The following is the full text of the speech delivered by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on September 22, 1987 at the UN General Assembly.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Dear God, I start [my speech] in Your Name and ask You for guidance and help. My life, death and worship belong to You. Bestow the clarity and attraction of righteous words on my statements and make them the conveyor of the truth for hundreds of millions of ears and hearts that are seeking the truth enthusiastically and for hundreds of times as many people in the future who will be equally enthusiastic to seek the truth.
Dear God, convey my and my nation's appreciative greetings to the souls of the great prophets, especially Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (Allah's greetings be upon them), the prophets who spread the message of human freedom and awareness throughout the world with all their power and made it immortal. And I offer respectful greetings to the pure and enlightened hearts that paid attention to that message, especially those who lost their lives for the sake of it. Mr. Secretary General, honorable audience, I am the President of a country that has been the cradle of civilization and the center of human culture during one of the most important and sensitive eras of history, and now it is the territory of a system which has been built on the same firm background and is relying on its unique cultural base - a base which has become richer thanks to Islamic Awakening.
I come from Iran, the birthplace of the most famous - and yet the least known - Revolution of contemporary history, a Revolution based on God's religion and in line with the path of prophets and great divine reformers, a path that is as long as the entire human history. The firm roots and the underlying intellectual base of this Revolution is Islam's monotheistic world view. The interpretation of man, the interpretation of history, the interpretation of the present, past and future events, the interpretation of nature, the explanation of all the interests that connect man to the outside world - the material world, human beings, objects - man's understanding of his own existence and in short, all the things that build up the value system of a society and make it capable of managing itself in a satisfactory way: all of these things are rooted in and derived from this divine world view. In Islamic thought, all existence is created by God. All existence is the manifestation of His knowledge and power, and it is moving towards Him. And man is His most superior creation and is His representative [on earth].
By utilizing the sources of talent in his inner self, man is able to improve himself and the world that has been created for him in the best possible way. He can use knowledge and faith as two wings to achieve spiritual and material transcendence. Or he can create a hell of oppression and corruption in the world by wasting or misusing these talents. Faith in God and obeying His orders are man's beacon of guidance. The world is the farm of the hereafter, and death is the not the end of life. Rather, it is the gate to immortality and the beginning of a new joy. In divine Islamic thought, human beings are brothers and sisters, and they are all servants of God.
There is no difference among races, skin colors and peoples of different countries. These things are not grounds enough to make a person or a nation superior. Human beings are connected to one another, and violating the rights of a person is the same as violating the rights of the entire humanity - regardless of geographical and racial characteristics.
The desire for domination and monopoly caused a brother to attack his brother, and the consequences of the blood that was shed never ended. Similar blows and motives caused springs of blood, and the fight between domineering people and their victims created seas of blood. Thus, peace was taken away from humanity. Divine prophets called on people to serve God, and serving God suppresses selfishness and the desire to dominate others. Divine prophets provided man with religious rituals that promised him a paradise of peace and tranquility even before entering heaven. They encouraged man to curb his greed and his desire for domination. They warned man against wasting his talents and wallowing in the marsh of moral corruption. They set the springs of virtue, righteousness, love, hard work, innovation, knowledge and awareness running. And they instilled into man remembrance and love of God - which guarantee all these things and help his soul achieve transcendence.
They also taught him to increase his physical strength to safeguard these values and shut the door to demons of evil, corruption and degeneration. They taught him to fight ignorance, oppression and domination and safeguard knowledge, justice and freedom. They taught him to avoid oppressing others and giving in to oppression. They taught him to rise up to establish justice and not to have mercy on those who stand in the way of humanity's salvation and happiness. Surrendering to the enemies of moral virtues, justice and salvation is the same as accepting vice, oppression, corruption and destruction of moral values. In divine Islamic thought, God's religion is the framework of human life, and not just a gem in the fabric of man's life. Religion provides man with a social system, and not just a set of rituals for worship - although religious rituals and worship are filled with the spirit of life and are in line with the social system presented by religion. And this social system is based on the same world view and is built in its image.
Freedom, equality of human beings, social justice, self-awareness of members of society, fighting deviation and ugliness, preferring human ideals to personal ideals, attention to God, remembrance of God, rejection of satanic domination and other social principles of the Islamic system coupled with morality, individual behavior and political and professional piety - these are all inspired by and born of that world view and that general interpretation of the world and man. Islam rejects systems which are based on coercion and bullying and systems which are born of oppression, ignorance, suppression, tyranny, humiliation of man and discrimination on the basis of race, nationality, blood and language. Islam vehemently fights with any system and person that is determined to fight the Islamic system. Islam orders its followers to love and help all human beings - whether they are compatriots or not - except for such people and systems. It was on the basis of such goals and foundations that the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran and led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Many people have sought the roots of the Islamic Revolution in Bahman 1357, and many of them have failed to understand this issue appropriately.
We believe that this great phenomenon is partly caused by the shortcomings of the existing systems in the world and disclosing the hollowness of the slogans of freedom, democracy and equality in these systems. Islam managed to sparkle in the midst of this alarming darkness in spite of the dust of illusion and distortion which had been wrapped around it over several centuries. In Iran this sparkle resulted in a flash of light, and then a storm. And we should expect events in many other parts of the world. In spite of what is believed and propagated, in many Islamic countries Islamic Awakening is not the child of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Rather, it is the brother of the Islamic Revolution. Iran is located in one of the most sensitive strategic parts of the world. The Islamic Revolution in Iran was carried out against a regime that had placed Iran's history, its scientific and cultural background and its unique natural resources at the service of the domineering powers of the world, and particularly at the service of the US regime during the last 25 years of its life. The Iranian nation needed its material and spiritual assets more than other nation, yet it was denied access to these assets. Their bombastic claims were lies and deception although the propaganda machines of the west - especially those connected with the Zionists - made every effort to make them sound exciting. The Islamic Revolution was started against such an order and with the purpose of achieving great and firmly established goals. About 9 years have passed since that day, but there are still many things to say.
A disproportionately large number of ignorant or spiteful comments have been made about us, our Revolution, our principles and our viewpoints. There are certain points about our Revolution that can be considered exceptions in the normal destiny of revolutions. I will discuss those points and will express our message at the end. First, this Revolution was a hundred percent populist even at its earliest stages. In our Revolution no armed guerilla group, no politically and militarily active party and no group of revolutionary and freedom-seeking officers - or any other groups which are commonly involved in revolutions that happen in other places - were present and active in our Revolution. It was only the people, and the people alone. They were totally unarmed, but they filled the streets and the general atmosphere of Tehran and other cities with their presence and their revolutionary slogans in such a way that there remained no room for the ruling body and its rule - and one by one or in groups, they were forced to leave their palaces, their centers of power and finally the country. The Shah, his Prime Minister, the high-ranking army officials, the ministers and any other yes-men who had the opportunity ran away from the people.
This happened after they had used all their political, military and security capabilities for more than a year to disperse the people and make them go back to their homes and their work. And during this time thousands of people had been killed in front of everybody's eyes in streets, in mosques, in universities and in the workplace. But the presence of the people had only increased on a daily basis. During the last few months, the violence of the regime and the presence of the people had both increased. The regime was not capable of further resistance under the pressure of the people who had laid down their lives. It was forced to make the biggest concessions. The Shah left the country, and then repeated and rapid concessions were made by the regime. The great Leader of the Revolution, whose words used to inspire and raise the awareness of every member of the public, established the revolutionary government by relying on Allah the Exalted - who has full control over every source of power - and the great and indomitable will of the people. The oppressive regime of the Shah was gradually forced to give up power and flee from the country. The last strongholds were empty garrisons whose soldiers and officers had either fled from the country or joined the people.
A limited number of garrisons resisted at the last minutes, but their resistance was in vain. The people were present even there, and the miracle of this Revolution was the victory of the people. It was only after the collapse of the garrisons that the people gained access to weapons, but the monarchy had collapsed then. These weapons were used to safeguard the young sapling of the Revolution. The people - young and old, men and women - were the only ones who defeated the Pahlavi regime, a regime that enjoyed the support of the biggest powers of the time and seemed to be strong and fully armed. And the people brought the Islamic Republic to power. Their weapon was their faith, their strong will and their blood, and blood overcame the sword. The victory of blood over the sword is the same policy of innocent resistance. Our Leader announced it before the victory of the Revolution, and the first miracle of that was the victory over the Shah's regime which was armed to the teeth and enjoyed full support of America and the west. There were other victories after that, some of which were even greater than the victory over the Shah's regime.
This was a unique experience, at least in the past century, and it would be good if it were reflected upon both by the countries that are dominated and by the domineering powers of the world. Second, this Revolution was based on religion. It was based on Islam. There have been many revolutions whose roots fed on religious faith. Although little or no attention has been paid to the importance of this religious faith in the structure of the Revolution, our Revolution derived all of its elements from Islam - its goals, its principles and even its methods of fighting as well as the structure and management of its novel system.
