful and revolutionary people, there were those who said what is the name of Islam?!

It was strange. We could not believe that after the victory of the revolution - while not even a year and a half or two years had passed since the victory of the revolution - there could be people who opposed the name of Islam on the Consultative Assembly! But they did! This is why we constantly say be careful who you send to the Islamic Consultative Assembly, so that you send those who are devoted to Islam. They know that only Islam will cure the pain of this country and nation and nothing else. Send those who have experience and will not be deceived. They will not want to shake and weaken the foundation of Islamic thought in this country under the name of liberalism and under the title of freedom. These types of individuals must go to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. They can stand up to the enemies and defend you.

The Iranian nation, because it has seen all these various hardships over seventeen years, has stood firm and has not moved and has followed the path of God and Islam. Today, by God's grace, we are not just seventeen years ahead of the day of the revolution's victory, but decades ahead. We have traveled a long path over these seventeen years. The day this nation, through your glorious revolution, was freed from the clutches of foreign mercenaries - that is, from the clutches of the Pahlavi family and their military and mercenaries - it was in fact an empty shell and a hollow form. They had destroyed its wealth. They had ruined its agriculture. They had made its industry one hundred percent dependent. They had brought constructive work to nearly zero. They had completely ruined spirituality and ethics. What you see has been created over these seventeen years through your people's efforts and with the power of dedicated officials and despite all obstacles and problems, and today foreign enemies see it and are envious and upset. They have no choice!

Despite the will of foreign enemies and despite the will of America and Israel and those who cannot see this nation's progress and want Iran to be isolated, we - by God's grace - will expand our connections worldwide. If some people are influenced by America and want to be hostile to the Islamic Republic, we have no fear.

This nation, thanks be to God, can stand on its own feet. Over these seventeen years, it has been threatened by governments to cut ties many times. In various cases, European countries collectively withdrew their ambassadors from Iran, thinking that now the earth would shake and the sky would fall and everything would be disrupted! But they saw that nothing happened. Surely the European governments remember this event. We hope they remember and do not make a mistake. One day, all European ambassadors left Tehran and pretended that we are angry with you! The Islamic Republic said: go in peace! After some time passed, they saw that the Islamic Republic did not express any need for them and had no need for them. Thanks be to God, they began to return based on their own needs!

It is always like this. The important thing is that this nation knows its worth. The important thing is that the officials of this country know the worth of this nation, and they do. Everyone who is active in any sector must know that this nation is a great, powerful, faithful, and invincible nation. As long as you maintain unity and reliance on God among yourselves, the world cannot overcome and defeat you.

O Lord! Shower your endless mercy and grace like pouring rain upon this nation. O Lord! Gather our great Imam - who showed us this path - in the highest ranks of the heavenly ones with your saints. O Lord! Elevate the ranks of our dear martyrs, who opened this path with their blood and paved this road, day by day. O Lord! Include the disabled veterans, the self-sacrificers, the freed captives, the fighters, and the faithful and Hezbollah forces and Basijis, who are committed to this path, in your guidance and grace and favor. Whoever works and strives for this nation, shower your grace and mercy upon them. O Lord! Make the sacred heart of the Imam of the Age pleased and satisfied with us. Include us among the soldiers of that great one in his presence and absence. O Lord! Increase the love of the friends of God and the enmity of his enemies in our hearts. Strengthen and fortify all the hands that work and strive for this nation and include them in your blessings. O Lord! Place what we said and heard for yourself and in your path and accept it from us.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings