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[31 Aug 2012] NAM showed Israel isolated not Iran - English

Press TV has an interview with Ian Williams, with the Foreign Policy and focus from New York City, to shed more light on the issue of the Turkish government\'s crackdown on protesters and the subsequent decision of the European authorities to postpone the country\'s EU accession talks.

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\'s Speech on 25th Demise Anniversary of Imam Khomeini (r.a.) Print 06/06/2014 Hotuba ya Kiongozi Muadhamu katika Maadhimisho ya Mwaka wa 25 wa Kufariki Dunia Imam KhomeiniThe following is the full text of the speech delivered on June 4, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on the occasion of the demise anniversary of Imam Khomeini (r.a.). The speech was delivered at Imam Khomeini\\\\\\\'s shrine. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings upon our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and upon his immaculate household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. \\\\\\\"Our Lord, forgive us and those of our brethren who had precedence of us in faith, and do not allow any spite to remain in our hearts towards those who believe. Our Lord, surely You are Kind, Merciful\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 59: 10]. \\\\\\\"Our Lord, surely You have given to Pharaoh and his chiefs finery and riches in this world\\\\\\\'s life. To this end, our Lord, that they lead people astray from Your way. Our Lord, destroy their riches and harden their hearts so that they believe not until they see the painful punishment\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 10: 88]. Allah the Omniscient said in His book: \\\\\\\"Have you not considered how Allah sets forth a parable of a good word being like a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branches are in heaven, yielding its fruit in every season by the permission of its Lord?\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 14: 24-25] On this unforgettable and important day, I would like to divide my statements to you dear brothers and sisters into three parts. In the first part, I will speak about an important reality which exists about the Islamic Republic. Today, paying attention to this reality is very important. In the second part, I will provide a brief explanation of our magnanimous Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) permanent and eternal school of thought. Although we have said and heard many things about Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought, it is necessary to provide a brief explanation at this point in time. I will provide a short portrayal of all the things that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) created as a unique phenomenon in the contemporary world. The third part is about two important challenges which lie ahead of the people of Iran and the Islamic Republic. It is important for us to pay attention to these two challenges in order to move forward in the right way and on the right path. As for the first part, the reality that I referred to is that 25 years have passed from the demise of our great Imam (r.a.), but people\\\\\\\'s enthusiasm and excitement to hear and know about him has not diminished. And this is not particular to our country. Rather, this reality exists in the world of Islam and even beyond that. Not only in our country - where the third generation of the Revolution is growing and blossoming - but also in the entire world of Islam, the youth of the age of communications and Internet are after gaining more information about the issues of the Revolution, about the Islamic Republic and about the architect of this great structure. And these youth can easily familiarize themselves with the issues which occur far away from their own environment. The phenomenon of religious democracy and the theory of Wilayat-e Faqih are issues which are significant and attractive for the intellectual environments of the world of Islam. From the first days, our enemies began making a comprehensive effort and the more we moved forward, the more comprehensive this effort became. They used hundreds and thousands of television, radio stations and Internet sites to abuse the Islamic Republic, its great founder and its supporters. Of course, this issue has been helpful to us because it has aroused the curiosity of listeners and viewers throughout the world. These listeners and viewers want to know the reason behind all these enmities, hostilities and mudslinging. They want to know the nature of the truth which has been the target of these enmities. So, our enemies mentioned our names and they spoke about our Imam (r.a.) and our system with the purpose of showing their enmity, but \\\\\\\"...surely they will scheme, and I too will scheme\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 86: 15-16]. This is what Allah the Exalted says. They started this widespread movement with such an intention, but it eventually created an opportunity for us because the sense of curiosity of the listeners to these stations was aroused throughout the world. Islamic Awakening - in which anti-arrogant feelings were dominant more than any other phenomenon - in Islamic countries and our region is the sign of this curiosity and search for the truth and it continues to exist. It is possible that western and American intelligence services report to their seniors that they have managed to suppress Islamic Awakening in our region. If they have such a notion, then this will be another strategic mistake and another wrong interpretation on the part of our enemies. Islamic Awakening might be suppressed for a while in part of the world of Islam, but it will undoubtedly not be uprooted. On the contrary, it will develop. This understanding, this perception and this awareness in all countries and among Muslim youth in the region is not something that can be destroyed easily. Of course, they will make certain efforts in order to destroy it and these efforts may seem to be successful in some areas in the short run, but in the end, they will prove to be fruitless. The curiosity that exists in today\\\\\\\'s young generation all over the world - particularly in the world of Islam - about the phenomenon of religious democracy is rooted in the fact that the Islamic Republic is a phenomenon from whose birth 35 years have passed. And during all these 35 years, it has faced the violent and hostile reactions of the dominant powers in the world. They showed military reactions, they showed propaganda reactions, they showed economic reactions - which began from the beginning of the Revolution and which have been reinforced on a daily basis - and they showed political reactions. It is 35 years now that this powerful western camp has been doing whatever it could against the Islamic Republic. It has made military efforts, it has helped the aggressors who attacked our country, it has supported the enemies of the Islamic Republic in any area, it has used widespread propaganda and it has made perfect and unprecedented efforts in the area of sanctions and economic siege. But in the face of all these invasions and all these violent and unscrupulous hostilities, the Islamic Republic was not destroyed, it did not adopt a conservative outlook, it was not blackmailed by the west and it made progress on a daily basis. This is what forms the essence of this curiosity. Despite the fact that the primary military, political and economic powers of the world joined hands against a country and a government and despite the fact that they made efforts for 35 years, not only was this government not destroyed, but it also became stronger on a daily basis. This government was not blackmailed by them and it did not pay any attention to them at all. The Islamic Republic showed its power and capability to survive in different arenas. Today, when they look at the Islamic Republic, they see that the second and third generations of the Revolution in the country are comprised of several million students, several thousand knowledgeable clergy, several thousand researchers, several thousand university and seminary professors, thousands of scientific and intellectual personalities - some of whom are well-known on an international level - and thousands of activists and producers and thousands of political, cultural and economic personalities. This is the reality about our today\\\\\\\'s society. In the arena of science and technology, the Islamic Republic launches satellites into space despite all sanctions. It sends living creatures into space and it brings them back. It produces nuclear energy. It is ranked among the first ten countries in the world in many new sciences. The centers in charge of releasing statistics have announced that the rate of scientific progress in the Islamic Republic is 13 times faster than the global average. It gives scientific and technological services to different countries. Despite unprecedented sanctions, it manages a 75-million-strong country. It has the final word on regional policies. It shows resistance against the usurping Zionist regime, which is supported by global bullies, and it does this on its own. It does not compromise with oppressors and it defends the oppressed. Any well-informed individual becomes curious to know what this organism and phenomenon is and how it benefits from all these innate capabilities and this potential to survive despite all the enmities. This is the nature of this curiosity. This was about the issues related to scientific, technological and other such areas. As for political and social issues, the higher aspect of this religious democracy is that we have had 32 elections during the 35 years from the beginning of our Revolution. Thirty two public elections have been held in this country. Is this a minor achievement? This is an exceptional phenomenon. Elections in the Islamic Republic are held with a high turnout - higher than the global average and in some cases, it is much higher. Our elections witness a turnout of 70, 72 percent. Our elections are like this. These elections are the manifestation of democracy. Another exceptional example is the two phenomena which we people have gotten used to, but which are extraordinarily exciting and important for global inspectors and witnesses. These two phenomena are the 22nd of Bahman rallies and Quds Day Rallies in the month of Ramadan. During the past 35 years, the people have held the Revolution celebration each year with a great, exciting and glorious rally on the cold days of late Bahman. We have gotten used to this and we do not truly see the significance and greatness of this issue, but global witnesses see these things and they are very astonishing to them. These are the factors behind the element which arouses people\\\\\\\'s curiosity and which presents a new path to the minds of enthusiastic, inquisitive and research-oriented individuals. This is the important reality of our time which can be described as the general curiosity of youth, intellectuals, well-informed personalities and analysts throughout the world of Islam about the phenomenon which has emerged and grown on a daily basis in Islamic Iran. This is the first issue. This reality has been built by the hands of our great architect. We have said many things about Imam (r.a.). Perhaps some people think that we have spoken about Imam in an exaggerated way. But this is not the case. What we have said about our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) is neither exaggeration nor magnification of the truth. Rather, it is the truth. Our magnanimous and dear Imam (r.a.) was more complex and meaningful than what we managed to say and reflect about him. What is available to the people of Iran and what is in front of the eyes of people throughout the world has been built by those powerful hands. We should know about the architect\\\\\\\'s plan in order to take the path in the right way. If developers and builders do not have access to a plan in order to build an ordinary building and if it is not clear what the main plan is, then they may make a mistake no matter how skilled they are. We should know the main plan so that we can use our expertise in building on the basis of this plan. Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) plan was not one that could be designed by a human being. It was definitely God\\\\\\\'s work. Our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) himself knew and acknowledged this. He himself used to say, \\\\\\\"What has occurred is a handicraft of divine power\\\\\\\". He had understood this correctly and his insightful and vigilant eyes had seen this correctly. We should be careful. We should know the plan so that we can continue the path. If we do not know the plan, we will deviate from the right path. And when we deviate, we will drift away from the main and the straight path on a daily basis. When we drift away from the straight path, we will drift away from goals and we will fail to reach them. In order to reach the goals, we should take care not to lose the path and in order to avoid losing the path, we should have the main plan in front of our eyes. We should know and identify this plan. Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) plan and main task was to create a civil-political system on the basis of Islamic reason. The prerequisite for carrying out this task was to uproot the monarchic regime which was corrupt, dependent and dictatorial. The monarchic regime had these three characteristics: it was corrupt - different moral, financial and other such corruptions. It was dependent on powers. One day, it was dependent on England and another day, it was dependent on America. It was prepared to abandon its own interests and the interests of the people for the sake of the interests of foreigners. And it was dictatorial and oppressive. For the monarchic regime, the people\\\\\\\'s votes and requests counted for nothing. Each of these characteristics forms a long chapter. Each of them forms a long book. The prerequisite for the great task that Imam (r.a.) wanted to carry out was to uproot this corrupt, dependent and dictatorial regime. He focused his efforts on doing this and consequently, the regime was uprooted. In our country, the issue was not replacing a monarchic regime with another monarchic or semi-monarchic regime. The issue was uprooting the characteristics that the monarchic regime had and this was done by our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) statements, guidelines and behavior were oriented towards this goal. There are two fundamental points in building this civil-political system and these two points are interconnected. In one sense, these two points are two sides of the coin of truth. One is entrusting the affairs of the country to the people through democracy and elections and another is launching this movement - which originated from Islam - and any movement which originates from democracy and entrusting tasks to people, within the framework of Islamic sharia. These are two parts. In other words, these are two sides of the same truth. Some people should not think that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) derived elections from the western culture and then mixed it with Islamic thoughts and Islamic sharia. This was not the case. If elections, democracy and reliance on the votes of people had not been part of religion and Islamic sharia, then Imam (r.a.) would have told us. If this had been the case, he would have announced it in an outspoken and decisive way. Democracy is part of religion. Therefore, Islamic sharia is the framework. When passing and implementing laws, when assigning individuals different tasks and discharging them from their service and during all tasks that follow this political-civil system, Islamic sharia should be observed. All tasks in this system revolve around democracy. All the people elect the members of the Majlis and the president, they elect ministers indirectly, they elect the members of the Assembly of Experts and they elect the Leader indirectly. All tasks are in the hands of the people. This was the main base of our magnanimous Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) movement. The great structure that this great personality built was founded on these two bases. Commitment to Islamic sharia is the soul and truth of the Islamic government. Everyone should pay attention to this issue. If Islamic sharia is completely observed in society, this will ensure both civil and individual freedom - the freedom of individuals - and collective freedom which is called independence. Independence means freedom of a people. It means that a people are not dependent on anyone and any place. \\\\\\\"A free people\\\\\\\" means a people who are not under the influence and domination of their opponents, their enemies and foreigners in any way. If Islamic sharia is observed, it will ensure both justice and spirituality in society. These are the four main elements: freedom, independence, justice and spirituality. If Islamic sharia dominates society, these main phenomena in the order of Islamic society will show themselves. Therefore, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) stressed the necessity of Islamic sharia which is the soul of the Islamic Republic. He also stressed the necessity of religious democracy which is a means and a tool and which is derived from sharia. According to Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought, any power and force which has come into being through deception and oppression is unacceptable. In the Islamic government, oppression and subjugation are meaningless. Power and authority are meaningful, but only the one that originates from people\\\\\\\'s free will and choice. The kind of power which originates from bullying, subjugation and weapons is meaningless from the viewpoint of Islam, Islamic sharia and Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) school of thought. The kind of power which emerges on the basis of people\\\\\\\'s choice is respectable. No one should confront this power. No one should try to suppress and subjugate this power. If they do so, this is called fitna. This is the new prescription that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) introduced to the world. He added this important chapter to the political literature of the world. As we pointed out, one of the main elements in this new version is rushing to help the oppressed and confronting the oppressor. We should help the oppressed and in the present time, the concrete manifestation of being oppressed is the people of Palestine. As you witnessed, from the first day until the end of his life, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) stressed the issue of Palestine. He supported the issue of Palestine and stated in his testament that the people of Iran and the officials of the country should not forget about this issue. Helping the oppressed, showing resistance against the oppressor, condemning his transgressions, rejecting his power and grandeur in an outspoken way and