In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I would like to welcome all you dear youth, students and government officials and I congratulate you on the 13th of Aban, which has been named "The National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance". In fact we should say that the 13th of Aban was the day when America's arrogant power started to decline.
We are in the month of Dhul Hijjah. You dear youth - who enjoy an enlightened heart and great spirit - should pay attention to the fact that in terms of virtue and the possibility of forming a relationship with God, these days of the year are among the best days and nights. Divine remembrance and having a relationship with God are the main source of great and successful movements. God says in the Holy Quran, "That they may witness advantages for them and mention the name of Allah during stated days." [22: 28] According to Islamic narrations, the days on which Allah the Exalted has ordered divine remembrance, "stated days", are the first ten days of the month of Dhul Hijjah.
The day of Arafa - which is a day for dua, repentance and attention to God - is in this ten-day period. The dua of the day of Arafa, which is full of love and enthusiasm and was recited by Imam Hussein (a.s.) during Arafat ceremonies, is indicative of the spirit of love and enthusiasm that followers of the Holy Prophet's (s.w.a.) household should have during such days. Appreciate these days. The opportunity is yours. Just as the opportunity for progress and blossoming and the opportunity for great political, revolutionary and social movements belong to you today, so the opportunity for paying attention to Allah the Exalted, remembering God and strengthening your relationship with God also belongs to you. The best means that can revive divine remembrance in our hearts is to stop committing sins, which is easier for you than old people. The hearts of you dear youth are enlightened and you have the potential. Ask Allah the Exalted for help. Appreciate your brilliant youth. Strengthen your relationship with God. And with all your heart and soul follow the glorious path that the Iranian nation has started and today you are at the peak of this movement.
The 13th of Aban - which is two days from now - is in fact a divine day in the real sense of the word. It is an opportunity for thinking and reasoning and an opportunity for planning for the future and building it on the basis of this reasoning. This is because the future belongs to you. How should we move forward so that we can help our nation, our country, our history and even the Islamic Ummah achieve the peak of perfection? How should we act? We should infer this by thinking and reflecting on these lessons. The 13th of Aban contains one of these lessons. The 13th of Aban has gained a kind of prominence as a result of divine power on the one hand, which is the source of everything, and the willpower to fight and continue fighting on the other hand, which depends on divine power and blessings.
Our dear Imam Khomeini (r.a.), that unique man in our history, stood up against the capitulation proposal and judicial immunity for the Americans, who were in charge of everything at that time. Because of his objection he was exiled out of Iran by the mercenaries of America on the 13th of Aban. On that day when our Imam was exiled, nobody stood by him. Of course, the hearts of the people were with the Imam, but America's mercenaries kidnapped him from his home and exiled him out of Iran on the 13th of Aban in the year 1342 while he was completely alone. Fifteen years later - fifteen years is not a long time and passes very quickly - our young revolutionary students captured America's den of espionage [embassy] in Tehran on the 13th of Aban and they forced the Americans out of Iran. Notice what a popular movement can achieve, a popular movement that is based on the power and will of God. Our Imam resisted while he was in exile. He followed the path in a very steadfast way and he gradually encouraged the people to step into the arena. He awakened the people. He revived the sense of independence, idealism and fearless struggle in the hearts of the people. The people stepped into the arena and the Revolution achieved victory. This is a lesson. That is to say, when a nation resists on the path of righteousness with appropriate guidance and insight, no power can stand up against the power of such a nation. All the obstacles were removed, which appeared to be impossible. It seemed impossible to uproot the 2500-year-old monarchy in Iran, a monarchy which was being supported by all materialistic powers of the world. Was it believable at that time? But the Islamic willpower of the Iranian nation under the leadership of Imam Khomeini (r.a.), made this possible. What appeared to be impossible became possible. Everybody clearly saw this in front of their eyes and they felt it. More importantly, the flag of America's oppressive and arrogant hegemony was pulled down in Iran and it was trampled upon by our faithful youth. This appeared to be impossible, too. They used to say in their analyses, speeches and writings that Islamic Iran would definitely be defeated and that it would have to retreat because it had stood up against America. This was what materialistic analyses said. Many of our so-called intellectuals, who considered themselves experts at analyzing political developments, used to present similar analyses. But the opposite happened. Islam was victorious. The Islamic Republic was victorious. America was forced to retreat.
Thirty two years have passed since that day. Dear youth, over these 32 years not a single year has gone by without the arrogant powers - led by America and Zionism - hatching a plot against Iran with the aim of defeating the Iranian nation, the Revolution and the Islamic Republic. Thanks to the efforts of our dear people at every historical juncture and thanks to the advances of our dear youth, Islamic Iran emerged victorious out of all these plots and America was defeated. And the same will happen in the future as well. This is the right analysis. This is the right perspective on the future. By Allah's favor, you have another, 50, 60, 70 years to live. You need to make plans for this long life, which Allah the Exalted will hopefully bestow on you out of His grace. This is the basis of the planning. Make decisions. Choose your goals appropriately and pursue these goals in a steadfast way. In this way, no power will be able to stand up against you. Your goals are scientific, economic, social and ethical in nature. Your goals are related to promoting Islamic thought and Islamic Awakening in the world. These are your great wishes. This is the only way. Make appropriate judgments. Make firm decisions. Move forward. Rely on Allah the Exalted and trust Him. You will achieve the result you want. Your enemies in the world will be forced to retreat, no matter who they are and how powerful they are. And up until today, this has been the case with the Revolution, the 13th of Aban, the events of the imposed war, the economic sanctions and all other machinations.