For at least one hundred and fifty years, Islam has been the target of attacks by colonialist powers and their reactionary and wretched agents. Moreover, Islam is a holy faith and a divine religion in more than fifty countries and among one billion people. The victory of a Revolution whose spirit and content is Islam is in fact a victory over all those aggressors and a victory in the life of these one billion people. Hundreds of millions of men and women - Muslim men and women - felt triumphant in tens of different countries after the victory of our Revolution. This characteristic shuts the door to the retreat, defeat, weakness and fear of the people, the Leader of the Revolution and its managers. There is no defeat on the path of God, so there cannot be weakness, fear and retreat either.
Third, another unique characteristic of this Revolution was its independence from the east and the west, and currently this is the basic policy of our revolutionary system. This is one of the manifestations of faith and reliance on God in all arenas of our personal and social life. Today the idea that is dominant over the world of politics all over the world is that it is not possible to survive in the arena of contemporary politics without relying on one of the two poles of power. There may be disagreements over the degree of this dependence, but its essence remains unquestioned. Even those who have accepted the idea of independence on an intellectual level believe that this independence is impossible in practice.
Our Revolution presented a new philosophy in such an atmosphere, and it has remained committed to this philosophy until today. Our Revolution proved that it is possible to prevent hegemonic powers from interfering in the affairs of one's country. It proved that it is possible not to take their bullying seriously and refuse to make concessions to them, providing that one believes in a source of power that is superior any material power - namely, God. We have realized that there is heavy price to pay for this belief and this path, and we have prepared ourselves for this. Let this experience guide nations towards genuine and flawless independence, and finally towards complete rejection of big global hegemonies. The current system of division of power threatens humanity with even a more bitter future. Fourth, our Revolution has had another unique characteristic: the exceptional hostilities and blows against it.
No revolution can steer clear of the hostility of the order of domination in the world. But the variety, depth, breadth and strength of the hostilities that have been shown to us during the past nine years are a unique and interesting story. The hostilities started when the Revolution had not achieved victory. These hostilities were mainly shown by America. The agents who consider the passage of time as a permission to disclose hidden secrets are now confessing that the American government, the President and his national security advisor used to encourage the Shah to take decisive action during the last few months of the rule of his oppressive government.
By decisive action, they meant the same thing that was explicitly stated by a person called General [Robert Forest] Huyser later on. General Huyser had been sent to Tehran by the US President on a special mission. In his opinion and according to the recommendations he had received, the Shah's regime should have been saved even at the cost of killing tens of thousands of people. The reasoning was that this was better than killing several times more people later on. The US regime did not at all believe in the assumption that the lack of US interference in Iran's internal affairs would have saved the lives of tens of thousands of people at that time and several times more lives later on.
Definitely the failure of Huyser's mission, his escape from Tehran and the capture or escape of all the people America was counting on to carry out that evil plan did not have any reason except the destructive power of the revolutionary wave and the great power of a nation that has revolted for the sake of God and does not fear anybody but God.
The enemies of the Revolution did not let up. Rather, it was the Revolution that forced every enemy out of the arena. The enemy had previously used the treacherous Shah to exert every possible kind of pressure. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, other forms of hostile machinations were started. First, they made all-out efforts in order to put their agents in managerial positions of the Revolution. And then they used the lax political atmosphere - which had been created after several decades of suppression - to organize the parties and groups that were opposed to the Revolution.
There is an interesting example regarding the former case. During the early days after the victory of the Revolution, a dependant but not very famous pawn - who was found guilty and treacherous by the Revolutionary Court a few weeks after the victory of the Revolution - managed to become the commander of the Air Force. Regarding the latter case, it is enough to say that there were a range of people - from royalists to communists, and from separatists to Pan-Iranists - and it should not be forgotten that some embassies in Tehran, especially the US embassy, were a center for guiding and supporting some of these groups. Violent terrorism was another kind of vengeful hostility against the Revolution.
By stealing weapons - which was not very difficult at that time - and receiving support from foreign governments, the groups that did not have any base of support among the people created the biggest terrorist networks in Iran. Assassination of individuals and groups of people, massive explosions, plane hijacking, kidnap, torture and horrific killings were carried out in Iran by a number of terrorist groups supported and encouraged by the archenemies of the Revolution. The victims of this wave of brutality and violence were not limited to people from a particular background. The victims ranged from the most high-ranking managers of the Revolution and the country to the ordinary citizens of our society - laborers, hardworking people, women, children and unsuspecting passers-by. Today the members and heads of those terrorist groups - who have mostly claimed responsibility for their crimes - have been granted immunity and are living a comfortable life in America, France and some other western countries. They call them the opposition. And those countries often accuse the Islamic Republic of terrorism. One of the most amazing political games is that the most innocent victims of blind and violent terrorism are accused of terrorism by the people who play a major role in supporting terrorists and harboring them later on.
