Statements in Meeting with a Group of Students Participating in the نور Caravan

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 Awaited One on earth.

Dear youth, my beloved children, those who hold the future of the country! Welcome. You are truly the owners, operators, and managers of the future of this country. Every understanding you have, every decision you make, every action you take that influences your character today, means influencing the future of this country, and this is a very important point.

Regarding the نور caravans, thanks be to God, this successful movement—which has been initiated in the country for several years and has been developing day by day—is one of the manifestations of honoring the Sacred Defense era. The Sacred Defense era must truly be cherished, valued, and protected, because those eight years—the eight years of Sacred Defense—guaranteed the dignity of the country, the identity of the nation, the current security, and the honor of the Iranian people. Whatever you can study in this regard, pay attention to, and pursue, you will certainly reach the conclusion that if those eight years of Sacred Defense, with all their characteristics, had not existed in this part of our country's history, today our country and our nation would certainly not enjoy dignity, security, health, independence, or freedom. Those eight years—seemingly years of war, pressure, fear, and numerous problems—were, in essence, a divine blessing; one of the hidden graces of God bestowed upon this country and this nation. These are things that you must pursue and investigate yourselves; and certainly, anyone who conducts a proper and complete investigation in this regard will reach the same conclusion. Well, we must cherish, honor, and value this era. The power that our nation and our country have today is the product of that Sacred Defense and those eight golden years in our country's history and in that specific piece of realization and occurrence; we must keep that luminous piece alive.

Today, there are motivations from the enemies of this nation to make the Sacred Defense era forgotten; they are trying to do this, either to make it forgotten or to question it or to defame it. Today, money is being spent by the powerful enemies of Iran to make it forgotten. What you are doing is a massive popular struggle against what the enemy is doing. History and the Sacred Defense era are a treasure that must be used for the advancement of the country, for national growth, and for preparedness in the many fields that every nation faces.

Well, there is much to say about the Sacred Defense; let me tell you this. To this day, books have been written, memories have been recorded, films have been made, many of which are very good and truly valuable, but there are various dimensions of the Sacred Defense issue that remain untold, unexplored, and unworked upon; they remain virgin. Today, I will briefly refer to two aspects of these various dimensions for you dear youth: one aspect relates to the cause of this war and the reason that led to Iran being subjected to this aggression; the second, the quality of the defense of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation in this war that was imposed upon them. I mentioned that when you look at the whole, this imposed war, this defense, the malice, the wickedness that was carried out by the enemy, the bravery, the sufferings that were exhibited by the Iranian nation, all of these together were a divine grace; however, these must be analyzed and recognized; I will briefly present these two points to you dear youth today.

The first point is: what was the cause of this war? How did it happen that suddenly the Iranian nation, which had no issues with its western neighbor, was attacked, and this aggression lasted for eight years; what was the reason? The reason was the greatness of the revolution, the grandeur of the revolution. When the Islamic Revolution came into being, the greatness of this revolution and its grandeur frightened and intimidated the powerful global enemies; this is a reality. Those who sat on the throne of power dominating the world and threatened everyone without fear, namely the powerful capitalist forces of the West, led by the United States and then Europe—European countries truly saw themselves at the peak of power and authority—and of course, on the other side, the Soviet Union—which I will also mention—these powerful figures who saw themselves at the peak of power, with the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution in the country, their throne of power trembled, the world became an earthquake for them; they were truly intimidated; they could not properly analyze what this phenomenon was that had occurred in Iran. In a materialistic world, in a world devoid of faith, in a world indifferent to virtues, in a world indifferent to Islam especially, in a country where all the demands of the West were meticulously executed by the rulers of that country, suddenly a revolution occurred that was completely contrary to their desires and against their material goals and lusts, based on Islam, based on religion, based on virtue; this was completely incomprehensible to them that young people would come to the field without weapons and stand against weapons; both students and schoolchildren came—one of the important arenas of the bloody struggles of this country was the presence of students who came on the thirteenth of Aban; it was not just about students and great men; high school children and sometimes younger than them—up to the elderly, from various strata, came to the field in all cities and villages. This had truly astonished them; what is this phenomenon that has emerged; thus, they were intimidated. Well, as time passed, this astonishment they had turned into greater intimidation; that is, as time went on, their minds were not only not at ease, but their problems, concerns, and anxieties increased; why? Because they saw that this revolution was welcomed among the Muslim nations worldwide; in countries where the leaders of those countries were dependent on America, the nations in those countries shouted in favor of the Islamic Revolution. In 1979 and 1980, at the beginning of the revolution, almost in all Islamic countries, they spoke and shouted in favor of the Islamic Revolution, delivered sermons, published articles. This phenomenon truly terrified them; they saw that Iran, which they had controlled—previously they were dominant over Iran—was at risk of losing control over other Islamic countries and governments due to the spread of the culture of the revolution among the nations; therefore, they sought to destroy this revolution at any cost; the war of Saddam's Ba'ath regime against Iran began from here.

