The 15th of Khordad (June 1963) uprising was a popular uprising. The reason for the uprising was that on the Day of Ashura in that year, on June 3, 1963, the Imam of the people (Imam Khomeini) disclosed some facts for the first time in directly speaking to the people. I have something to say about this direct relationship between Imam and the people that I will mention later. I recommend if there is a tape of this speech with good sound quality, which can be understood, that the mass media broadcast it so that people can understand what Imam said nineteen years ago. He shared some truths that were difficult to understand at that time, even for those involved in politics. If I am not mistaken, the Imam's words were, "Israel wants there to be no Qur'an in Iran. Israel wants there to be no clerics in Iran. Israel wants there to be no Islam in Iran."
Many couldn’t understand this matter on that day, they didn’t see the link between Israel and Iran. They didn’t understand why Israel should show enmity to the Qur'an and the clerics in Iran? The regime was so sensitive to such matters that the night after the speech, on June 5, 1963, which was the 12th of Muharram, agents secretly abducted the Imam from his home in Qom around midnight, brought him to Tehran and imprisoned him. The day of June 5th, as soon as they realized that the Imam had been arrested and abducted, the people took to the streets without any leadership by any person, party or group. They took to the streets in Tehran, in Qom, in Shiraz, in Mashhad, in some other cities and even in some villages in Varamin.
The oppressive regime, which did not expect the influence of the clerics to be so significant, was taken by surprise and did an impulsive, savage act. People were shot and killed in the streets. There were rumors that it resulted in fifteen thousand martyrs.
This uprising was a turning point. Although it frightened some, it clarified the direction for the struggles. From that day on, the revolutionary movement of the Iranian people, which had gradually begun almost nine months to a year before, took a definite and serious form. This uprising led to a Revolution on the 22nd of Bahman (the victory of the Islamic revolution on February 11, 1979), and created the Islamic Republic.
Imam Khamenei, [June 4, 1982]