As the President and servant of my country and as a person who has been the target of one of these violent crimes, which was rendered unsuccessful by God, I am proud that my people were not shaken by these brutalities. And the unprecedented events have only increased the faith and reliance of my people on God and fueled their revolutionary anger. One of these events led to the martyrdom of 72 high-ranking leaders and officials of the Revolution, including a few ministers, an MP, a number of high-ranking government officials and an outstanding revolutionary figure, Shahid Beheshti. In another event, our President and Prime Minister were martyred together.
Coups - which are the bloody, classical and normal method of global powers and have been used against all revolutions - were orchestrated on several occasions in Iran. One of the coups that they had orchestrated continued into very dangerous stages, and if it had not been for the vigilance of our security officials and the help of the people, the prediction of the American general would have been fulfilled - a bloodbath and millions of killings, which would have happened repeatedly. Starting the imposed war was the biggest, the most painful and the most tragic hostility by our enemies - provoking the greed of a neighboring country, encouraging it to attack our country and ensuring support and assistance for it. After the passage of seven years, today everybody can be sure that the invasion by the Iraqi Army on Shahrivar 31, 1359 - that is, 19 months after the establishment of the Islamic Republic - which was carried out using ten armies and hundreds of warplanes to attack our country from land, air and sea, did not just seek to pursue expansionist policies and to annex parts of Iran to Iraq, something which has been repeatedly stated in Iraqi and mercenary non-Iraqi books and press. Another goal of the war was to defeat the Revolution and overthrow the Islamic Republic.
They have explicitly stated both of these goals on many occasions. They have disclosed their intentions. The great advantages which the Iraqi government could have gained from a victory not only would have consolidated its position inside Iraq, but it also would have emerged as a dominant power in the region and even among Arab countries. And this would be a great achievement for the nobodies who are ruling Iraq. They also wanted to occupy enough territory to have a remarkably long border with the strategic Persian Gulf area. And the domineering powers pursued a big goal through this victory, which would have inevitably led to the defeat and breakup of Iran and the collapse of the Islamic Republic. Their goal was to eliminate a system whose emergence had changed the political and economic equations of the region, a system whose emergence had put an end to the interference of the arrogant powers, especially America, in the affairs of our great country. Our defeat would have fixed everything for America and certain other countries, and the same old cycle of influence would have been resumed in political, economic and other areas. We were taken by surprise at first. We admit this. Involvement in innumerable revolutionary issues inside the country and lack of sufficient experience imposed that on us, but the characteristics of the Revolution saved us.
Within a few months, the people and the Armed Forces gave rise to a great epic through their miraculous presence and effort, and they managed to liberate an important portion of the occupied territories. But the tragedy that had happened during this time was truly indescribable. Many developed cities such as Khorramshahr, Abadan, Hoveizeh and Qasr-e Shirin had been razed to the ground. The city of Dezful alone had been targeted with 173 surface-to-surface missiles. There were many developed villages in which not even a single wall stood erect after liberation. Many factories had been turned into scrap metal. There were many farms in which there was no sign of development. Many precious cultural works had been damaged. Most importantly, many dear lives had been lost and innocent people had been murdered.
Committing war crimes - ranging from savage attacks on civilian areas, to brutal massacre of thousands of defenseless children and women - taking ordinary passengers captive in the occupied roads during the early weeks of the war, violating international pledges and regulations, utilizing a large amount of chemical weapons, bombing commercial ships, shooting down civilian and passenger planes, and bombing passenger trains are among the usual and well-known actions taken by Iraq during this war. After the early efforts made during the war, the Iranian nation discovered a bitter truth on its first attempt to assess the events of the war. It realized that the basis of the security which had been built on trust in the statements and pledges of a belligerent and warmongering element is extremely unreliable. It realized that having confidence in such security is naïve and illogical.
The head of the Iraqi regime used to explicitly announce that his previous agreement with the Iranian government - commonly known as the Algiers Accord which was signed in 1975 - is not binding because it was signed at a time when Iraq was weak. He tore up the agreement and started the military attack after a few days. This was a bitter and enlightening lesson for our nation. Our vigilant and revolutionary nation made up its mind at that moment and specified its goals.
These goals were not limited to restoring the occupied territories or demanding war reparations - in spite of the fact that these two were an undeniable right of the Iranian nation and that part of the damage was irreparable. A more important goal was to punish the aggressor and put an end to its invasion. By proposing the idea of punishing the aggressor, we were not just looking for a reliable base for our national security, but we also wanted to assure security and stability for the entire region. If an aggressor is punished for its invasion by the international community, we can rest assured that such motives - which can always be found in malevolent and opportunistic elements - will be checked in at least for some years and that the region and maybe the world will not have to tolerate the tragedies caused by a pointless invasion. The Nuremberg Trials have succeeded in assuring peace and security for turbulent Europe for over forty years. Why not learn from that experience? Even when thousands of square kilometers of our soil were under the boots of occupying invaders, the superpowers pressured us through the use of propaganda, which is an extremely powerful tool.
This meant that we had to leave part of our identity and honor under the boots of the enemy and beg this and that international committee in the hope of restoring it. Nothing is more insulting than this for a great, glorious and revolutionary nation. In order to reject such an oppressive offer, even the most stupid people in the world can refer to the tragic and bloody destiny of the Palestinian nation as a clear and living proof. If the imposed ceasefires and deceptive and hollow promises have helped the Palestinian nation demand its clear and undeniable right, then they will help other nations claim their rights too.
Through the valorous struggle of our nation and through sacrificing thousands of dear lives, we have managed to liberate a major portion of our occupied territories - of course some parts of our country, such as Naft Shahr, are still being controlled by the army of the invader. However, we still consider punishing the invader as our most important goal. And today looking at the enormous and irreparable loss that the imposed war has caused, we attach more importance to this issue than ever before, and we consider any achievement other than this punishment a loss for our nation. We have been shouldering the burden of the imposed war for seven years, so we are thirstier for peace than anyone else. But we believe that stable peace can only be achieved in the shade of punishing the invader that has combined the sin of invasion with many other sins in the war. Just like the year 1975, today Iraq is in a position of weakness, and the entire world knows this. A peace agreement that is signed today by that regime will suddenly go up in smoke after a few years once the regime starts to believe that it is in a position of power, and then the fire of war will spread to the region again. The only way in which future peace can be guaranteed is to punish the invader.
Peace is undoubtedly a beautiful and attractive word. It is so attractive that big international warmongers and producers of devastating weapons seem to like it, and they hypocritically claim to support it. But we believe that justice - a word that powers and invaders always view with fear and caution - is more important than peace. Many oppressed people have sacrificed their lives, welfare, and peace in order to achieve justice, and they have always been considered as heroes. European cities are still proud of their resistance against Hitler's invasion, and Leningrad still feels proud of its decision to burn up the city to disappoint and astonish Napoleon's army and of its four-year resistance under the siege of the Nazi invaders. According to the first Article of its charter, the United Nations has a responsibility to ensure justice in a special way - that is, by confronting invaders. This is what we demand from the world and from the United Nations.
The superpowers hypocritically call this war meaningless - a war that has been imposed on us. This is while they have always provided military, political and economic support for the invader that started the war. There is no doubt that starting such a war is always meaningless, but they did not call the war meaningless as long as the invader had not despaired of achieving its evil goals. But today this war has a very important meaning for our nation: jihad-like and selfless efforts in order to burn the roots of invasion and prove that nations are able to defend their revolution, stability and honor despite the will of the superpowers. Through its sacrifices, our nation is revoking an equation that has always encouraged invasion and war. According to the equation, relying on advanced weaponry and the support of the superpowers guarantees success. The Iranian nation has been searching for an answer to a big question during these seven years.
I would like to ask that big question from this podium. A good number of governments know for sure that the Iraqi regime started this war and carried out this invasion, but the question is, why do these governments keep silent in the face of this great crime and this international sin? And why have the global media forgotten their great responsibility before the conscience of humanity and history? The key to solving this puzzle may lie in familiarity with the state of political relations in the modern world and the flawed geometry which has been created in global relations by the hegemony of the superpowers, and this is not hidden from our nation.