Saddam was a personality they knew—meaning they recognized him; they know political figures—there was a background of a selfish, arrogant, and oppressive movement within this man; naturally, he was an aggressor. At the time of the revolution, Saddam was not the president of Iraq; the president of Iraq was someone else—Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr—but they arranged for him to step aside and for Saddam to become the president of Iraq so that they could compel him, encourage him, and incite him to launch a military attack on Iran. The military attack on Iran was initially justified by the claim that they wanted to separate the oil-rich regions from Iran and connect them to Iraq; these were just words; it was not about the oil-rich regions; it was about the essence of the government, the essence of the revolution; they wanted to destroy the revolution. The powerful America and Europe—now the second and third-tier European countries did not matter, but the main Europe, meaning England, France, Germany, Italy, these countries that had a position in Europe, had capabilities—were all completely behind Saddam and helped him in every way they could; they helped him as much as they could!

Saddam's forces at the beginning of the war were few in number, and their capabilities were conventional [but] as time passed—six months passed, a year passed, two years passed—their capabilities increased day by day. Well, war destroys resources; for example, at the beginning of the war, we had a certain number of tanks, some of which were destroyed; suppose we had some artillery, some of which were destroyed; we had munitions, many of which were destroyed; naturally, in war, resources are consumed; as the war progressed, the capabilities of the Ba'ath regime multiplied; who was providing them? France, England, Germany, America; the Soviet Union, which was against America, also entered the field in this matter, for its own specific reason: because the Soviet Union had a relatively large number of Muslim republics; the Islamic movement, the Islamic revolution in Iran would cause those republics to think about their Islamic identity; the Soviet government was unwilling, thus it also stood alongside America in this matter—against us, in the matter of the war against us, in the matter of fighting against us. So, it became America, the Soviet Union, NATO—[members of] the NATO alliance, which includes Europe and America and such—and all the dominant powers of the world stood behind Saddam against the Islamic Republic, to destroy the Islamic Republic; that was the goal; the goal was not to capture Khorramshahr or Qasr-e Shirin or such; the goal was to come; as Saddam said at the very beginning, we are having this interview today, and in a week we will have an interview in Tehran; this was how he had planned. This was the cause of the war; that is, the imposed war was a massive international conspiracy of the most powerful forces in the world against the newly emerged Islamic Republic. It was as if all the wild animals wanted to attack a lone, unarmed, and defenseless human; in reality, it was like this.

At that time, the Islamic Republic had neither organized armed forces nor a regular and organized intelligence apparatus—it was the beginning of the revolution, everything was in disarray—the only thing the Islamic Republic had was a faithful nation and a powerful leader like Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified); that was the only thing the nation had. This very country, France, in the middle of the war, provided its most advanced airplanes and helicopters to Iraq; this very country, Germany, provided chemical and toxic materials to the Saddam regime so that he could use chemical materials on the battlefields.

Those who today attack a certain group or country on the pretext of using chemical materials openly and publicly provided chemical materials to Saddam so that he could create chemical bombs, use chemical weapons, and he did use them on the battlefields, and even after 30 years since the end of the war—almost 29 years since the end of the war—we still have individuals among our combatants, and they are not few, who suffer from the chemical contamination of that day, who are afflicted, many of whom have also been martyred in this path. The British helped, the Americans helped, their war plans and satellites helped, all the evil devices of the world helped this arrogant, self-centered, and conceited devil—namely Saddam—against the Islamic Republic, so that this war would arise and continue and end with his victory. Of course, all these efforts were like an arrow hitting a stone, hitting the ground; and despite all of them, for eight years they exhausted themselves to take an inch of the Islamic Republic's land, but they could not; throughout those eight years, the Iranian nation triumphed over all these powers. This was the first point; this was the cause of the war.

