Khamenei.ir

Iranian minorities made significant sacrifices for their country

Whenever I go to the houses of Armenian and Assyrian martyrs - this year too, I fortunately managed to visit the houses of a number of Armenian martyrs - I see that they are committed to their country. They have really behaved in a committed way. I remember that during the time of war, a number of Armenian Christians went to Ahwaz. I saw that a number of people were sitting inside the airport. I asked, "Who are these people?" they said, "They are Armenians and they are going to the front lines for industrial affairs. They have come to render services". The Armenians are skilled at industrial and technical affairs. The late Chamran employed them. They made efforts, they rendered services and some of them were martyred. One of the members of an Armenian family whom I visited last week had a son in the army. He said, "When his military service was over, he was unhappy because the war was continuing. He said, 'My military service is over. What should I do now?' Later on, it was announced that those who have done their military service for a few months should join the army again. He became happy at this call-up and he joined the front lines. Later on, he was martyred and his body was brought to us". We can witness such nationalistic feelings among our non-Muslim compatriots. Well, they made efforts and we hope that the Islamic government can carry out its responsibility in this regard. They really behaved in a committed - in the real sense of the word - way toward the country.

Islam taught us to behave in a fair way toward the followers of other religions

We have learned from Islam that we should behave in a fair way toward the followers of other religions. This is Islam's command to us. Today, what is witnessed in the world is that powers and those governments which claim to support justice do not at all behave in a fair way except in the inner circle of their narrow, limited and oppressive polices. Today, you can see that in Europe and America, they use massive propaganda against Muslims. The issue is not why Muslims do not have any freedom in many of these countries. Rather, the issue is why they do not have any security. The movie "American Sniper", which has produced some reactions and which has been made by Hollywood, encourages a Christian or non-Muslim to harass Muslims as much as he can. In fact, according to what others have said - we have not seen this movie - it encourages such courses of action. This is not at all accepted by Islam. Islam believes in justice. On the issue of that attack [on the city of al-Anbar] the Commander of the Faithful (peace and greetings be upon him) said, "I have come to know that every one of them entered upon Muslim women and non-Muslim women" [Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 27]. In this sermon, he says that some people have entered the houses of Muslim and Muahida women - muahid means Jewish and Christian individuals who have formed an alliance with Muslims and who live under the protection of Islam - to take away their ornaments and harass them. Then, Hazrat says, "If any Muslim dies of grief after all this, he is not to be blamed". If a Muslim dies of grief at the harassment of non-Muslim women by the army of the enemies and looters - they entered their houses and took away their ornaments - he is not to be blamed.This is the viewpoint of Islam.

Leader's Speech in Meeting with Officials on National Day of Engineering

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 26, 2015 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with officials of National Day of Engineering - coincident with the birthday anniversary of Khawaja Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.

Leader's Message to Union of Islamic Students Associations in Europe

To the Youth in Europe and North America

The Zionists have made some human communities sexualized by use of the media, cinema, etc.

Today, the focus of international and world propaganda machine is on eliminating spirituality, religion, chastity and pudency. This is a definite agenda pursued by the Zionists all over the world and they are intensifying their efforts in this regard, taking eviler actions every day. Look at the movies, stories and the like; observe how European women dressed fifty to a hundred years ago and compare that with [their clothing] today. Compare how the West and Europe observed sexual moralities fifty to hundred years ago with how they do it today. Look how it has changed. The moral corruption has reached a point where if you reject homosexuality you would be attacked. This is really startling. They are proud of immorality and nudity. They are proud of giving up sexual moralities. This precisely pertains to what we have in Hadith; that says true would be considered false, and false would be considered true. This has happened in the West, and the news and media empire is working against morality, and modesty with all the power they have, using all their capacity which— with the social networks and the internet—are a thousand times more [influential] than what used to be 15 or 20 years ago. January 21, 2015

Speech

Leader's Speech in Meeting with Iranian Champions and Athletes in Asian Games

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 21, 2015 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with Iranian champions and athletes in Asian Games and Para Games.

Leader Meets with President of Venezuela

Leader's Speech in Meeting with Officials and Participants of Conference on Islamic Unity

Who is the real enemy?

This is the responsibility of everyone. Today, all Muslims throughout the world should think about the Islamic Ummah and Islamic unity. If we think of the Islamic Ummah, the interests of our countries will be safeguarded as well. The interest of the enemy lies in separating us from one another. His interest lies in attacking one country and raising an army with the help of another country. His interest lies in this. We should not allow him to do this. Who is the enemy? The enemy is American capitalism and global arrogance which is headed today by America and the Zionists. The Zionist government in occupied Palestine is part of the dangerous group and the deadly cancer which the Zionists have created in the world. We should stand up against them. We should refer to Islam and Quranic texts in order to stand up against them.