But the question to which no convincing answer could be found is, why did the UN Security Council - which has been established with the basic purpose of confronting aggression and ensuring international security - totally forget its responsibility in the face of this invasion? And why did it sometimes do the opposite of what it is supposed to do? Everybody should know that the Security Council did not show any reaction at the beginning of Iraq's invasion - which happened along a one-thousand-kilometer front. The Iraqi Army crossed international borders within a week, and in some areas it advanced as much as 70-90 kilometers and deployed its forces there. According to some Iraqi officials, they did not have any intention of ever leaving the areas they had occupied. It was only after this that the Security Council issued its first resolution on September 28, 1980. This resolution made no mention of invasion or occupation. Nor did it require withdrawal to international borders. Rather, it surprisingly called on the two sides of the war to refrain from resorting to further force. This resolution was in fact ignoring all the territories which had been occupied by the Iraqi forces until that day. It was only calling on the Iraqi forces to refrain from further advance. It was also calling on Iran to refrain from fighting to push out the invaders.
This was the first measure that the Security Council adopted, and by means of this measure, the Security Council trampled on its main responsibilities - that is to say, safeguarding international peace and security - in a hideous and pitiable way. After that, a deathly silence fell over the Security Council, and it forgot the bloody and continuous war, which made the news all over the world, until the liberation of Khorramshahr - an operation in which the spine of the occupation forces was broken and thousands of them were taken captive in a humiliating way. During this time, the heroic actions of the Iranian nation and the formation of our military forces heralded the emergence of a young, revolutionary and determining force in the region, a force that completely disappointed the global powers' hopes of achieving the evil goals they were pursuing through the Iraqi invasion of Iran. This was how the Security Council started to remember the Iran-Iraq war again. A few weeks after the liberation of Khorramshahr, the Security Council issued its second resolution on July 12, 1982. This resolution demanded withdrawal to international borders - that is to say, something that had largely been actualized already through the sacrifices or our nation and the exceptional valor of our soldiers. Like the previous resolution, this resolution made no mention of the aggression, the aggressor, the damage that had been caused or any solution to compensate for the damage. Nor did it present any guarantee for genuine security and stability or any punishment for the invader that had caused the insecurity. Once again we found out that we were alone in claiming our rights. Until today the Security Council has consistently adopted this position on the war that has been imposed on us.
The independent innovations of the Secretary General was going to prove effective and help the United Nations achieve its goals, but they let this opportunity pass them by. I deem it necessary to take this opportunity to express our satisfaction with the efforts made by the Secretary General and to pay homage to the memory of the former Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Olof Palme - who made sincere efforts in his position as the representative of the UN Secretary General. The journey of the Secretary General to Tehran and the useful negotiations that were carried out regarding Resolution 598 were another step in this direction. We consider those negotiations as realistic and effective, and apparently the Secretary General's report to the Security Council reflects a similar evaluation. It is a great pity that some influential members of the Security Council appear to be willing to hide this truth. They are the same people who channeled their efforts since the beginning towards passing this resolution with the purpose of pressuring the Islamic Republic.
We conveyed our explicit views in the regard to the Secretary General, and we expect the Security Council to utilize its position in an appropriate way according to its responsibilities. Does the Security Council have a reason for failing to fulfill its first duty - that is to say, confronting aggression, which has been considered as the most important responsibility of the Security Council in Article 1 of the UN Charter? How much pressure has it exerted on Iraq in order to confront threats to peace and use of force as mentioned in Chapter 7 of the Charter? Neutrality is the least that the Islamic Republic - which has been a victim of bloody and devastating aggression - would expect from the Security Council. This is because the duty of that council is to confront aggression and to support the victims of aggression, not to simply sit on the fence between the two. But can the Security Council even claim that it has been neutral in this regard? Our feeling is that under the influence of the will of certain superpowers, especially America, the Security Council has been placed in this awkward position. In this case, it should be pointed out that the foundation of the security which has been built on such a Security Council is just a luxurious castle made of cardboard. Nations - especially Third World nations and the countries that want to live completely independent of the superpowers - can never expect such a Security Council to ensure their security. Refraining from condemning Iraq as the aggressor has kept the fire of the imposed war burning and has even helped it to spread. Due to the military presence of America and other countries - which have entered the region following the lead of the Great Satan or because of its insistence and pressure - the Persian Gulf has currently turned into a dangerous gunpowder storehouse.
I deem it necessary to focus the attention of the General Assembly of the United Nations and public opinion of the American people to the great and imminent danger that the American regime has currently posed to the entire world - and not just to our region - through its measures in the Persian Gulf area. Yesterday American warships raided an Iranian commercial ship called "Iran Ajr". The attack led to the death of five people and left four other people injured. America captured the ship. It also arrested some people and took them hostage. Yesterday American TV showed footage from this event and described it as a raid on a mine-laying ship. As usual, America misguided global public opinion. But I hereby announce that it was a commercial ship called "Iran Ajr", and not a military speed boat. This is a beginning for the events whose bitter consequences will not be limited to the Persian Gulf only, and the responsibility for the future consequences will fall on the country that started them - namely, America. Should we believe America's claims that it is impatiently waiting for establishment of peace in the Persian Gulf, or should we believe this practical and explicit warmongering? I explicitly announce that America will receive a response to this hideous action.
