Statements in Meeting with Thousands of People from Various Social Classes

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 remainder of God on earth.

I extend my warm welcome to all the dear brothers and sisters who have filled this Hussainiya with their sincere and loving feelings of monotheism today; especially to the brothers and sisters who have come from various other cities.

In our region, which is one of the most sensitive areas in the world, events are currently unfolding; these events must be understood correctly, and lessons must be learned from them. The public opinion of the country is also engaged with these issues; they have questions, they have remarks, they have opinions; it is necessary to clarify ambiguities. I do not intend to analyze the events in Syria — others will do that — my intention today is to "clarify and depict." By "clarifying," I mean to express what has happened and what is perhaps being attempted to be hidden from view, to the extent that we see and understand; "depicting" means that during my remarks today, we will illustrate our situation, our movement, the movement of the region, and the future of the region according to our understanding. This is the essence and summary of the discussions I will present today, God willing.

Firstly, there should be no doubt that what has happened in Syria is the result of a joint American and Zionist plan; yes, a neighboring government of Syria has played a clear role in this regard, and is still doing so — everyone sees this — but the main actors are them; the main instigator, the main plotter, the main command room is in America and the Zionist regime. We have indications; these indications leave no room for doubt.

One of the indications is their behavior regarding this incident. Well, in a country — even if you do not agree with the government of that country — a war has occurred, two groups have clashed; this happens everywhere, why do you intervene? According to reports, the Zionist regime has bombed more than three hundred locations in Syria! Why? If you have no involvement in this incident, if the plan of this incident does not concern you, then just sit back and watch. Two groups are fighting each other; why are you entering the war and bombing over three hundred points? The Americans themselves have announced — of course until yesterday, perhaps it has increased since then — that they have bombed 75 points as well! Some of these points they bombed are Syria's infrastructure; places that are not easily built, that require effort for a country. Building an airport, establishing research centers, training scientists; these are not easy tasks. Why did the Zionist regime and America intervene in this matter and become a party to the war and start bombing the country? Bombing three or four hundred points is not a trivial matter.

In addition to this, the Zionist regime has seized Syrian lands; their tanks have come close to Damascus. The Golan Heights, which belonged to Damascus, has been in their hands for years, and now they have started to take other areas as well. America and Europe and governments that are sensitive about these matters in other countries of the world, are sensitive about a meter and ten meters, not only remain silent and do not protest, but also assist. The work is their work.

Moreover, another indication is that in recent days, some of the assistance that was necessary for the people of Syria or for a region of Syria, or specifically for the area around Zainabiyya, was supposed to be transferred from here to there, but all routes were blocked by Zionist and American planes. F-15s came over the sky, not allowing any aircraft to pass. Of course, one of our pilots bravely took the risk and landed, but more than this was needed and more should have been done; however, they prevented it. If you are not the owner of this matter, if you are not the ones fighting under the name of, for example, a certain terrorist group, or a certain armed group against Syria, if you are not behind them, why are you doing these things? Why do you intervene? Why do you assist? Why do you prevent assistance to the people of Syria?

Of course, these attackers I mentioned each have their own objectives; their goals differ; some from northern Syria or southern Syria are seeking to seize land; America seeks to solidify its foothold in the region; these are their objectives; and time will show that, God willing, none of them will achieve these goals. The seized areas of Syria will be liberated by the valiant Syrian youth — do not doubt that this will happen — and America's foothold will not be solidified, and by God's grace, with divine support, America will also be expelled from the region by the resistance front.

I mentioned the "resistance front"; let me say a few words about the "resistance front." The arrogant powers are pleased after these Syrian events, expressing joy under the illusion that with the fall of the Syrian government, which was supportive of resistance, the resistance front has weakened; they rejoice and say the resistance front has weakened; in my opinion, they are gravely mistaken. Those who think that the resistance front has weakened with these events do not have a proper understanding of resistance and the resistance front; they do not know what the resistance front truly means.

The "resistance front" is not a hardware that can break or collapse or be destroyed. "Resistance" is a faith, a thought, a heartfelt and decisive decision; resistance is a school, a school of belief. What is the faith of a group of people is not a contractual matter — that I now say why it is their faith — this, under pressure, not only does not weaken but becomes stronger.

The motivation of the individuals of the resistance front and the elements of the resistance front becomes stronger upon witnessing the wickedness of the enemy, and the scope of the resistance front expands. This is how resistance works. When they see the brutal crimes of the enemy, those who had doubts about whether to resist or not, come out of their doubts and understand that there is no way to continue on their path except by standing up against the oppressor and tyrant; they must stand firm, they must resist; this is what resistance means.