We have many options. We have the right thought. The Islamic Republic has presented a novel political idea to the world: religious democracy. This novel political thought is based on the right philosophy. It is based on firm intellectual and ideological foundations and it is also practical and progressive. The thought, the philosophy and the experience that the Iranian nation has enjoyed over the past 32 years, have provided us with many options.
The enemy is making efforts. It is wrong to think that the enemy will give up its efforts. No, you can see this. These days in the thick of America's problems with the widespread popular Wall Street movement in New York and other cities and states of America, the American government thought it could play another card. They made up a ridiculous terrorist scenario in order to accuse the Islamic Republic of a ridiculous, illogical and wrong terrorist move. But every knowledgeable and expert person in the world rejected and condemned it. They resort to such things in the hope that they will manage to save themselves from these serious problems, in the hope that they will manage to divert attention away from these problems, in the hope that they will manage to put pressure on the Islamic Republic. Of course, they will follow up this issue. Their goal is to accuse the most honorable elements of struggle in the Islamic Republic of terrorism. It is they themselves who are terrorists. Today the American government is the great terrorist in the world.
We have many options in this case as well. Today we have one hundred indisputable documents which show that the American government has been behind terror attacks that have taken place in Iran or in the region. We will disgrace America in the world with these one hundred documents. We will disgrace these claimants of human rights and fighting terrorism in the world before global public opinion, although they have already been disgraced today.
America has been defeated. America has been defeated in Afghanistan. America has not been able to preserve its credibility with the Afghan nation. It has not been able to prove its lies. America has been defeated against the Iraqi nation. A few days ago, the representatives and political figures of the Iraqi nation unanimously voiced their opposition to the immunity of American troops in Iraq. They declared that America must completely withdraw its troops from Iraq. And America will do so because it has no choice. After years of efforts and after the great material loss and casualties it suffered in Iraq, America is forced to leave Iraq. It is forced to leave Afghanistan. It has to accept defeat.
They were defeated in North Africa. They could not keep Hosni Mubarak in power. They could not keep Ben Ali in power. These people were America's mercenaries, but the people defeated them. In Libya they could not keep their friend, Gaddafi, in power. Until recently and before the humiliating death of Gaddafi, they were in contact with him in the hope that they would manage to make a deal with him. The people of nations saw the hypocrisy of the arrogant powers, the Americans and westerners in case of Egypt, in the case of Tunisia and in the case of Libya. And they will see this hypocrisy in other cases as well. These people are hypocritical and two-faced.
Today they have been defeated in America, in western countries and in the capitalist system or the so-called liberal democracy which is neither liberal nor democratic. Today the people of America across the United States and people in 80 different countries of the world are standing up against this system. They might manage to suppress the people, but this fire will not go out. They cannot defend themselves: they do not have the means to do so. The world is moving in a different direction. Know that by Allah's grace, the fight between truth and falsehood - which began under the leadership of the Iranian nation and under the flag of Islam - will continue until the arrogant powers are overthrown. The fight between truth and taghut and the pharaoh of arrogance will continue until the arrogant powers are removed from power.
The so-called analysts sit down together in their think tanks and they study and analyze the situation and see that the Islamic Republic is the central point and the pivot of this movement. Therefore, they turn their attention towards you. They turn their attention towards our youth and our government officials - who are standing firm and are continuing this path with courage, power, reliance on God, optimism about the future and fervent hope. But then they plot against the Iranian nation. Let them continue plotting. It is 32 years that they have been plotting against the Iranian nation. Of course, they created trouble for the Iranian nation with every plot they hatched, but the Iranian nation has been victorious and it has taken a step forward with every foiled plot. They impose sanctions on us. Sanctions might give rise to pressure, but they will help the Iranian nation move forward and increase its capabilities. They think they have closed the door of science and technology to Iranian youth, but Iranian youth have initiated a movement. Today one cannot say our progress is just two or three times faster than it used to be: it is tens of times faster. Their battle will not get them anywhere. Fighting an insightful, patient and aware nation - whose youth rely on God and are steadfast on their path - will not get them anywhere. They will be defeated, but the Iranian nation will be victorious.
In order to build the future, you dear youth should shoulder a major part of this responsibility and you need to improve yourselves. Do not let the enemy take hope away from your hearts with his propaganda machinations and lies. Do not let them foment discord among you. Do not let them separate our people from our government officials. This is what they want. They are afraid of this unity. They are afraid of your firm slogans. They are afraid of the firm determination of our government officials. They want to undermine this determination. When the people stand by their government officials, no government official feels doubtful. No government official feels weak and all of them move forward. This is a necessity for our country. The people have stood by our government officials up until today and by Allah's favor, they will do the same in the future as well. Definitely the Iranian nation will bring the enemy to his knees in all the challenges that it is currently faced with and in all the challenges that it will encounter in the future.
God bless our honorable martyrs. God bless our nation for its patience. God bless the patient fathers and mothers who tolerated the problems and the absence of their young children, the patient fathers and mothers who resisted and taught lessons to younger generations. God bless our magnanimous Imam who opened up this path, led the way, resisted and encouraged all of us to follow him on this long path. I hope all of you benefit from the prayers of the Imam of the Age.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings