Statements in Meeting with Students and Pupils on National Day of Struggle against Global Arrogance

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 Awaited One on earth.

Welcome, dear brothers, dear sisters, dear youth, my beloved children! God willing, may the Almighty grant you all success and keep your pure and radiant hearts on the path of truth and the straight path with His grace and guidance.

This year, the days of Arbaeen coincide with the days related to the thirteenth of Aban. I would like to say a word about Arbaeen; firstly, congratulations to those who have had the opportunity to undertake this journey with enthusiasm, love, and sincerity this year; it is a great blessing; blessed are you. God willing, may this grace encompass all those who love and are interested in this path. Secondly, I sincerely thank the people of Iraq, the Iraqi nation, the Iraqi government, and the knowledgeable and political figures of Iraq who have helped in this path and have genuinely made efforts to facilitate this movement for their nation and for the nations coming from other countries—especially from our country, where apparently more than two million people went. I express my gratitude to all those who hosted, welcomed, and showed kindness—especially to all the dear Iraqi brothers; they have done a great job.

The phenomenon of Arbaeen is an indescribable phenomenon; it is truly unique; it is a massive and astonishing exercise, and as has been repeatedly said in these days, it has no parallel in the world. The Westerners cannot comprehend this movement, what it means, how it can happen. Therefore, you see that their propaganda machines, firstly, remain silent for several years, a "conspiracy of silence"; while they reflect the slightest movement anywhere in the world, for several years they did not even mention the name of this great popular movement, did not refer to it, did not publish an image of it, and this year, when they paid a little attention to it, they made hostile and erroneous analyses that, from the perspective of believers in this path, are foolish analyses. Such as the British radio and similar outlets made hostile analyses. This indicates that the eruption of this abundant spring has severely flustered them; they cannot analyze it. Sometimes they said this was initiated by government hands! Which government can mobilize ten million, fifteen million people—men, women, old, young, from various classes—marching at least eighty kilometers from one city to another? Which government can do this? Now, if we assume, hypothetically, that the Islamic Republic and the Iraqi government were able to do this, it would itself be a governmental miracle; well, you do it if you can! If you know how, you also initiate this movement; no, apart from love, faith, and the boiling blood of the esteemed martyrs, no other factor can carry out this movement. A great work has been done; day by day it becomes better, stronger, more mature, and more established; each year is better than the previous one; God willing, it will continue after this. And the Westerners will have to watch and will not be able to analyze it, will not be able to understand it, and they will also suffer the consequences of this movement.

Well, the occasion of today's meeting is the thirteenth of Aban, which is tomorrow. As you know, three incidents occurred on the thirteenth of Aban, all of which are somehow related to America. The first incident is the exile of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) due to capitulation; the immunity of American advisors in Iran. Imam delivered that stormy speech in 1963, and following that, he was exiled; this first incident was related to America.

The second incident relates to the massacre of students in 1978, in front of the university—right here [Tehran University]—which was not carried out by American soldiers but by the American-backed regime; the tyrannical regime, the Pahlavi regime; thus, this is also somehow attributed to America. This means that the Americans and their puppets are willing to commit such crimes to advance their evil goals. You see this kind of thing happening in the world today; the issues in Yemen, the issues in Bahrain, and many issues in various parts of the world reflect this truth. Here too, they did this, and they shot the students, the teenagers, with direct gunfire, turning them into blood and soil; and this is another incident.

The third incident is the embassy incident—the den of espionage of America—which was Iran's slap in the face to America. This means that the revolution gave the Iranian nation the power to slap back against their movements, against their attacks, and to humiliate America.

The combination of these three incidents shows a challenge between Iran and America; this challenge continues to this day. For forty years, this challenge has persisted between Islamic Iran and America, and various movements have occurred from the enemy during these forty years. You have not witnessed many of these incidents, of course; you were not present, you did not witness them, but you have heard or read about them. Now I will just mention a few; for example, military war, military movements have occurred during this period from America in various forms, the worst of which was the provocation of Saddam Hussein to attack Iran; they incited him, promised him assistance, and helped him, dragging the country into war for eight years; this is one example; of course, they received a slap in the face, were defeated, and retreated. Or suppose the attack on the Airbus, the attack on Tabas, the attack on our oil platform; these are actions that the Americans have carried out against us.

Economic warfare has also existed in this forty-year challenge, which is not specific to today. Now the Americans are actually deceiving themselves or their nation by saying they are doing something new; no, there is nothing new; for forty years, they have imposed economic sanctions against us in various forms; one day it is oil, one day it is trade, one day it is investment; they have had various forms of it. This is also economic warfare and economic confrontation. They have also waged a media war; from the very beginning of the revolution until today, America has had a media war with us; that is, spreading lies, seduction, inciting discord, promoting corruption, provoking individuals; this is not specific to today. Today, of course, new methods and the internet and cyberspace have emerged, but even when these did not exist, they were constantly engaged with television, radio, and satellite; that is, this challenge has existed between us and America for forty years.

