Meeting with a group of students and various university organizations on the eve of the anniversary of the Thirteenth of Aban

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

First of all, I welcome all of you dear youth; students, schoolchildren, beloved children of the Iranian nation. This is also my heartfelt message and eternal greetings to all our dear youth across the country.

This meeting has been held on the occasion of the Thirteenth of Aban, which we are approaching. The Thirteenth of Aban is a very important day; in one sense, it is the day of the student, in another sense, it is the day of the student, and in another sense, it is the day of the steadfastness of the Iranian nation against the tricks of global arrogance. I would like to share a few points with you on this occasion.

One point is that you, who love the dignity of Islamic Iran and consider yourselves soldiers of Islam—and indeed you are—have a great responsibility for building the future. This is a characteristic of a sincere, true, and realistic school of thought. Everyone is responsible. The youth, who are in the bloom of their talents, are among the responsible; responsibility is not only for the elderly and middle-aged, but one could say that the youth have a heavier responsibility; why? Because the abilities of the youth, the blossoming of the youth, the energy of the youth are greater than others. The youth must feel within themselves, in their hearts, in their consciences, that they have a responsibility towards the future of this country, the future of this nation, the future of this history. This sense of responsibility was what brought most committed youth to the field of defense during the Sacred Defense era. The youth could have stayed in their homes, under the shade of their fathers and mothers, enjoying their comforts; they could have avoided the snowy mountains of the West in winter and the scorching deserts of Khuzestan in summer and remained comfortable; but the sense of responsibility did not allow them to seek comfort. They came to the battlefield, and the result was a miraculous outcome.

I am eager for our youth to know the story of the eight-year imposed war and what it was. We have said this many times; individuals have also spoken and explained it; but a broad perspective on these eight years, with knowledge of the details that existed, is very important for planning the future of the youth in our time. Fortunately, good books have also been written. Although I do not have much time, I look at many of the books that discuss the issues of the Sacred Defense; they are useful for me. Read these books, know them, see them; recognize the biographies of these outstanding youth. Some of these outstanding youth in the battlefield were the same individuals who created that great epic on the Thirteenth of Aban and then went to the battlefield. Many of them today are among the truly enduring figures of our history. This is the sense of responsibility.

In the eight-year war, which in fact faced all the dominant forces of the world at that time—whether the Soviet Union of that day, the United States of that day, France of that day, the Eastern European bloc of that day, or the reactionary countries of the region—they all conspired together and injected money, forces, information, and weapons into the Ba'athist regime, against a country and a nation whose only assets were will and faith. They had no weapons, no ammunition, no sufficient and adequate information; but faith had made them as solid as steel, as steadfast as a rock. These two opposing sides faced each other, and this side triumphed over that side. That is, the force of faith of the Iranian nation prevailed over that vast and powerful force—which had money, information, weapons, and all resources at its disposal. This was the sense of responsibility.

Before the incident of the imposed war, in the very incident of the revolution, the will of the youth, the sense of responsibility of the youth, created this great historical miracle that the stronghold and fortress of global arrogance in this region—that is, the monarchy regime of Iran—was brought down by these steadfast and faithful hands, and a popular and Islamic system was established. This is the sense of responsibility.

The future of this country, the future of this nation, needs your sense of responsibility today. Feel responsible for what? To build yourselves; to build yourselves scientifically, to build yourselves in terms of faith and piety, to increase your insight, to enhance your awareness of today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Ten years from now, twelve years from now, all of you who are gathered here and your counterparts across the country will be educated youth who will enter the arena of the life of the Iranian nation, and many of you will have responsibilities in your hands. Future presidents, future ministers, future managers, and prominent figures in various sectors will emerge from among you; they will rise from among you. These managers and planners must be knowledgeable, and in the true sense of the word, they must be devout, chaste, and insightful. This cannot happen unless you prepare yourselves from now on. This is the first point.