When Muslims walk together

I deem it necessary to thank the government, people and different tribes of Iraq who made sacrifices, rendered services and showed greatness of character in this very important test. This year's Arbaeen of Karbala was an astonishing event. The enemies of Islam and Ahlul Bayt vainly thought that they had blocked the path of Muslims. Notice what a great movement was launched. When even bodies stay together, it has such a reflection. If we stay together, if Islamic governments and Muslim nations - whether Shia or Sunni or different denominations of Shia and Sunni - are honest with one another, if they are not suspicious of one another, if they do not insult and have malevolent intentions against one another, notice what will happen in the world and what great dignity will be brought about for Islam. Unity, unity!

Muslim should know their real enemies

This is the responsibility of everyone. Today, all Muslims throughout the world should think about the Islamic Ummah and Islamic unity. If we think of the Islamic Ummah, the interests of our countries will be safeguarded as well. The interest of the enemy lies in separating us from one another. His interest lies in attacking one country and raising an army with the help of another country. His interest lies in this. We should not allow him to do this. Who is the enemy? The enemy is American capitalism and global arrogance which is headed today by America and the Zionists. The Zionist government in occupied Palestine is part of the dangerous group and the deadly cancer which the Zionists have created in the world. We should stand up against them. We should refer to Islam and Quranic texts in order to stand up against them.

Be compassionate among yourselves

This is the meaning of the Holy Quran. It says about the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.), "Ardently anxious is he over you. To the believers is he most kind and merciful" [The Holy Quran, 9: 128]. He is kind to believers and "those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, but compassionate amongst each other" [The Holy Quran, 48: 29]. You should be strong against those who show enmity to you and who are your enemies. You should be firm against them. You should not be like a soft earthwork which the enemy can infiltrate easily. You should stand firm against the enemy, but you should be compassionate among yourselves. You should be honest with and kind to one another. Names should not be able to separate you. Geographical borders should not arouse hostility among you and they should not be able to pit nations against one another. This is one of the lessons of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). Today - which is the birthday anniversary of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) - we should learn his lessons. Mere praise of that great personality is not the only thing that is expected of us today. We should learn his lessons. We should achieve what the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) was sent for. As I said, the primary thing in today's world of Islam is unity. I hope that Allah the Exalted helps us to succeed in doing what we say.

Iran has based it's foreign policy on brotherhood and friendly relationships

I have heard that some regional governments have based their foreign policy on confronting Iran. Why should they do this? This is against reason. This is against wisdom. This is an idiotic course of action. Why should someone make such a great mistake? On the contrary, we have based our foreign policy on camaraderie, brotherhood and friendly relationship with all Muslim and regional countries, whether those which are our neighbors and those which are not. This is our policy. We have acted in the same way until now and we will act in the same way in the future. Thankfully today, the people of Iran have gained such a deep awareness that they know the future interest of their country depends on Islamic unity with other Muslim nations and countries. Of course, some people are trying very hard to create obstacles in the way of this unity, to arouse suspicions and to temp the people, but our people have thankfully understood this today. The cry of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) - both before the victory of the Revolution and after the formation of the Islamic government - about the issue of unity paid off and our people became aware.

Beware of Shia and Sunni mercenaries working at separating Muslims

Today, some elements both among Sunnis and Shias are working at separating Muslims from one another. If you trace these elements, you will see that all of them are connected to espionage and intelligence services of the enemies of Islam - not the enemies of Iran and Shia Muslims, rather the enemies of Islam. The kind of Shia which works with the MI6 of England and the kind of Sunni which is a mercenary of the CIA of America are neither Shia nor Sunni. Both of them are against Islam. It is 35 years now that we in the Islamic Republic are letting out this cry. We do not only speak, rather we act. The Islamic Republic's assistance to its Muslim brothers has mostly been given to Sunnis. We have stood beside the Palestinians. We have stood beside the religious people of regional countries because we know that today, the issue of unity is at the top of Islamic issues. I advise and I insist that well-known ulama, outstanding personalities and politicians of the world of Islam do not speak so much about discord and disunity. Some people in the world are spending money in order to promote Islamophobia and damage the reputation of Islam. And we ourselves are trying to damage one another's reputation and frighten people of one another. This is against wisdom and politics.

Leader's Speech in Meeting with People from the Holy City of Qom

The infernal espionage apparatus of SAVAK was created by the Zionists and the U.S.

One of the characteristic of that corrupt regime was dark dictatorship and suppression of the people with the cruelest methods. These methods may exist in other countries as well. We ourselves have witnessed up close what they did and how they behaved towards the people both during the time of Reza Khan - our fathers had witnessed it and they used to narrate it for us - and the recent era when we ourselves were in the middle of the arena. Of course, youth have not seen those days. There are many reliable sources about what they used to do to the people, revolutionary activists and those who even made a small criticism. They used to adopt extreme measures, torture the people, exert bizarre and strange pressures and put people in startling prisons. Some of these prisons exist today and people are greatly shocked when they go and visit them. This was one of the things that they used to do. They used to preserve their power by behaving in an oppressive and dictatorial way and by exerting pressures on the people. The people who claim to support human rights today and who constantly repeat these ignominious claims used to support them with all their power. We cannot say that they were not aware of their oppressive measures. They were completely aware of them. It was the Zionists, the Americans and the CIA that created the hellish SAVAK. It was they who taught them their methods. How could they not know about it? Recently, it has become clear that they themselves have faced great problems because of these organizations. How can we add together the recent revelations about the behavior of the intelligence service of America towards its opponents and the statements that they make about freedom of expression, liberalism, democracy and attention to people's opinions? It is a strange world. This was one of the characteristics of that malevolent regime in our country: adopting extreme measures and showing utmost cruelty towards anyone who made the slightest criticism. The second characteristic was their humiliating dependence on foreign powers Jan 7, 2015

One of the main characteristics of the Pahlavi regime was ignoring the people

Ignore the people. This was one of the most important characteristics of the taghuti regime. The people were not seen at all. During our youth in the previous regime, we never participated in an election, nor did we witness this from the people on the streets. This is because there was no election. Sometimes overtly and sometimes less overtly, they acted on their own. That is to say, they used to elect a bunch of mercenaries and through them, they made their own decisions in the Majlis and in the Senate. The people did not at all know who was in charge of affairs. There was no relationship between the people and the government. The political awareness that exists among the people today is the exact opposite of what existed in those days. That malevolent regime was completely separate from the people.

The woman who led to the survival of the biggest oppression-countering movement in history

Oppressors and tyrants wanted to eliminate the event of the Husseini Ashura... but Zaynab al-Kubra (God's greetings be upon her) did not allow this to happen. Our lady - Zaynab al-Kubra - made two moves in order to do this: one was made during her capture and her transfer to Kufa and Shaam where she made illuminating and enlightening speeches. The other move was making a pilgrimage to Karbala in Arbaeen. This was either the first or second Arbaeen. This move means that we should not allow the malevolent motives which intend to erase dear, influential and important eras from memories to be successful. Of course, they will not be successful. As long as nations are alive, as long as truthful tongues speak and as long as religious hearts are motivated, they will not be able to erase these eras and events, as they have not been successful until today

One of the characteristics of the evil Pahlavi regime was corruption

The third characteristic of that malevolent regime was corruption: different kinds of corruption such as sexual corruption which included all courtiers and their companions. The stories about their sexual decadence are too embarrassing to mention. In those days, the people knew about their sexual corruption, but they did not dare mention it. Sometimes, it was leaked through foreigners. They used to say certain things about their sexual and financial corruption, not only among ordinary officials which can occur at any time, but also in the highest levels of the country. Mohammad Reza himself and his close friends were involved in the highest levels of financial corruption, in the biggest bribes, in the worst transgressions and in the most malevolent pressures on the financial resources of the people. They used to accumulate wealth for themselves by impoverishing the people. Promoting corruption - including sexual and financial - and addictive and industrial drugs was done by the main elements of Iran's government in those days. The Swiss police arrested one of Mohammad Reza's sisters at the airport while she was carrying a suitcase full of heroin. The news spread throughout the world, but they whitewashed it very soon. Well, this disgrace was related to themselves and they covered it up. There was such a situation at that time.

Leader's Note to Conference on Combating Corruption

Leader Meets with Navy Commanders

Leader's Speech in Meeting with Members of Council of Basij-e Mostazafin

Accompany conscientiousness with insight

During the time of revolutionary activities, some people had a sense of responsibility, but they did not know where to spend it. They expended it in areas that were in the disadvantage of the great revolutionary movement of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). They acted in the same way after the revolution until today. Some people have a sense of responsibility and motivation, but they spend them wrong way and in wrong places. They do not target the gun at the right place. This is because of the lack of foresight. When the issue of fitna arose a few years ago, we spoke about foresight. Some people are jeered at this and said, "What is foresight?" Yes, we should have foresight. If foresight does not exist, then the more we have a sense of responsibility and motivation, the greater will be the danger. This is because the person who does not have the wisdom and foresight, who does not know the enemy and who does not understand where he should expend his sense of responsibility, energy and motivation can not be trusted. So, this is the second basis which is very very necessary. If the second basis does not exist, our enjoining to do good, our džihad and our tasks are generally done in the wrong way, and they deviate from the straight path.