Look at Hezbollah in Lebanon, see Hamas, see Jihad (Islamic Jihad), see the Palestinian fighting forces; all of these have faced pressure. Was the calamity that befell Hezbollah trivial? Hezbollah lost someone like Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah; was this a small matter? The attacks on Hezbollah, the strength of Hezbollah, the firm fist of Hezbollah after this became greater than before; the enemy understood this and accepted it. They thought that now that they have struck a blow, they could enter Lebanese territory, push Hezbollah back to the Litani River, and advance; they could not advance. Hezbollah stood with full strength; they did something that they themselves came and said: ceasefire! This is resistance.

Look at Gaza! For over a year and several months, they have been bombing Gaza, they have killed prominent figures in Gaza, such as Yahya Sinwar, they inflicted these blows; yet the people stand firm. They thought that by putting pressure on the people, they would rise against Hamas and revolt; it backfired; the people became more supportive of Hamas. Jihad is the same, and the other Palestinian elements are the same. This is resistance; this is the resistance front: the more pressure you apply, the stronger it becomes; the more crimes you commit, the more motivated it becomes; the more you fight against them, the broader it becomes. And I tell you, by God's grace, the scope of resistance will encompass the entire region more than before. That ignorant analyst who is unaware of the meaning of resistance thinks that if resistance weakens, the Islamic Iran will also weaken! I say that by God's grace, with the permission of God, a strong and powerful Iran will become even more powerful.

Let me say one more sentence about resistance. First, let me say what resistance actually means. Resistance means standing against the domination of America and any other oppressor; this is the meaning of resistance. Resistance means fighting against dependency on these powers; resistance means that nations do not become servants of a superior power like America and its ilk; this is the meaning of resistance. This meaning of resistance is rooted in the beliefs of the nations of the region. I am not concerned with governments; nations regard resistance as important; the root of resistance lies in the faith of the nations and their beliefs. Did you see what the nations of the region did in support of Gaza? Those who do not speak their language, have not seen their region, do not know them, stood up against the Zionist regime and in favor of the people of Gaza throughout this region — now in one form across the world — they stood firm. The common belief of the nations of the region is this, and that is the reason.

Look, now almost 75 years have passed since the usurpation of Palestine; well, an incident that happened 75 years ago should gradually fade, be forgotten by people, should be silenced. Today, the steadfastness of the nations of the region and the Palestinians regarding the Palestinian issue is perhaps ten times more than what it was at the beginning; instead of fading, it is intensifying; the characteristic of a common and public belief is this; and this will certainly continue.

Alignment with the Zionist regime is a red line for the nations. I am not concerned with governments; they speak differently, they say. If you ask the nations, they oppose; the overwhelming majority of the nations oppose. Of course, the Zionist regime commits crimes, but the crimes of no one lead to victory; neither the crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon, nor its crimes in Gaza, nor in the West Bank where Palestinian groups are engaged in struggle; they commit many crimes there, but the crimes of no one lead to victory. This is a divine tradition, and today this historical experience is happening before our eyes in Gaza and Lebanon.

Well, a question arises here: Did we have a presence in Syria over these years, as we described the issues in Syria? Well, everyone knows that yes; the martyrs of defending the shrine indicate that we were present. However, how? This needs explanation. One important point is that everyone knows of our presence, the martyrs were all mourned, but there are several points that most do not know or at least many of our youth do not know. We helped the Syrian government, but before we helped the Syrian government, at a critical juncture, the Syrian government provided us with a vital assistance; most are not aware of this. In the midst of war, during the Sacred Defense, when everyone was working against Saddam and against us, the Syrian government made a significant decisive move in favor of us and against Saddam; and that was that they cut the oil pipeline that took oil from there to the Mediterranean and to Europe, and the money went into Saddam's pocket. It caused a stir in the world. They did not allow the oil that belonged to Saddam to flow. How much oil was going from here? One million barrels a day. One million barrels of oil was going from this pipeline towards the Mediterranean. The Syrian government also benefited from the passage of this route, so to speak, from this oil transit, they received money, which they also gave up. Of course, they took compensation from us; that is, the Islamic Republic did not leave this service without compensation. [So] first they helped us. This is one.