You are my children, and what a person wishes for their child is the best. And this is the best. You must prepare yourselves. The path that this nation has taken is not a path that will end soon; it is the path of the elevation of a nation; it is the path of compensating for the backwardness of the past one or two centuries. Now, in the next point, I will mention that it is very important for you to prepare yourselves today for tomorrow.

The second point is that the Islamic Republic system has conflicts and disagreements with the world of global arrogance, with the United States, and with other governments of the bloc of arrogance. What is the disagreement about? This is an important point. What is the dispute about that today, when analysts analyze, they say that in various global issues that the United States enters, it has an eye on the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation; why? What is the reason? When we also look at our internal issues, we see that many of the problems of our nation and country are, in various ways, imposed by the Americans; why? What is the reason? This must be searched for and found with a precise perspective.

The dispute is not over a few political issues. Well, two countries may have disagreements over issues that they can sit down and negotiate to resolve; it can be concluded. The issue of the Islamic Republic and the arrogant government of the United States is not of this kind. The issue is of another nature; it is a more fundamental issue. The issue is that the regime of the United States of America has claimed absolute superpower status in the world since the end of World War II. Of course, at that time, the Soviet Union was in opposition, but this competition between the United States and the Soviet Union of that day was not merely a competition between two superpowers. The United States wanted to dominate all vital resources of the world. In practice, the vast and sensitive region known as the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf—the oil region—was under the control of the United States. Oil is the lifeblood of the movement of today's world. What will happen tomorrow, we do not know; but today, in this world, oil is the source of production, the source of warmth, the source of light, and in fact, the source of life for many countries. If there is no oil, there are no factories, no productions, no trades. Oil means blood; it means life. Now, a large part of this oil is in this region; a region known as the Middle East. Dominance over this area is important, and the Americans had gained control over it.

In the middle of the Middle East, Iran was located; the main base of global arrogance. Surrounding Iran were various countries, each of which was somehow under the control of the United States. The Soviet Union, of course, had made some incursions during this time, but the Americans had the upper hand, and this trend had to continue. Of course, the greed for this region and for oil was not exclusive. The Americans were consolidating their power in Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and various places—this is not the time for interpretation; I will tell you about this at another time, dear youth—while they were strengthening their dominance and their rivals were retreating day by day.

In the midst of this increasing power of arrogance and at the most sensitive point, the Islamic Revolution in Iran emerged, whose most important slogan was to confront oppression and arrogance; to defend the rights of nations. The Islamic Revolution pulled this main point, namely Iran, out from under the control of the United States. One day, the Americans had people in your very country, in your very Tehran, in various sensitive areas of the country; in all sensitive points, they had people; in the armed forces, in the finance and treasury sectors, in sensitive political areas, in security, their elements and people were in charge of everything. The king of the country himself, who was the head of all the country's apparatuses and intervened in all matters, listened to the American and British ambassadors. If they wanted something and insisted, he had to obey, whether he wanted to or not. Sometimes he did not want to, but he was forced to obey, and he did obey. From such a point, the Americans were expelled. Well, this was a very important event; this was not a small wound.

As usual, the arrogant governments that spread their poison through their embassies in countries establish connections, create espionage capabilities—this is still the case; this is still common in the world. They create various corruptions through these embassies—through this, they began to work. The movement of the student youth as "Muslim students following the line of Imam" also nullified this trick. They took over the embassy and extracted the documents. Now, about a hundred volumes of books have been published that are essentially documents. I do not know if you youth have read these documents of the den of espionage, or if you will read them; they are worth reading. See what the American embassy was doing in Iran at that time, with whom they were connected, and what role this embassy played over the years leading up to the revolution.

Our students carried out this great movement. The Americans still do not hide their resentment towards this movement. Unfortunately, within the country, there are also some regretful people, tired people, and whimsical people—who act whimsically, then seek their own comfortable lives, and their whims change—among those youth of that day, who have criticized and continue to criticize that action! But know that it was a very great act. As Imam said, it was greater than the first revolution; because it was the collapse of the American dominance and American arrogance in Iran and in the world.