shattering this grandeur are among the parts of this system and this new version presented by our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). This is a short summary, portrayal and description of the political order and the foundation that our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) introduced to society after overthrowing the monarchic regime in the country. This matter was completely accepted by the people and it was put into practice. Unlike many political slogans, this matter was not confined to books. Rather, it was realized, put into practice and reflected in reality. And the people of Iran showed their determination, loyalty and self-sacrifice by preserving this matter and strengthening it on a daily basis until today. So, Imam (r.a.) succeeded. He achieved complete success in what he wanted to do. Will this great task continue? Will the empty boxes of this table - naturally, there are some empty boxes in social and historical tables - be filled in? This depends on how determined and aware you and I are and to what extent we observe and move in the direction of that clear line. It is completely possible to do this. Considering the people that we see, considering the experience that they have gained and considering the successful and continuous movement that they have launched in the past 35 years - and in the past 25 years since Imam\\\\\\\'s (r.a.) demise - it is possible to continue this path. The empty boxes will be filled in, great feats will be accomplished and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor and grace, our people will reach the peaks. Like all the important paths which have been delineated for reaching great goals, this path involves certain challenges and obstacles. We should identify these obstacles so that we can pass through them. If we do not identify obstacles, overcoming them will be either difficult or impossible. I am saying these things to you honorable participants of this great and magnificent meeting and, in fact, to the people of Iran who will hear these statements. But it is our youth, our scholars and our intellectuals who should think about, work on and study each of these chapters and parts. They should work on not only semi-intellectual and theoretical discussions but also on practical and functional discussions which reflect the truth. What we are saying is some chapters for carrying out intellectual tasks. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, these chapters will be followed up by our youth who are much better and prepared than we are. I would like to refer to two challenges: one is an external challenge and another is an internal challenge. Our external challenge is the interferences of global arrogance. I would like to speak without any consideration. The external challenge is the interferences of America. They engage in mudslinging. Although some of their thinkers say in their analyses that it is useless or impossible to confront this great movement, they engage in mudslinging. We should know their plan. This is America\\\\\\\'s plan which has been revealed through their discussions, reports, statements and behavior: America divides all countries, orientations and people throughout the world into three groups: the first group is made up of the submissive including submissive countries, submissive political and social orientations and submissive individuals. The first group is comprised of these people. The second group is comprised of countries which are not submissive and which should be tolerated. From the viewpoint of America, a number of countries, personalities and orientations should be tolerated. They believe that they should define common interests with these countries and that they should get along with them somehow. Later on, I will explain this more. The third group is made up of disobedient countries, those which do not give in to America and which refuse to be blackmailed by it. The third group is comprised of these countries. From the viewpoint of the Americans, no country, no political, social, civil and economic orientation and no individual in the world is out of these three groups. Everyone is either submissive and docile or independent - and you should get along with them - or disobedient, bold and courageous. One should behave in a different way towards the third group. America\\\\\\\'s policy towards the first group is complete support. Of course, they do not provide this support for free. They support them, but they also milk them. In fact, they use their capabilities and resources to the advantage of their own interests and for safeguarding their own interests. The Americans ride roughshod over these people and they make them render all kinds of services to them. As I said, they milk them and they do not care at all. Of course, if these people and countries behave in a way that is considered to be indecent according to global conventions, the Americans do not condemn it. On the contrary, they defend and justify it. For example, there are some dictatorial countries which are managed by biased, reactionary and completely dictatorial regimes, but they have friendly relations with the Americans. These countries give in to the Americans and they are prepared to serve and obey them. They are members of the first group. When the Americans want to describe them, they do not refer to them as dictatorial countries. Rather, they say that they are patriarchal countries and thus they cover up their dictatorship. They say, \\\\\\\"They are not dictators. Rather, they are patriarchal countries\\\\\\\". What is the meaning of patriarchal in political systems? What does it mean? Is a patriarchal country a country in which there is no parliament, no elections, no power to speak freely, no freedom of speech and no freedom of expression? Is a patriarchal country a country in which the slightest disobedience to the wishes of the rulers is suppressed in a very serious and severe way? In one part of his life, Saddam Hussein was one of these obedient and submissive individuals. In that stage of his life, they gave him all kinds of support and they rendered some services to him. They gave him chemical weapons and they provided him with the plans of our military movement which had been discovered via satellite. They gave him military plans because he was at their service and because he was against the