"Surely we are Allah's, and to Him we shall surely return."
The nefarious hands of the conspirers have once again stabbed a poisonous dagger in the body of the Muslim ummah and committed a heinous crime.
The explosion in the holy shrine in Samarra and the desecration of the sacred mausoleum of Imam Ali-ibn-Muhammad al-Hadi and Imam Hassan-ibn-Ali al-Askari (greetings be upon them) has not only tormented the hearts of the world's Shia and hurt the feelings of all the Muslims devoted to the honorable progeny of the Exalted Prophet (peace be upon him and his immaculate household), but it has also confronted the Islamic world with a horrendous plot that is aimed at creating a civil war in Iraq and making Muslim nations occupied with bloody religious and sectarian incidents.
Whether the blind-hearted and disgraced perpetrators of this odious crime are the infidel remnants of Saddam's Ba'thist regime or the deceived reactionary Wahhabi and Salafi elements, there is no doubt that the espionage services of the occupiers and Zionists are the main plotters behind this heinous crime.
In order to undermine the foundations of the popular Iraqi government and justify their illegitimate presence in Iraq, the occupiers are giving free rein to and paving the way for the terrorists and fomenting discord and conflict among Muslim brethren.
The holy Askariya shrine in the city of Samarra has for many centuries been respected and held in high regard by the Sunni residents of the city, and nobody has at any time committed a sacrilegious act against its precincts. Now under the domination exerted by the occupiers, this is the second time that this sublime sacred place is profaned so shamelessly and so wickedly. The occupiers of Iraq cannot evade their responsibility for this heinous crime.
Shia and Sunni brethren should be careful not to be entrapped by the enemies' plot. Muslims throughout the world should watch out, more than in the past, for the divisive policies of the enemies of Islam and their attempts at creating conflict and hostility among Muslims.
Today, the enemies are trying to foment conflict and hostility in Iraq and Palestine and Lebanon and in any other part of the Islamic world that they can, and they are inciting Muslims on various religious and ethnic and factional pretexts to line up against each other and engage in fratricidal war. Muslims should not assist the enemies in achieving this nefarious and dangerous goal.
The esteemed Sunni ulama are expected to condemn the Samarra tragedy and openly express their aversion to its perpetrators, and the respected Shia ulama are expected to invite the adherents of the Holy Prophet's household (greetings be upon them) to exercise self-restraint. All the senior ulama and clergymen of the Islamic world are expected to advise their followers to show harmony and concord with their Muslim brethren and have consideration and regard for the religious sentiments of every Islamic sect.
I express my condolence over this great tragedy and other afflictions besetting Muslims to His Holiness Imam of the Age - may our souls be sacrificed for his sake, and I pray to Almighty Allah to free all the Muslim nations from the evil of oppressive and infidel arrogant powers.
Greetings be upon the pious servants of Allah
Sayyid Ali Khamenei
24.3.1386