Such a great event has occurred. This is not a small wound. The matter did not end here. The survival of the Islamic and revolutionary system, the advancement of the revolutionary system, the various victories of the revolutionary system in various fields; in military fields like the Sacred Defense, in scientific fields, and in various social and political fields have impacted other nations day by day, and other nations—nations of this region and Muslim nations whose hearts were full and had no leader—when they saw such an event happening in Iran, it was as if it was the story of their hearts. Therefore, nations became enamored with the Islamic system, with Islamic leadership, with the leadership of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), and with the Islamic Republic system, which is still the case today. Today, nations in the Islamic world—from the western Islamic world to the eastern Islamic world; everywhere—look at the Iranian nation and this movement with admiration and envy. This also deepened the wounds of the Americans, and this is the motivation for the United States to oppose the Islamic Republic.

The United States wants the Islamic Republic to raise its hands and express fatigue; to regret what it has done, and to fall back into the web of the agents and pawns of the tyrannical system. The system of arrogance wants this. What the United States expects from the Iranian nation is that the Iranian nation accepts dependency, relinquishes its achieved independence, and willingly submits to American power again. They expect this from the Iranian nation, and the pressures they exert are for this reason. It is to tire the governments of the Islamic Republic, to tire the nation; along the way, the nation says enough, we are tired; the governments also retreat, so that the United States can pursue the same methods it had in the past with this country and today with some other countries. They seek dependency.

From the side of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation, the issue is of the same depth. The problem of the Iranian nation with the United States is not a problem of today's actions; it is a problem of fifty-three years of cunning and malice from that regime towards the Iranian nation; from 1953 to today. Years before the revolution, especially from the time the movement of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) and the movement of the clergy began until the victory of the revolution, they conspired against the Iranian nation, inflicted blows, betrayed, exerted pressure, and employed various arrogant methods against this nation. After the victory of the revolution—for thirty years now—there has not been a single day when the United States has had a good intention towards the Iranian nation; it has not apologized for its past actions; it has not sincerely abandoned its arrogance and greed towards the Iranian nation. Our issue with the United States is not that we have disagreements over two global or international or regional issues that we can sit down and negotiate to resolve. The issue is a matter of life and death; it is a matter of existence and non-existence. This is the second point, which you youth should know; we are not inclined to conflict; but we are committed to preserving our identity, our independence, our dignity. Anyone who seeks to undermine the dignity of the Iranian nation, to humiliate the Iranian nation, to extend the hand of dominance over this nation, the Iranian nation will cut off that hand with its honor and faith.

The third and final point is, what will be the end of this confrontation? This is important. All the propaganda apparatuses of the West, especially the United States—the artistic apparatuses, the press apparatuses, various propaganda apparatuses, the seemingly political or scientific research apparatuses—are trying to portray that the end of this path for the Iranian nation is a dead end and that the United States is moving forward on its path! This is a complete lie; the reality is the opposite. The end of this path is a dead end for the tyrannical regime and the arrogant regime of the United States. The clear reason is that if they were to defeat the Iranian nation, they could have done so on the day when this nation had neither this many youth, nor these advancements, nor these experiences, nor had it triumphed in a great battle like the Sacred Defense, nor had it shown its power in various political arenas; they could have defeated the Iranian nation then—not today, when the Iranian nation has more experience, its hand is stronger, its scientific capabilities are far more advanced than before, its military capabilities are many times greater than those days, its voice is more resonant among nations than before, and it has more youth than it did then. Back then, the Iranian nation was in the minority among a population of forty million and gradually forty-five million; today, among a population of over seventy million, the youth are in the majority. Back then, the United States had much more prestige in the world. Today, the United States is disgraced in the world. Today, not only Muslim nations but even many Western nations are turning away from the United States. Many scholars in the United States and many of their people are protesting against the ruling regime in that country.

Today, the fundamental slogans of the United States, which used to cut off the heads of nations and slaughter them and bring national governments down from power, have been discredited; such as the slogan of human rights, such as the slogan of democracy.

