Full Text of Statements on the Occasion of November 13 and 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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, especially the Remaining One of God on the earth.

This session has been convened on the occasion of the thirteenth of Aban. Of course, the exile of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) in 1963 and the massacre of students in 1978 occurred on this very day; however, the important issue and what is historically significant for us is the seizure of the U.S. embassy. I dedicate this session to elucidating this matter; however, before we delve into this discussion, since the blessed names of Hazrat Zainab (peace be upon her) and Hazrat Fatimah (peace be upon her) have been mentioned, I find it appropriate to advise you, the youth, not to suffice with mere remembrance of their names, but to actively pursue the true meaning of being a Shiite. The first step is to emulate the presence of these two great figures and other infallibles before the Almighty God. Wherever you are, encourage those around you to perform prayers in the manner that is pleasing to the righteous servants of God. To my dear daughters and the women present in this session, I advise you to ensure that those around you regard hijab as a religious, Islamic, and Zahra-like issue. I urge everyone not to forget their connection with the Quran. I have repeatedly said: read the Quran every day, even if it is half a page from any part of it; open the Quran, read half a page, read a page, read as much as you desire. Maintain your connection with spirituality. Our youth, in this challenging era, can truly say "Death to America" only when they are strong internally, in terms of faith, belief, and reliance on the Almighty God and divine power. The youth who can stand against the might and threats of the Pharaohs of our time are those whose hearts are connected with God. Preserve this connection. You young people who are here, all of you and the youth of the country, if you pay attention to this point, in my opinion, we will achieve greater and better advancements, both in our worldly affairs and in managing our country, as well as in confronting our enemies.

Now, regarding the thirteenth of Aban. The incident of the thirteenth of Aban and the seizure of the U.S. embassy by the students can be viewed from two perspectives: one from a historical angle and the other from an identity perspective. It is an event that has occurred, and we want to understand and comprehend this event correctly. Historically, without a doubt, in the future history of the country, this day will be a day of pride and victory for the nation, without a doubt; it is a day when our youth dared to confront a power that world politicians feared, they did not hesitate, they attacked its embassy with reasoning, with a justification, for a reason that I will now explain. It is a day of pride, a day of victory. We have had days of victory in our history, and we have also had days of weakness and decline, both of which must be remembered. When I speak of our history, I do not mean a thousand or two-thousand-year history. Since the era of colonialism emerged and colonialism and global arrogance became prevalent in the world, our country was not exempt, and events occurred in the country; some of these events are significant, victorious, and demonstrate the power of the Iranian nation, while some of these events are bitter events that I will now refer to.

We must keep both sweet events in our minds, repeat them, and preserve them in our national memory, as well as the bitter issues and events. When we recall the peak days, the sweet days, we gain self-confidence and feel powerful and capable. For instance, consider the neutralization of the colonial tobacco contract, which was a significant event in the country carried out by Mirza Shirazi; when we remember this event, we feel capable, we understand that our nation can overcome a great power like England at that time — at that time, England was the greatest and strongest of all powers in the world. Or the annulment of the Vossoughi contract; the Vossoughi contract was one that handed everything in the country over to the English. A few of the political leaders of the country took bribes and signed this contract with the English. The late Seyyed Hassan Modarres and his companions worked hard to annul it. Well, the day this contract was annulled is a sweet day; they thwarted the plans of the English.

Well, recording these days in the national memory is essential. Now, you may not recognize these events correctly; you may not know the incident of Vossoughi or the incident of Mirza Shirazi's fatwa against tobacco well enough to understand what the issue is; I strongly recommend that student groups, school groups, Basij groups, and groups of book lovers sit down to study these matters, discuss them, and understand what has happened in the country. This is my strong recommendation to all of you.

Well, we said that we must keep the events of peaks, sweet events, and events of progress and victory in our memory; we must also keep the bitter events in our minds and not forget them; why? So that we are careful that those events do not repeat in our lives. Bitter events like what? Like the coup of 1920 by Reza Khan; a coup was carried out; that is, the English staged a coup in Iran through Reza Khan, and that coup led to the Pahlavi monarchy after three or four years, and these atrocities and hardships and unparalleled dictatorship in the country and foreign domination over the country ensued; well, it was a bitter day. We must be mindful, remember, and understand what happened that led to this event. We must also record these events and keep them.

Well, the thirteenth of Aban is such a day from a historical perspective; the thirteenth of Aban is a day when our students seized the U.S. embassy; it is one of those days that must remain in our history, in our national memory; it must not be forgotten, and our people must all be aware of it. Fortunately, there are informational resources in the country; many of the issues of that day can be read and learned in various books and books specifically written on this issue. This is from a historical perspective.

However, from the identity perspective, which is more important. The seizure of the embassy clarified the true identity of the United States of America, and it also clarified and specified the true and essential identity of the Islamic movement and the Islamic Revolution; the identity impact of this incident is this. Of course, we Iranians recognized the arrogant essence of America; it was not that we did not know what America was — I will explain this later — but this incident made this matter clearer for us. I want you dear youth to understand the depth of the issue; pay close attention.

First, let me define "arrogance." What does "arrogance" mean? When we say "global arrogance," what does "arrogance" mean? The word "arrogance" is a Quranic term, used in the Quran. As it has been counted and told to me, the word "arrogance" and its derivatives have been repeated about fifty times in the Quran. "Arrogance" means self-superiority; this is the meaning of "arrogance"; it means a government, a person, a group has a sense of self-superiority. Of course, this is a bad trait, but it does not lead to enmity. The first arrogant one was Iblis, who when the Almighty God said He wanted to create Adam, said, "I am better than Adam, I will not prostrate to Adam," and the divine curse seized him forever. "Arrogance" means self-superiority; however, self-superiority comes in two forms: sometimes a person or a government considers itself superior to others but does not interfere with others; this is also a bad trait, arrogance is bad, self-superiority is not a good thing, but it does not create enmity, it is merely bad; however, sometimes a government, a person, a group, a bully considers itself superior to others and believes it has the right to bully others, to infringe upon the vital interests of others, to dictate to others; arrogance in this form is bad. A government — for instance, in a period, it was the British government, today it is America — believes it has the right to establish ten military bases in a country that does not have a strong government, does not have aware people, for example, to seize their oil, to take their interests, to plunder their underground resources; this is arrogance; the arrogance that we oppose, the arrogance that we speak against, this is it.

Well, our country faced the arrogance of the U.S. government. Before World War II, the U.S. government was not a government that interfered with others; after World War II, the U.S. government became an arrogant government in the sense we have described; it began to intervene everywhere, to meddle everywhere, to enter everywhere, and wherever its interests required, by any means, sometimes with anger and frown, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with force, sometimes with bribery, to impose its interests over the interests of nations. Well, this is the situation of America. This, incidentally, during this period — during the period we are discussing, the years 1976 and 1977 — confronted the Islamic Republic. Of course, we Iranians had a history with America; it was not that we did not recognize the arrogant nature of America; yes, we had known America since the 28th of Mordad.

The 28th of Mordad is an important incident. You see, let me say a sentence about the 28th of Mordad; many still do not understand the significance of the coup of the 28th of Mordad and the blow it dealt to Iran; they only know the name of the 28th of Mordad [that] a coup took place. Our country, from the Constitutional Revolution until about forty years later, was either in chaos and turmoil or was subject to foreign intervention or was under the harsh and ruthless dictatorship of Reza Khan; almost for about 42 years; that is, the Iranian nation lived in such a situation for several decades. In the years around 1949 and 1950, events occurred in the country, and God's grace helped, a national government was formed for the first time in the country, which was the Mossadegh government; it was a national government. The national government was formed, stood against the British — at that time, Britain was indeed the king of the world; it was superior and stronger than all powers — it took the country's oil, which was practically like free for the British, and nationalized it, meaning it was placed under the control of our own government, and a national government was formed in the country.