Well, there is an important truth here that sometimes remains hidden from the eyes of some due to its overwhelming clarity. That truth is a brilliant truth, and it is that in this forty-year challenge, the party that has been defeated is America, and the party that has triumphed is the Islamic Republic; this is a very important truth. What is the evidence that America has been defeated? The evidence is that it started the attack, it carried out corrupt actions, it imposed sanctions, it initiated military attacks, but it has not achieved its objectives; this is the evidence of America's defeat. In all these actions, America's goal has been to regain the dominance it had over this country during the Pahlavi era. This dominance and control were eliminated by the revolution; its hand was shortened; the aim of imposing war, sanctions, and political and economic pressures was to restore that dominance, but it has not been able to; for forty years, it has been trying and has not been able to achieve anything. Today, look at the country that America has no influence over, not even a grain, in its decisions and actions; it is the Islamic Republic of Iran; well, this is America's defeat; it cannot be clearer than this. Its goal in imposing the war was to defeat the Islamic Republic in the war with Saddam, to disgrace it, and to say that "yes, the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Republic system caused Iran to be defeated," but the opposite happened. In all the wars that Iran has fought with a country in the last two hundred years, Iran has been defeated; this eight-year war is the first and only war in which Iran has defeated the opponent and has not been defeated; not a single inch of the country's territory has fallen into foreign hands; this is the first war. Exactly the opposite of what the Americans wanted happened.

Its goal in imposing sanctions was to paralyze and hold back the country. It imposed sanctions to paralyze the economy, to hold back the country; what has been the result? The result has been that the movement towards self-sufficiency in the country has accelerated. We had become accustomed; the Iranian nation had become accustomed over many years to import everything. Now, thanks to the sanctions they imposed, we have become accustomed to first seeking to build and produce everything ourselves, which I will refer to later. Today, hundreds of active groups of young, bright-minded individuals—both university students and graduates—are engaged in significant work across the country, which I will refer to later regarding what they are doing. This is due to the sanctions. Because we were sanctioned, we began to think about meeting our needs ourselves. Therefore, sanctions have also turned out to be beneficial for us, meaning America has failed in this policy as well. You see; these are the repeated defeats of the American side.

I want you dear youth to pay close attention to this point—because the future works of this country are in your hands, you must pay attention to these—now we set aside the discussion of the Iran-America challenge, in a broader view, when we look at the situation of America, we see that America's power and authority and prestige in the world are in decline and deterioration; over the years, it has been constantly diminishing. Today's America is significantly weaker than the America of forty years ago when the revolution triumphed; America's power is in decline; this is an important point.

Many reputable politicians and sociologists in the world believe that America's "soft power" has deteriorated and is on the verge of extinction. What is soft power? Soft power is when a government can convince others to accept its desires, opinions, and beliefs; this power in America today is completely weakening and deteriorating in various fields. Now, during Obama's administration, it was the same, but during this gentleman's time, it is clearly opposed; in many areas where he makes decisions, he faces opposition in the world. Not only popular opposition—if they were to conduct a vote and ask the people of any country, they would give negative opinions—but even governments that have a cordial relationship with America oppose him; China opposes, Europe opposes, Russia opposes, India opposes, Africa opposes, Latin America opposes. America's soft power is in decline, is falling. I am not saying this; this is among the statements made by prominent sociologists in the world today. Not only is America's spiritual authority and soft power in decline, but even liberal democracy, which is the fundamental basis of Western civilization, has been disgraced by them; they are disgracing it. Several years ago, a prominent sociologist said that the current situation of America is the ultimate evolution of human history, and humanity cannot go beyond this. That same person today has retracted his statement, saying "no" and wishes for other things. Now, he may not explicitly say I was wrong, but he is making statements that are in direct contradiction to what he said back then. Well, this is the situation of America.

Of course, liberal democracy—I have repeatedly said this before—has made the Western nations, whose governance and social system is based on liberal democracy, miserable. The liberal democracy that is prevalent in the West today has made them miserable; social divides, lack of social justice, the destruction of families, widespread moral corruption, extreme individualism; they have made themselves miserable. Now, this gentleman who has come—this strange President of America—has sold everything and has actually stripped the remaining dignity of both America and liberal democracy. Well, this is regarding America's soft power.

I say that America's hard power has also been severely damaged. Hard power means military power, economic power; these are hard powers. Yes, they have military tools, but the military human resources of America are severely depressed, confused, lost, and hesitant. That is why in many countries where they are present, to achieve their objectives, they use criminal organizations like Blackwater and similar groups; this means that the American soldier is unable to execute the American plan; their human resources are like this.