They have shown their human rights in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons and in various killings in Afghanistan and today in Pakistan. They are demonstrating their democracy-seeking in occupied Palestine; a popular government—the Hamas government that came to power through elections—is in power, and with various maledictions and wickedness, they want to put this government under pressure. In Iraq, they are showing it; they want to impose a security agreement by force; they have suffocated everyone with their pressures. Now that the Iraqi nation and the Iraqi officials have raised their heads, they say we do not accept it; they are exerting pressure and threatening; while this current Iraqi government came to power with the votes of the people. What does democracy mean? Is it anything other than this?! Their scholars have repeatedly acknowledged over the years that in the Middle East, the most democratic country is the Islamic Republic. It has elections; the president, the representatives of the parliament, the leadership itself, the representatives of the Assembly of Experts are elected by the people; they acknowledge this. At the same time, they behave this way towards the Islamic Republic! These slogans of republicanism and democracy-seeking and human rights have become outdated. Even the masses of nations no longer believe these words, let alone scholars and elites.

Today, whenever the President of the United States enters any country in the world, people of those countries gather and tell him: go back to your home; Yankee! Go back to your home. There is no greater disgrace than this. This is the current disgrace of the United States. If the United States were able to block the Iranian nation, to bring the Iranian nation to a dead end, it would have done so when there were no such disgraces. Today, it cannot.

I tell you: dear youth! The future belongs to you; the future belongs to the Iranian nation. The future of the Iranian nation is to reach the lofty peaks of knowledge, power, prosperity, and honor. This is your certain future. And this is the divine promise. The Quran has promised us, Islam has promised us that if nations move, show faith, show zeal, do not tire, practice patience, and remain steadfast, they will certainly reach their goals. We have tested this so far, we have stood firm, and we have reached our mid-term goals. In some places, we also have disorder, because we did not stand firm; it is our fault. It is not that I do not know the disorders of the country; no, I know. Wherever we have problems and disorders—if there is injustice, if there is poverty—it is because we, the officials and the people, did not stand firm for the advancement of these goals. If we had stood firm, these issues would have been resolved as well. It is our fault. We must stand firm.

And you dear youth—student organizations, schoolchildren, youth outside of organizations—know this: today, the unity of the Iranian nation, the unity of the nation and the government, the unity among the officials of the country, is the key to victory, which they want to disrupt. I believe in the slogans of youth and the slogans of the youth, but be careful that these slogans do not create divisions, do not fulfill the enemy's desires; do not play in the field set by the enemy. Be careful about this. Everyone must be vigilant; politicians must be vigilant, journalists must be vigilant, youth must be vigilant, and the officials themselves must be vigilant.

The enemy designs. Do not play in the field they have created; because whether you win or lose, it is to their benefit. The enemy's design is to create divisions, to create despair, to pit political activists against each other, to isolate the authentic line and Islamic values. These actions are the enemy's plans; to distract the youth with whims and trivialities and to divert them from the general movement of the Iranian nation, to bring schools to a standstill, to bring student classes to a standstill. These are the enemy's plans. We must be vigilant. We must stand against any action that leads to these plans. Unity must be preserved, hope must be preserved, effort must be increased day by day, and we must be sincere with each other and bring our hearts closer together and move passionately in various social responsibilities.

Some individuals have already started discussing election issues—although there is still a long time left, they have rushed—these electoral issues are very important, and their importance in the near elections is from the perspective of participation in the electoral arena; but their importance today is from the perspective of engaging individuals with each other, getting entangled with each other, speaking ill of each other, and diverting minds from the main issues. Be careful.

And I know that the Iranian nation, with divine grace, will overcome these various and successive challenges with full power and, God willing, will reach the peaks.

O Lord! Make the heart of the holy Imam of the Age kind towards us; include us in his prayers; unite our dear Imam and our great martyrs with their saints; grant us the success to walk the right path.

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