From 1949 to 1952, these three years, the conspiracies of the British and their allies put a lot of pressure on this government to bring it down. Mossadegh made a naive mistake, a negligence; in order to free himself from the clutches of the British, he turned to the Americans, sought help from the Americans. The Americans smiled at him. Of course, there was also the background of Truman's Point Four and such things, which made him think that America would help him. The Americans smiled at Mossadegh but, behind his back, with Mossadegh's negligence and lack of attention, they colluded with the British, staged a coup, and overthrew the government that had been formed after forty years and was national; they brought back the Shah, who had fled the country. This was a severe blow to the Iranian nation. The 28th of Mordad means this; it means that a government elected by the people, which did not want to be under the control of the British and foreign colonialism and wanted to be a national government, was overthrown by the Americans with all sorts of tricks; the Americans dealt a severe blow to the Iranian nation. This is the matter of the 28th of Mordad. The Iranian nation recognized America from that time; they knew what a dangerous entity America was for the country. Therefore, we recognized America from the 28th of Mordad; it was not new to us. I mean to say that after the coup and the return of the fleeing Mohammad Reza, and 25 years of harsh and strict dictatorship over the people, in all of this, America was the supporter of Mohammad Reza, it was his backer, it was his source of encouragement.

Now, this true enemy of the Iranian nation has its embassy here; the true enemy of the Iranian nation. When the revolution occurred, the first opposition to the revolution came from the Americans. In the U.S. Senate, a resolution was passed against the Iranian nation and against the revolution. Then they allowed Mohammad Reza to enter America; they housed him in a hospital under the pretext of treatment, but the political and security apparatus maintained their connections with him. The Iranian nation understood this, the people became angry; demonstrations against America erupted in the streets. Why? Because they felt that the events of the 28th of Mordad were about to be repeated; they felt that this sending of Mohammad Reza there was a prelude to bringing him back to Iran, with all the various methods that the Americans have.

The people became angry, took to the streets, and protested; part of this protest was the movement of the students who entered the embassy and seized it. [Of course] they did not intend to stay in the embassy; everyone should be aware of this; the students did not intend to remain in the embassy; they only wanted it to be reflected to the world how angry the Iranian nation was that the Shah had been allowed into America; that was all. They intended to stay for two or three days and then come out; that was the students' decision. After they entered the embassy, they found documents there that revealed that the matter was much deeper than they had thought; the matter was not just a resolution of the U.S. Senate; the embassy was a center of conspiracy and plotting against the revolution; it was engaged in plotting to disrupt the revolution. The embassy was no longer an embassy. Well, all embassies gather intelligence and collect information about the country where the embassy is located and send it back to their own country; this is not problematic. The issue of the U.S. embassy was not this; the issue of the U.S. embassy was that it was a room of conspiracy against the revolution: to see individuals, to incite individuals, to create organizations, to use the dissatisfied remnants of the previous regime, and if they could, to gather the military against the revolution. The students understood this; when they realized this, they then stayed in the embassy.

Now, if we say, "Why did they seize the embassy? Our problem with America arose from here," I believe this is not an accurate statement. First, our problem with America did not arise from the incident of the thirteenth of Aban; it arose from the 28th of Mordad; the Iranian nation's opposition to America dates back to that time; secondly, the thirteenth of Aban was, in fact, the discovery of a conspiracy and a great danger to the revolution that the students undertook; may their hands be blessed! With great effort, they managed to gather the documents and put together the documents that had been shredded in a shredder to understand what was happening in the embassy.

America could not tolerate the revolution, because the revolution had taken a sweet bait from America's throat. America had an unparalleled bait in its possession; Iran was entirely under America's control and power; they were taking its oil, taking its underground resources, taking its facilities, taking its money, selling the goods they desired at whatever price they wanted to Iran; such was the situation, now this had been taken from America. The revolution stood against America. The Americans were not willing to give this up easily, thus conspiracies began, and America started its provocations against the Iranian nation from the very beginning of the revolution; against the Iranian nation, not just against the Islamic Republic; it began against the nation. They initiated the severing of relations — the severing of relations began first from America — then they started sanctions, then various actions, one after another. Truly, anyone who knows what America has done in these years, will realize the validity of Imam's statement that "Whatever you have to shout, shout it at America."