But the quality of the war and the type of defense that our warriors conducted in the battlefield. None of you dear ones remember the war period—of course, you probably know some personalities, you have read their books; and I recommend that you read these books that have been written about these dear, great, and truly exceptional figures; read these books—our type of defense was an extraordinary defense; it was accompanied by strong determination and will; in our battlefields, determination and will and decisive decisions were rampant; it was accompanied by faith; that is, belief in the righteousness of oneself and the falsehood of the enemy; this is very important. In a battlefield, the one who is fighting, if they have faith, meaning they believe in their righteousness, believe in the righteousness of this path, this will help their advancement. If this faith is faith in God, faith in the unseen, it is even more extraordinary; this is the very factor that granted victories to Muslims in the early days of Islam. In our time, the same thing happened. There was determination, there was faith, there was sacrifice. The result of that faith is sacrifice; that is, for them, giving their lives was not the main issue; they were truly ready to give their lives in the way of God and in the way of jihad for the sake of God; sacrifice. These memories that are written are full of sacrificial events that are truly a lesson for all of us. Whenever I read one of these books—of which I read a lot—I truly feel small in the face of the greatness that exists in these actions and sacrifices.

And innovation; one of the other characteristics of the Sacred Defense was the spirit of innovation and new works—if you have observed, you will see—breaking away from the conventional traditions of many armies of the world, which have experience and trials behind them, creating new paths and discovering new ways. This was truly the case; one of the most important issues of our warriors was innovation, and then spiritual devotions. The battlefields were places where ordinary people, when they went there, truly entered the realm of purity and the luminosity of mysticism, [and that too] involuntarily! These were the characteristics of our warriors. Therefore, this war became a human-making process. That is, the Sacred Defense caused each of our ordinary and normal youth—whether students, or students, or merchants, or villagers, or workers, or farmers, literate or illiterate—who moved more in this crucible of testing to advance and rise in human ranks and attain higher human status.

These prominent and important personalities, their endeavors, their sacrifices, do you think [how they were]? Martyr Hemmat, who is truly a legend, or martyr Khorramzadeh, who is a legend, were ordinary young people; it was the war that transformed them into these prominent and great and truly lasting personalities; [or people like] the Bakri brothers, the Borounsi brothers. Master Abd al-Hossein the uneducated builder, when he stood among the warriors and spoke—those who have been present at his talks know—spoke like a sage, like a wise scholar, and convinced his audience; the war is human-making. This Sacred Defense, with the characteristics I mentioned, produces such individuals. Chitsazian, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, enters the battlefield, transforms into a lasting figure, a shining star from whose words I, and others like me, and you, and everyone must benefit, and we do benefit. Thousands of young people like this were forged in the battlefield.

They had wisdom and strategy. To think that they just lowered their heads and recklessly charged at the enemy's army is not true; no, they acted wisely and strategically. The movement of our youth in the battlefield was a wise and strategic movement. They had wisdom and strategy, bravery and courage, and they also had sacrifice and worship. By day, they were truly the roaring lions of the battlefield, and by night, they were truly ascetics, worshippers, and supplicants; lions by day, worshippers by night; this is how it was.

Thus, Imam (may his soul be sanctified) in one of his very profound statements after one of these early victories sent a message—after the year 1981, a victory occurred, the liberation of Bostan, which was very important; after a period of retreat and various defeats, the liberation of Bostan was considered a great victory; [of course, this] is the essence of his words, his phrase is in the book—he said that the greatest victory is not the liberation of such and such city; the greatest victory is the training and production of such youths; this is the greatest victory, and indeed it is. The greatest victory for a country is that the youth of this country are wise, strategic, faithful, pious, supplicants, and worshippers, and are also steadfast against the enemy, and possess insight so that with all the propaganda that the enemy and its agents have done at all times and continue to do today, they do not fall for it. When such youths exist in a country, that country gains security.