disobedient Islamic Republic which was a member of the third group. So, these people represent the first group. As I said, the second group is made up of the countries which America gets along with. The policy and plan of America is to get along with these countries. What does getting along mean? It means defining common interests and establishing friendly relations with someone. But when America has the opportunity, it will stab them in the back and tear their hearts open and it will not show any consideration for them. Which countries represent the second group? European countries represent the second group. Today, European countries are in such conditions. America gets along with them, but this does not mean that it defends their interests. This is not the case. It will kick them as much as it can. For example, it spies - Internet espionage - on the number one in its allied country. It also spies on him by tapping his cell phone. The Americans even keep watch on his personal life and they have no scruples whatsoever. When it comes out, they say, \\\\\\\"Sorry, it happened because we had no choice\\\\\\\". They are not even willing to apologize in a sincere way. My understanding of political issues tells me that the Europeans are making a great strategic mistake by serving America. They promote the interests of America, but America does not and will not do so and it will be the same until the end. This was about the second group. The third group is made up of countries which do not give in to America. America\\\\\\\'s policy towards this group is to use each and every tool they find against these disobedient countries. They use any tool they find and they do not have any limits for that. If you see that there is a country which is disobedient to America and that America does not attack or impose sanctions on it, then you should know that there is a problem - that is to say, there is an obstacle in their way. To put it simply, they cannot do it. If they can, they will definitely do it. The only crime that this disobedient country has committed is that it is not willing to give in to America, to be blackmailed by it and to let the interests of America have priority over its own interests. This is the definition of a disobedient country. In order to bring this country to its knees, the Americans do everything that they can. They do whatever is possible for them. If they do not do something, it is because they cannot. Well, what are the things that the Americans do? Today, launching a military attack is not a priority from the viewpoint of the Americans. They have understood that they suffered a loss on the issue of Iraq and Afghanistan where they launched military attacks. They have understood that launching a military attack is as dangerous for the aggressor as it is for the defender and sometimes, it is even more dangerous for the aggressor. They have understood this correctly. Therefore, it can be said that they have changed their mind about launching a military attack. They have other ways ahead of them. One of these ways is entrusting the task of furthering their goals in the target country - which is the target of their attacks - to the elements inside this country. The issue is not only about Islamic Iran and the Islamic Republic. They are doing these things all over the world and we are witnessing some instances of their effort in the present time. Another way is launching a coup d\\\\\\\'état. They empower some people inside the target country so that they can launch a coup d\\\\\\\'état and overthrow those governments and political systems which do not give in to them. One of the ways that they use is this. Another way is drawing part of the people to the streets. An example is the color revolutions which were carried out in each and every part of the region in recent years. Take the case of a government which comes to power in a country. After all, if the government that comes to power holds 60 percent of the votes, it means that 40 percent of the people did not vote for it. The Americans go to that 40 percent, choose certain elements and leaders among them and make them - either by bribing or by threatening them - draw that 40 percent or part of it to the streets. America\\\\\\\'s hands were behind the color revolutions - for example, such and such an orange revolution and other revolutions in different countries - that were carried out in recent years. We do not make any judgment about the events which are taking place in an area in Europe. But when one takes a look, one sees what a role an American senator and official can play - by showing his presence - in the demonstrations of a minority against a country. They showed their presence in such areas. One of the measures that they adopt is that they draw part of the people to the streets and make them break the law, thereby overthrowing the government which they do not approve of and which is not blackmailed. Another measure that they adopt is empowering and forming terrorist groups. They did this in Iraq, Afghanistan and some Arab countries in the region. They did it in our country as well. They form terrorist groups in order to kill well-known personalities. In our country, they struck and martyred scientists and experts on atomic energy. Before that too, they struck political, cultural, scientific and seminary personalities. These terrorists grew with the help of the Americans. Some of them were accepted into America by the Americans for the services that they rendered. Today, munafeqeen are in America\\\\\\\'s arms. They take part in different meetings and commissions of the U.S. Congress. The same munafeqeen who killed people from different social backgrounds - including great personalities, ulama, scientists and political personalities - and who carried out explosions are with the Americans today. So, this is another way they use. Another way is creating discord among decision-makers of countries. One of the measures that they adopt is this: they try to create a rift in the highest levels of the government and system that is not with them. They try to establish a dual government. Of course, they do not succeed in many countries. But unfortunately, they succeed in some areas. This is one of their ways. Another way is that they discourage - with their propaganda - the hearts and minds of people from following their ideological and religious