Their economy is the same. Today, America is fifteen trillion dollars in debt; the figure is a legendary one; America has fifteen trillion dollars in debt! Nearly eight hundred billion dollars is America's budget deficit this current year; this means these are actually economic backlogs. Now, with glitter, slogans, various statements, and appearances, they cover up these realities, but the realities of America are like this; this is America's hard power.

Therefore, America is in decline; everyone should know this. Those who are willing to support America and completely forget the issue of Palestine in this region should know that America is in decline. What is alive are the nations of the region; what is alive are the truths that exist in this region. America is in decline even in its own region, let alone here!

One of the manifestations of America's defeat is that it has been unable to affect the spirit of independence-seeking in our nation and on our youth. You see, today the feelings of our dear youth and teenagers across the country are independence-seeking feelings. Some may not even be very committed to religious principles, but they feel resistance against foreign domination; this indicates that America, with all its propaganda, with all its efforts, with its news and media empire it has established in the world, has been unable to influence the younger generation of our country; it has not been able to weaken or eliminate their spirit of resistance and independence-seeking. I sincerely say this—because I observe it—that today our youth, in terms of motivation for standing firm and resisting, are not behind the youth of the first generation of the revolution; today this is rightly observable. This is not only specific to our youth; gradually, this has also penetrated among the youth of other countries as far as we know, especially our neighboring countries. The dear, faithful youth in countries close to us and our neighbors, when you see their words, actions, and messages, you feel that the spirit of independence in them is strong. Of course, the enemy—the Americans—attribute some of these things to us; they say this is due to the movement of Iranian youth. They even threaten us, threatening that why did the youth of such and such country attack our forces? This is truly one of those strange statements! They send messages that if the youth of your neighboring country attack our forces or our supporters, we will hold you responsible! Well, you are wrong to hold us responsible. The people of Iraq despise you, the youth of Iraq despise you, the youth of Syria despise you, the youth of Lebanon despise you, over there in the east, the youth of Afghanistan despise you Americans, the youth of Pakistan despise you Americans; what does this have to do with us! They despise you, and they may take some action against you. Yes, this is a reality; why do the Americans not understand? Why do they not comprehend the hatred of nations towards themselves? You did wrong, you committed ugly acts, you sought dominance over these countries, you insulted these people; therefore, they despise you. The people of Iraq have the right to despise you, the people of Syria have the right to despise you, and the same goes for other countries. America is in decline; everyone should know this. Those who lean towards making peace with the Americans are drawing baseless and unfounded plans; America is in decline. The factors of America's decline are not related to today or yesterday that someone wants to come and remedy it; they are related to history. The cause of the situation that the Americans have fallen into is a long-term factor; they have created a situation throughout history that has resulted in this, and it is not easily remedied. This is a divine tradition; they are doomed to fall, doomed to decline, to disappear from the scene of global power.

Well, the opposite point is the Islamic Republic. Of course, I do not want to exaggerate; I do not want to embellish; we started from zero, the path that others have taken over 100 years, 150 years, or more, I do not claim that we have gone through in forty years, but I claim that over these forty years we have continuously advanced, we have continuously progressed, we have continuously grown; the forty-year movement of the Islamic Republic clearly proves this. We witness a serious movement of industrial independence and political independence in our country. That I mentioned "hundreds of young groups," this is a reality. I know some of them closely, some of them from afar; serious, active, talented, innovative young people are working hard in various fields; in intellectual fields, practical fields, scientific fields, technological fields; they are not thinking about becoming heads, nor about becoming managers, nor about becoming ministers or representatives; they are working; this is how it is today. This is a blessed phenomenon that exists in our country today; and it will continue.

I want to give you dear youth a few recommendations; these are things that are necessary for the future of the country. The first recommendation: Do not forget the enmity with America; do not be deceived by the enemy's false and disgraceful smile. Sometimes they say, "We have no problem with the Iranian nation; our problem is with the Islamic Republic government"; they are lying! The Islamic Republic government is nothing without relying on this nation. They are enemies with the nation; with the nation that has not lost its presence, strength, and will over the past forty years; the sanctions are against the people. Do not forget America's enmity. America was hostile to the Iranian nation even before the revolution, but at that time, its agents were in power; it could do whatever it wanted, act however it pleased, and the wretched dependent regime of Pahlavi and the tyrant obeyed them. The Islamic Republic stands firmly against them, hence their enmity is clear and evident; they act in various dimensions of enmity; do not pay attention to their [false statements].

Well, how long will this enmity last? This is a question: How long will the enmity with America last? The answer is that as long as America does not abandon its quest for dominance; if it abandons its quest for dominance, it can interact with it like other countries, it can establish relations with it; of course, such a thing is also unlikely; the essence of global arrogance—one of the dear brothers mentioned this here—is one of dominance and control; yes, as long as it is like this, there will be enmity. If it were to abandon this, enmity and severance and such things would completely disappear; but this is not something that can be done.

The second point: Promote and propagate the theory of resistance against the strong enemy. Some should not think that because the enemy has bombs, missiles, and propaganda machines, we should retreat; no, the theory of resistance is an authentic and correct theory; both in theory and in practice; it should be promoted from both perspectives. The theoretical meaning is that you should explain it. You young people can very well explain this theory of resistance; both among yourselves and in the environment you are in, and even in relation to other countries and other youth. Explain the theory of resistance, that the goal of global arrogance is dominance, the goal of global arrogance is control over nations, so that everyone knows that this is the goal of global arrogance.

In practical terms, we consider the resistance movement to be the right of the youth; the youth of Iraq, the youth of Syria, the youth of Lebanon, the youth in North Africa, the youth in the subcontinent and its surroundings, are a bunch of young people who resist against America, who stand firm; this is their right, we consider this their right; strengthening these movements means strengthening the theory of resistance.

The third point: You young people should consider yourselves responsible for the progress of the country. The progress program is a specific, thoughtful, and calculated program. You have seen that the Iranian-Islamic model of progress, which can shape the movement of this country in various directions for fifty years, has been elucidated, determined, and prepared; it is available for experts to refine and complete. You should consider yourselves part of the active participants in this vast and comprehensive plan and prepare yourselves for it. This preparation is sometimes through studying, sometimes through research, sometimes through building, sometimes through work and innovation, sometimes through taking correct political stances, sometimes through participating in the political arena; every day, every phase of your life has one of these requirements. You should feel obligated in all circumstances to share in and be responsible for the progress of the country.

One of the fundamental tasks we must undertake regarding the economic issues of the country and its future is to cut the dependency of our economy on oil; this has been repeatedly stated and reiterated by all knowledgeable and insightful economists—not just today, but for years; and this is a reality. We have always told the officials to try as much as possible to separate our economy from the sale of crude oil. When we sell crude oil, we are actually extracting a wealth and resource that is not renewable and will run out, we take it out from underground, sell it, receive money, and spend it on running the country; this is wrong! This capital must be utilized, employed, and consumed in a way that generates added income; we must optimize our consumption [of oil]. One of the major problems of our economy is dependency. Well, our faithful young people, those who are thinkers and workers, should sit down and find ways to free the country [from dependency]. Of course, the policies for this work have been designed; we have established and communicated this National Development Fund in the general policies for this reason, so that we can exit from dependency on oil.

Let me also say that we do not take the model of development from the West; firstly, we call this movement progress, not as they label it "growth and development." We do not take the model of the country's progress from the West. The Westerners themselves have made themselves miserable due to this method and this model; there is glitter, but the essence and inner reality are decayed and corrupt; we do not take from them. Of course, we will make maximum use of modern knowledge and technology, and we consider progress to be both a source of happiness for the nation and a source of pride for the nation, as well as a source of security for the country, and we strive for the country's progress, and our youth and dear ones must feel responsible in these areas and feel a sense of duty and obligation.

The main need of the country is your high ambition. You young people must have ambition, have high aspirations, strive, work, set aside fear, set aside laziness, make innovation your guiding principle; of course, with national pride, national fervor; these are things that are necessary for our country, for our youth; in all areas; a vibrant, active, and dynamic collective.

This was our recommendation to the youth, but this recommendation is also directed at the officials; the officials should take these words seriously, take the youth seriously, genuinely welcome the motivated youth of today, and assist the younger generation. I see in some cases a group of young people has accomplished a very good, outstanding, and pioneering work [but] the relevant responsible body does not assist them! This is one of the shortcomings of our work. Officials should take the youth seriously, take their work seriously, and pay attention to them.

What I want to say at the end of my speech: Dear youth! As I said, know that the future of this country and the future of Islamic Iran is far better and brighter than its past. Know that if this nation moves forward with the spirit you have today and show, there is no doubt that in the not-so-distant future, it will be able to reach a peak in the world where it will always have the upper hand in global interactions and be able to advance its objectives; this is something that is certain and definitive, and there is no doubt about it, and you dear youth, God willing, will witness this and experience this great progress that has come about thanks to Islam and the Islamic revolution in the country.

We ask the Almighty God to unite the pure souls of our great martyrs who opened this path, who created this secure atmosphere for the country, with the pure souls of the martyrs of early Islam and Karbala, and to make the sacred heart of the Awaited One (may our souls be sacrificed for him) and the pure spirit of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and the martyrs of the righteous pleased with all of us; may He make us aware of our duties, and God willing, may He grant us all success in fulfilling those duties.

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