[However] regarding the issue of the ISIS sedition. ISIS means a bomb of insecurity; ISIS meant to make Iraq insecure, to make Syria insecure, to make the region insecure, and then to come to the main point and final target, which is the Islamic Republic of Iran, and make the Islamic Republic of Iran insecure; this was the main and final goal; this is the meaning of ISIS. We became present; our forces were present in both Iraq and Syria for two reasons: one reason was "to preserve the sanctity of the holy shrines"; because they had enmity towards the holy shrines, far from spirituality and away from faith, they intended to destroy them and did destroy them. You saw in Samarra; later, with the help of the Americans, they destroyed the holy dome of Samarra. They intended to do this in Najaf, in Karbala, in Kadhimayn, in Damascus; this was the goal of ISIS. Well, it is clear; a faithful, valiant youth who loves the Ahl al-Bayt will never submit to such a thing and will not allow it. This is one reason.

Another reason was "security issues." The officials quickly and timely understood that if this insecurity was not contained there, it would spread and come here, and would engulf our entire great country in insecurity. The insecurity of the ISIS sedition was not a trivial matter; you remember the individual examples that occurred; in the Shah Cheragh incident, the incident in Kerman, the incident in the Parliament, and so on. Wherever they could, they caused such atrocities. This was supposed to come here. Amir al-Mu'minin said: A nation that becomes embroiled with the enemy in its own home becomes humiliated; do not let it reach your home. Therefore, our forces went, our prominent commanders went, our dear martyr Soleimani and his companions went, they organized and armed their own youth, both in Iraq and in Syria — first in Iraq, then in Syria — they stood against ISIS, broke the back of ISIS, and were able to prevail. Well, our presence in that matter was like this.

Pay attention to this point: The nature of our military presence in Syria — it was the same in Iraq — did not mean that we would take our armies — our military, our IRGC — and go there to fight in place of their army; no, that does not make sense; this is neither logical nor does public opinion accept that an army from here rises and goes to fight in place of their army; no, the war is the responsibility of the army of that country itself. What our forces could do and did was advisory work. What does advisory mean? It means forming important central and main headquarters, determining strategies and tactics, and in urgent situations, entering the battlefield, but most importantly, mobilizing the youth of that region. Of course, our youth, our Basijis were also eager, enthusiastic, insistent; many of them went; we did not agree; many times they requested from me, asked, wrote, sent messages, pleaded that let us go to Syria to stand against the enemy. Well, it was not appropriate; that is, at that time it was not deemed expedient, but they went, they went through various means — which you know; some of their stories are famous — and some of them became martyrs, some of them, thank God, returned safely. The main work was advisory work. Our presence there was an advisory presence; in rare cases, it was in the form of the necessary presence of our forces, and mostly our forces were volunteer and Basij forces [along with] the forces there. Martyr Soleimani trained, armed, organized, and prepared a group of several thousand from their own youth; they stood firm. Then, unfortunately, later some of their own, some of the military officials of that country, created problems and issues and unfortunately disregarded what was in their favor.

After the ISIS sedition was extinguished, some of the forces returned, some remained; among those who had gone, some stayed there; they were present in these matters, but as I mentioned, the main war must be fought by the army of that country. Alongside the army of that country, the volunteer forces that came from elsewhere can fight; if the army of that country shows weakness, this volunteer force cannot do anything; and this unfortunate event occurred; when the spirit of resistance and steadfastness diminishes, this is what happens. The calamities that are now befalling Syria — only God knows how long this will continue; how long the valiant youth of Syria will come to the field and stop it — are due to the same weaknesses that were shown there.

The Iranian nation takes pride in its army, in its IRGC. The senior officials of the armed forces, the armed organizations, write to me that we cannot bear it, allow us to go; compare this with that army that cannot bear it and flees! Our army during the tyrannical regime was unfortunately like this; they also did not stand firm against the attacks of enemies and foreigners in various wars, including in the Second World War; they did not stand firm. That day, the enemy came to take Tehran itself; they did not stand firm. When they do not stand firm, this is the result. We must resist; we must utilize the God-given force.

Even in these difficult conditions, we were prepared. They came here and told me that all the facilities needed for the Syrians today are ready, we are ready to go, [but] the skies were closed, the land was closed; the Zionist regime and America closed both the skies of Syria and the land routes; it was impossible. This is how the matters are. If the motivations within that country remained intact and they could have a say against the enemy, the enemy could not close their sky, nor could they close the land route; assistance could have been provided to them. Well, this is now a general picture.

There are several other points that I must mention. The first point is that everyone should know, this matter will not remain as it is; that now a group comes to Damascus or other places, rejoices, dances, assaults the homes of people, and the Zionist regime comes to bomb, brings tanks, brings artillery, this matter will not remain like this; certainly, the valiant Syrian youth will rise, will stand firm, will sacrifice, will incur losses, but they will overcome this situation. Just as the valiant youth of Iraq did; the valiant youth of Iraq, with the help, guidance, and command of our dear martyr, were able to drive the enemy out of the alleys and streets, out of their homes; otherwise, the Americans were doing the same things in Iraq; they would break down doors, lay the homeowner down in front of his wife and children, pressing his face to the ground with their boots! This happened in Iraq too, but they stood firm, resisted, and our dear martyr put all his efforts into this path. They will do the same. Of course, it may take time, it may be prolonged, but the result is certain and definitive.

The second point is that the Syrian incident has lessons for us — for each of us, for our officials — it has lessons and it has admonitions; we must learn lessons. One of the lessons is this issue of "negligence"; negligence towards the enemy. Yes, in this incident, the enemy acted swiftly, but they should have understood beforehand that this enemy would act and would act swiftly. We had also helped them; our intelligence apparatus had sent warning reports to the Syrian officials several months prior. Of course, I do not know whether these [reports] reached those high officials or not, whether they got lost in the middle; but our intelligence officials had informed them. From when? From Shahrivar, Mehr, Aban, they had been reporting one after another. There should be no negligence; one should not be oblivious to the enemy; the enemy should not be underestimated, nor should one trust the enemy's smile; sometimes the enemy speaks to a person in a pleasant tone, speaks with a smile, but holds a dagger behind his back, waiting for an opportunity.

Another point is that the resistance front should neither become arrogant from victories nor despondent from defeats. Victory and defeat [are always] present. The personal lives of individuals are like this: in them, there is success, there is failure; the lives of groups are like this: in them, there is success, there is failure. One day a current is in power, another day it is out of power; governments are like this, countries are like this. There are ups and downs in life; one cannot avoid the ups and downs. What is necessary is that when we are on the rise, we should not become arrogant; because arrogance brings ignorance, and becoming arrogant makes one oblivious. When we reach a low point, when we have failed somewhere, we should not become depressed, despondent, or heartbroken.

The Islamic Republic, in these forty-plus years, has faced great and difficult events; great events! The youth did not see that day; in this very Tehran, the people of Tehran were sitting at home, a Soviet-made MiG-25 belonging to Saddam was flying over us, if it had been noble, it would not have bombed, but it terrified us; but it terrified us! And we could do nothing; we had neither its defense nor its capabilities. We have faced these things. One day in this city of Tehran, everyone was sitting in their homes, suddenly Saddam's planes came here, bombed Tehran; they bombed the airport, bombed other places. I myself was giving a speech that day in a factory near Tehran airport. There was a commotion, we got up and looked out the window, I saw the Iraqi plane come down, drop its bombs at the airport, and leave. We have seen these things. The Islamic Republic has faced various bitter events, but in these events, it has never been passive for a moment.

Passivity should not arise from a believer. The danger of passivity is sometimes greater than the incident itself. Passivity means that a person looks and comes to feel that he can do nothing, so he submits! This is passivity. Therefore, in advancements and successes, "arrogance" is poison; in failures and problems, "passivity" is poison; we must be cautious of these two. The Quran says: When the victory of God and the opening comes, and you see people entering the religion of God in droves, then glorify your Lord with praise; do not become arrogant! And seek forgiveness for the shortcomings you have committed!

Some, of course, have the intention to empty the hearts of the people; this must not happen; now some do this abroad; foreign televisions, foreign radios, foreign newspapers speak to the people in Persian, portraying the issues in such a way as to scare the people, to empty their hearts; now that obligation is different and they must be dealt with differently, but inside, no one should do this. If someone speaks in an analysis, in a statement in such a way that its meaning is to empty the hearts of the people, this is a crime and must be pursued.

Certainly, the Iranian nation is ready to act; and it is clear that presence in any point requires the accompaniment and agreement of the government there. When we became present in Iraq, the Iraqi government itself requested us; when we became present in Syria, the Syrian government requested us; we were able to go with their request, with their agreement. [If] they do not request, naturally the way is closed and assistance to them will not be possible. However, God Almighty, God willing, will assist, and the roots of Zionism and the wicked Western agents in this region will be uprooted; by God's grace.

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