This is only one evil consequence of the imposed war and of the Security Council's inability to confront the Iraqi invasion. If the Security Council had condemned Iraq for starting the imposed war, then starting a war of the cities and then starting a naval war, today America would not have been able to pose such an explicit threat to global peace and security immediately after the passing of Resolution 598 - in which America played a key role - and in spite of the global and domestic public pressure it is currently faced with. Was Resolution 598 prepared only to pressure the Islamic Republic? I deem it necessary to tell the entire world, especially the great American nation, that the menacing military presence of America in the Persian Gulf is only one instance of the United States' explicit hostility against our nation.
The history of our nation has reached a dark, bitter and bloody chapter that has been coupled with various kinds of enmities and spiteful actions by the America regime. Twenty five years of support for the dictatorial and brutal Pahlavi regime in spite of all the crimes it had committed against our nation, plundering the assets of this nation with the help of the Shah, serious efforts to counter the Revolution during the last few months of the life the Shah's regime, encouraging the Shah to suppress the million-strong public protests, obstructionism against the Revolution using different tools during the early years after the victory of the Revolution, efforts by the American embassy in Tehran to provoke the anti-Revolution elements, helping coup plotters, constant support for the terrorist and anti-Revolution elements outside the country, blocking Iran's financial assets, refusing to deliver the goods that have been paid for long ago, refusing to return the public assets which the Shah has taken away and put in American banks, efforts to impose an economic siege on our nation, forming a unified western front against our nation, open and effective support for Iraq during the war that has been imposed on us, and finally illogical and thuggish deployment of military forces in the Persian Gulf and posing a serious threat to the peace and tranquility of the region - these are part of our nation's complaints against the US regime, complaints that can cast serious doubts on all its claims of supporting peace and claims about its leaders' goodwill towards the Islamic Republic.
The latest example from the list of American hostilities against our nation is the bloody tragedy that was caused in Holy Mecca against defenseless and innocent pilgrims. In this tragedy, almost four hundred Iranian and non-Iranian people - who were mostly women - were martyred, and several times more people were injured. According to one account, America played an important role in this unprecedented historical tragedy. Can the American regime and its Saudi agents present a convincing reason for killing so many innocent men and women? Undoubtedly, those who caused this tragedy will have to resort to pretexts and allegations in order to rationalize their action. But the nature of the event - which led to the murder of almost four hundred people, with the local police responding with machine guns, sticks and poisonous gas - shuts the door to all kinds of pretexts. It is a fact that blood, blood that has been shed pointlessly due to oppression and brutality, sends out a clear message through time and discloses the role of those involved. But the event that happened in Mecca enjoys global dimensions in that it shows the harmony between American policies and Arab conservatism and reveals the secrets of these two in the Persian Gulf. The Mecca event deserves careful scrutiny by international communities.
I deem it necessary to emphasize that the complaints of the Iranian nation are against the leaders of the American regime, not against the American people - who will put their signatures to these complaints if they learn about what its government has done to our nation. Our people have shown that they have faith in their goals and that they will even lay down their lives to remain committed to these goals. Such a nation cannot be afraid of America or any other power. By Allah's favor, our nation will show that truth prevails and that victory belongs to righteous believers. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, dear audience, this is the story of our Revolution, a Revolution that gave rise to a widespread wave of hope among nations which have been suffering at the hands of arrogant global powers' hegemony. It also created an equally widespread wave of opposition from the poles of international hegemony. Though serious, deep and varied, this wave of opposition did not manage to dry up the sampling whose roots run deep, a sapling which has been getting stronger on a daily basis. However, many rocks were thrown at the sampling and much damage was inflicted on it.
Now the entire world should see that we have survived in spite of the power of the hegemons. Divine rules have preordained this throughout history, and nothing different will ever happen. This is our clearest message. The order of domination has always tried to prove the opposite of this. It has always considered its management as crucial for the destiny of nations and Third World countries. We criticized this idea. There is no doubt that the order of domination did not want the Islamic Republic to continue its life, but our will overpowered it. Our message to all the nations and governments that want to be independent and ignore the will of big global hegemonies is that they should not be afraid of them and have confidence in themselves and in their people. Moreover, rejection of the order of domination in the world is the big message of our Revolution. Today the world is practically carved up by the big domineering powers, and these powers consider themselves as masters of the world. In other words, the world has been divided into two parts: the dominant and the dominated. The former group considers itself as the owner of the destiny of the latter group. The order of domination consists of these unequal relationships between these two groups. The order of domination rejects revolutions at will and creates problems for revolutionary systems. Nicaragua and the South African revolutionary countries are a few living examples of this truth. The order of domination makes decisions for nations against their will.
Oppressed Palestine is a perfect example of this truth and Afghanistan is another example. The order of domination plays with concepts the way it wants and changes them according to its interests. And it uses all its facilities to promote these concepts. Terrorism and human rights are examples of distorted concepts.
The order of domination even directly attacks the countries that enrage them. Recent examples include America's invasion of Libya and Grenada. The order of domination makes decisions for the entire world and all nations across the world. Hiroshima is an example from the past, and today the American President feels proud of the horrific actions of his predecessors. He reasons that if America had not killed those few thousand people, later on a larger number of people might have been killed in the world. In this way, he shows off America's sympathy towards the entire world as if it were the world's guardian. The order of domination supports fascist and racist regimes like Israel and South Africa, and it sets these armed and bloodthirsty allies on oppressed nations. Muslim Lebanese people - who have patiently resisted in the face of the evil invasions of the Zionists - are a prominent example of oppressed nations and the pioneering South African countries are another example.
The order of domination considers itself entitled to pressure international organizations, a current example of which is America's pressure on the Security Council and UNESCO. The order of domination considers the interests of the hegemonic powers as absolute and grounds enough to ignore the interests of others. An example of this is the stirring and dangerous presence of American warships in the Persian Gulf, and this has been done with the purpose of safeguarding America's interests at the cost of ignoring the interests of the regional countries. In short, the order of domination takes control of global propaganda and uses it to stand all reality on its head and to present all these malevolent actions as selfless services, thereby preventing global public opinion from countering the order of domination. Our message to all Third World peoples and governments and to the peoples whose governments have created the order of domination is that the world must not tolerate this abnormal situation any longer. Everybody should tell the superpowers and powerful governments to stay within their own borders and leave the world to the people of the world: you are not their guardian. There are two instances of discrimination in the United Nations: the right of veto and permanent membership of the Security Council. These two instances of discrimination should be ended.
This is the only thing that can truly turn the United Nations Security Council into a center which all nations can rely on to resolve their conflicts. Otherwise, the Security Council will remain a place for issuing resolutions without credibility and impractical orders, and nations will continue to feel that there is no place to settle international issues and that violence is the only way to get things done. Our message to Third World governments is that as long as the order of domination and the current situation exists, they should try to create unity among themselves: this is the best way to become powerful. Global hegemonies do not understand anything but force and power, and it is necessary to use the language of power when confronted with their language of power. Awakening nations and raising their awareness about the nature and role of the order of domination are the greatest source of support for Third World governments, and it is also a source of genuine power in the face of the hegemonic powers. The leaders of Third World governments have no powerful means and no choice other than their peoples' enlightened minds and strong wills. The kind of unity that we propose to Third World countries is not unity to fight the superpowers, rather it is unity to defend themselves and to prevent their undeniable rights from being trampled upon. The hegemonic powers are the greatest cause of rationalizing and spreading corruption: moral corruption, sexual corruption and ideological corruption.
All of these things find their main promoters and the main sources of support in the political, economic and espionage motives of these powers. The situation is such that in today's dark and bitter world - which this time includes peoples of the superpowers as well - moral values have been destroyed, the foundation of the family is weak and shaky, the demon of alcoholism and addiction to drugs is more dominant than ever before and the attraction of spirituality and morality is less than ever before. We need to start a serious battle against corruption in our countries. We need to strengthen the foundation of the family and turn this first and the most basic unit for human education into a center of love, purity, emotions and spirituality.
We need to emphasize safeguarding the rights and value of women and revise our current standards - which are the products of the hand and mind of the order of domination. We need to make serious efforts to liberate women from being an object of pleasure, something that has been imposed on women by the western culture. A woman can be a scholar, a politician, a manager, a prominent figure and most importantly, a wife and a mother, but she must not be an object of pleasure and entertainment. This is what will grant a genuine identity to half of the human population and will provide the family with a permanent and sacred foundation. These are the messages of our Revolution, not just to those who are prepared to listen, but to all those who have the capability to remove the obstacles to listening and to make fair judgments.
Thank you.