America's enmity with Iran was not merely verbal enmity, nor was it just sanctions; it was practical enmity. The Americans did everything they could, as far as they could reach, to conspire against the Islamic Republic; they helped every inherent enemy of the Islamic Republic as much as they could; they struck at the interests of the Iranian nation as much as they could. The essence of American arrogance was incompatible with the essence of the revolution's quest for independence. I want to say this: the difference between the Islamic Republic and America is not a tactical difference, it is not a situational difference, it is an essential difference. When America can, it shoots down an Iranian passenger plane with three hundred passengers in the sea; when it can, it incites Saddam to attack Iran and provides him with various assistance; when it can, it directly attacks the country; when it can, it conducts all sorts of propaganda against the Islamic Republic; when it can, it does everything. This is the situation of the confrontation and engagement of the Islamic Republic with America.

Some people write history upside down; they think the difference between the Islamic Republic and America arises from your "Death to America" slogan! It is naive to think that because a nation shouts "Death to America," therefore that enemy reacts in this way; no, the slogan "Death to America" is not such an important issue that the Americans would oppose, confront, or resist because of it; the issue is a matter of essential difference, inherent incompatibility; the issue is a matter of the clash of interests between two currents: the American current and the Islamic Republic current.

Some ask, well, sir! Now that we have not submitted to America, will we never have relations with America until the end of time? Will we always oppose America? The answer is that, firstly, the essence of American arrogance accepts nothing but submission; all American presidents wanted this but did not say it; this current president said it; he said Iran must submit. This actually revealed the true nature of America. The submission of a nation, especially a nation like Iran, with all its capabilities, with all its wealth, with this intellectual and cognitive background, with all its aware and motivated youth, what does it mean?

We cannot predict the distant future, but everyone should know that currently, the remedy for many problems is "becoming strong"; the country must be made strong. The government must carry out its work vigorously in its various sectors; the military forces must carry out their work vigorously; the youth must pursue education and scientific advancement vigorously. If the country becomes strong and the enemy feels that confronting this strong nation will not yield benefits and will incur losses, the country will certainly achieve security; without a doubt. Military strength is necessary, scientific strength is necessary, and the strength of national management is necessary; these tasks must be accomplished. The strength of your motivation, dear youth, is also necessary; that is, do not lose this motivation, do not lose this spirit.

The Americans say — of course sometimes, not always — that we are willing to cooperate with Iran; cooperation with Iran is incompatible with supporting the cursed Zionist regime. America supports the cursed Zionist regime with the situation that the whole world has seen recently, the whole world has understood, and the whole world has condemned; America supports it; with this situation, cooperation with Iran has no meaning, it is unacceptable. Yes, if they completely abandon support for the Zionist regime, withdraw their military bases from here, and do not interfere in this region, then it can be considered to discuss the issues; [this] is not for now, nor is it for the near future.

What I want to convey to you dear youth is this: firstly, increase your knowledge, your familiarity, your awareness of the fundamental political issues of today, yesterday, and tomorrow of the country; the same circles of knowledge that I mentioned, regarding the past of the country and the events that have occurred, where we suffered losses, where we benefited, where we showed weakness, where we showed strength, and the results of each of these must be examined in the truest sense; then science must advance in the country. A few years ago, our movement and progress in scientific terms were very good, [now] it has declined somewhat. I want to tell the officials of the universities and researchers of the country and students of the country not to let scientific progress decline; that pace of progress is necessary for us. The country must advance scientifically; militarily, it must also advance, and with God's grace, our military personnel work day and night and, God willing, will advance even further. By God's grace, the country will be able to show that it is a strong nation and no power, with all its capabilities, will be able to subdue the Iranian nation and bring it to its knees; the Almighty God will also assist.

Strengthen your connection with God; with prayer, with the Quran, with a bond with religious truths, attract divine assistance, and God willing, create a better tomorrow for yourselves and for the nation.

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