Enemies' main problem is Iran's progress

Now, they have extended the negotiations Everyone - both the other side and those people inside the country who are concerned about this matter and who follow these negotiations - should know that if negotiations fail, we are not the ones who suffer the most loss. Rather, it is the Americans. We are honest with our people. We say to our people what the truth of the issue is and they have already understood what the truth is. With different reasons, we can prove that the real goal of arrogance and the west in the face of Iran is to prevent the people of Iran from achieving growth and power. Their real goal is to prevent the increasing dignity of the people of Iran.The nuclear issue is merely an excuse and of course, there are other excuses as well. The main issue is that the talents of the people of Iran are gradually being revealed, that they are making progress in all dimensions - including political, scientific and social dimensions - and that they are achieving power. This is why they are dissatisfied and unhappy. This is what they want to prevent. And the purpose of sanctions and pressures is this. The purpose of sanctions and economic pressures is to prevent the developing efforts of the people of Iran. This is why they impose sanctions and exert economic pressures. Of course, economic pressures are an important factor. We speak freely with our people, but they do not do so and they do not believe in their people.

Leader's Speech in Meeting with Participants of International Congress on Takfirism

The takfiri orientations receive support and money from them

Everyone in the world of Islam should know what the role of America's policies in this regard is. Everyone should know what the role of the intelligence services of America, England and the Zionist regime on this matter is. Everyone should know that they are working for them, that the plot has been hatched by arrogance and that these takfiri orientations receive support and money from them. They receive money by the regional puppet regimes. It is these puppet regimes which give them money, but the plot is hatched by arrogance and as a result, they ruin these poor takfiri youth. They create such a problem for the world of Islam. This is another necessary task that should be carried out.

Takfiri movement is at the service of arrogance

Take a look at the condition of today's Libya, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and see against whom the forces and swords of Muslims are being used. These forces should have been used against the Zionist regime. The takfiri orientation changed the direction of this fighting to our homes, our cities and our Islamic countries. They cause explosions inside the Jameh Mosque of Damascus. They kill people by causing explosions in Baghdad while they are holding their ordinary rallies. In Pakistan, they fire a volley of bullets on hundreds of people. As you can witness today, they are creating such disastrous conditions in Libya. All of these are among the unforgettable and historical crimes of the takfiri orientation. It is this orientation that has brought about this situation. This movement is at the service of arrogance. It is at the service of America and England. What they do is at the service of the intelligence services of America and England. It is at the service of Mossad and other such intelligence services.

The takfiri orientation damaged the reputation of Islam

The takfiri orientation damaged the reputation of Islam in the world and it painted an ugly picture of it. Everyone in the world saw on TV that someone is made to sit on the ground and they behead them with a sword without charging him with any crime: "Allah forbids you not - with regard to those who fight you not for your faith nor drive you out of your homes - from dealing kindly and justly with them: for Allah loves those who are just. Allah only forbids you - with regard to those who fight you for your faith, and drive you out of your homes, and support others in driving you out - from turning to them for friendship and protection. And whoever makes friends with them, these are the unjust" [The Holy Quran, 60: 8-9]. These people did the exact opposite of this. They killed Muslims and innocent non-Muslims and the pictures were broadcast all over the world. The whole world saw this. These acts were done in the name of Islam. This was the way they introduced Islam, which is known for its mercy, reason and logic and for "Allah forbids you not - with regard to those who fight you not for your faith nor drive you out of your homes - from dealing kindly and justly with them". Is there any crime greater than this? Is there any fitna which is more malevolent than this? This has been committed by the takfiri orientation.

US's 5-time "inadvertent" aids to ISIS!

We have been informed that an American transport plane dropped the ammunition that this group, known as ISIS, needed. This was done in order to help them. We said to ourselves, "Perhaps, this was a mistake". Then, we saw that they kept doing it. According to the reports that I have received, this was done five times. Do they make a mistake five times? This is while they have formed a so-called coalition against ISIS. This is a downright lie. This coalition follows other malevolent goals. They want to keep this fitna alive.