As I said, you are the future of your country; if you cultivate and nurture yourselves with these characteristics, the country will soon—not in the distant future, in the near future—reach the peak of elevation and perfection; both scientifically, materially, politically, and economically it will reach its peak; this is how youth are.

The identity of the Sacred Defense is this: the enmity of the powerful global enemies brought about this war, and the greatness and sacrifice of our youth turned this war to our advantage. They started the war with the intention of completely destroying the Islamic Revolution; these youths entered the field with this spirit and did what made the Islamic Revolution stronger and more rooted day by day, and the Islamic Republic system became stronger; this is the identity of the Sacred Defense. This identity must be preserved, this must be protected. Your work, the نور caravans from all over the country, these millions of people, young and old, who move every year towards this direction, are indeed one of the manifestations of preserving that luminous era and this luminous truth, meaning the truth of the Sacred Defense.

Well, forty years have passed since the victory of the revolution, and you are mostly under 18, 20, 25 years old, and so on; they expected and wanted that when this generation—meaning your generation—comes to power, there would be no news of Islam and the revolution in this country, and that the Americans, the powerful of the world, and the Zionist capitalists would dominate the politics of this country, the identity of this nation, and everything in this country; their expectation was this; they started the struggle with this intention, they launched the war with this intention, they continued their soft and hard attacks after the war until today with this intention. What is the result today? The result is that among this generation, there are those whose potential for growth and flourishing is greater than that of the first generation, and their power against the wicked and aggressive enemy is greater, and undoubtedly, if our youth were able to push back the enemy back then, today our youth are far more prepared to push back the enemy. They plotted, they schemed, and the will of God, the Islamic Republic, and the divine will nullified their plans, God willing, it will continue to nullify them more and more. Good youths! Prepare yourselves.

Let me make a few recommendations regarding the نور caravans: First, all institutions should help this movement in their own way; all various institutions of the country that can assist this movement should help; of course, as stated in this report, some institutions help very well, but the belief is that this work should be the concern of all institutions of the country. Another point is that they should strengthen the cultural and social dimensions of the نور caravans as much as they can; they should see how the cultural depth of this massive popular movement will be secured, and they should pursue and follow it up. Another recommendation is about the narrators. Those who narrate events for the travelers and those who go to the نور areas must fully observe trustworthiness in their narrations. I oppose exaggeration and embellishment; there is no need for us to exaggerate; what has happened is sufficiently honorable, motivating, and attractive, and there is no need for us to add anything to it. Sometimes it is heard that the role of divine assistance is exaggerated in a colloquial manner; well, divine assistance certainly existed, we witnessed it, we know that divine assistance existed, but divine assistance was not depicted in the colloquial forms that are sometimes portrayed. The Almighty God certainly helps; the Almighty God commanded His angels in the Battle of Badr to go and support the fighters in the way of God, help them; the Almighty God does this everywhere for sincere individuals, but we must not fall into exaggeration and embellishment in expressing these matters.

The prominent events of the Sacred Defense era [must] be included in textbooks; the prominent and certain events that occurred must be transferred to textbooks so that our youth are informed about these events. Well, many books have been written; some books are thick, detailed, and many may not read them; excerpts can be separated from these and appropriately included in textbooks.

Observing the safety of the dear travelers is also one of the necessary things that must be considered; the brothers who are responsible should pay attention to this [issue].

Know that with this نور caravan movement, with these motivations that one observes in various fields from the youth of this country, the enemy, just as it has not been able to do anything against the Iranian nation in these forty years, will not be able to do anything in the future, by God's grace. Yes, they cause annoyances; they harass, there are sanctions, economic issues, various propaganda, these actions are bothersome to the nation, but they do not stop it; when the will is strong, when the decisions are serious for moving forward, for progressing, when the youth have the necessary insight and recognize the enemy in front of them, they do not make mistakes in identifying the enemy and do not weaken their resolve to confront the enemy, the enemy cannot make a move, the enemy cannot strike, the enemy cannot stop this massive movement.

We hope that, God willing, you dear youth will be able to bring this country to the peak of dignity and power in the future when the keys of this country will be in your hands.

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