principles. They try such measures. The regime of the United States of America has done all these things to our dear and Islamic Iran and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, it has failed in all of them. Launching military coups d\\\\\\\'état, supporting those who instigate fitna, drawing some people to the streets, confronting elections and creating rifts were some of the measures that they either adopted or tried to adopt and thankfully, they failed in all of them. Why did they fail? It was because the people were vigilant and religious. It is here that I want to speak about the second challenge which is the internal challenge. Dear brothers and sisters, the internal challenge for our people is the risk of ignoring, forgetting about and losing the spirit and orientation of our magnanimous Imam (r.a). This is the greatest danger. The internal challenge is making a mistake in knowing our enemies and our friends and confusing the camp of our enemies and friends so much so that we do not know who our enemies and friends are. Another mistake is failing to know our major and minor enemies. This is another danger. You dear brothers and sisters and all the people of Iran should pay attention that sometimes, someone shows enmity towards you. But if you pay careful attention, you will see that his enmity is not the main one. It is a function of another factor and another person. You should find the main enemy. Otherwise, if one confronts the lesser enemy, one\\\\\\\'s energy is sapped and the result will not be good. Today, some people in different parts of the world of Islam - which go by the name of takfiri, Wahhabi and Salafi groups - are adopting bad and inappropriate measures against Iran, Shia Muslims and Shia Islam. But everyone should know that they are not the main enemies. They show enmity and they adopt foolish measures, but the main enemy is the person who provokes them, who gives them money and who motivates them with different means when their motivation is weakened to some extent. The main enemy is the person who sows the seeds of rupture and discord between that foolish and ignorant group and the oppressed people of Iran. These measures are adopted by the hidden hands of intelligence and security services. That is why we have constantly said that we do not consider these foolish groups - who confront the Islamic Republic in the name of Salafism, takfiri and Islam - to be our main enemy. We consider you to be the deceived. We have said to these people: \\\\\\\"If you stretch your hand against me to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against you to slay you: for I fear Allah, the Cherisher of the worlds\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 5: 28]. If you make a mistake and if you prepare yourself to kill your Muslim brothers, we do not consider you to be so important that we try to kill you. Of course, we defend ourselves. Anyone who attacks us will face our firm fist. This is natural, but we believe that these people are not our main enemies. They have been deceived. The main enemy is the person who acts behind the scenes. The main enemy is the visible hand that comes out of the sleeve of intelligence services, that confronts Muslims and that pits them against one another. This is our internal challenge: becoming busy with domestic differences - those which are trivial and unimportant. Such differences make us busy, pit us against one another, create tension and make us forget about the main issues and guidelines. This is one of the manifestations of the main challenge which was referred to. Losing national solidarity is one of our challenges. Suffering from laziness, lack of confidence, idleness, desperation and hopelessness and thinking that we cannot succeed and that we have not succeeded until today are among the internal challenges we should confront. As Imam (r.a.) said, we can. We should show determination. National determination and jihadi management can untie all the knots. As we said, our dear youth, our outstanding personalities and our scholars should sit and study these issues. These are our main points. The auspicious name of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.), the remembrance of that great man and the plan of that great architect can help us in all these chapters. It can give us hope, enthusiasm and morale, as it has done this until today and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, it will continue to do this in the future. Dear God, bestow your blessings on our dear people. Dear God, help our dear youth on the path of building an ideal Islamic structure. Dear God, protect us from deviations and digressions. Dear God, make the hands of the people of Iran stronger than the hands of their enemies. Help them achieve victory over their enemies. Make the holy heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) kind to us. Help us benefit from the prayers of that great Imam (a.s.). Associate the pure souls of Imam (r.a.) and our dear martyrs with the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1921

This video is the English audio transcription of the speech delivered on January 19, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with government officials and foreign participants of the 27th Conference on Islamic Unity. The meeting was held in Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah on the occasion of the birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Sadiq (a.s.). Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Government Officials and Participants of Conference on Islam Print 19/01/2014 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 19, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with government officials and foreign participants of the 27th Conference on Islamic Unity. The meeting was held in Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah on the occasion of the birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Sadiq (a.s.). In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful I would like to congratulate all of you dear audience who are present in this meeting, the dear guests of Unity Week, the ambassadors of Islamic countries and all the honorable officials who have accepted heavy responsibilities in the country, on the occasion of the auspicious birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and his outstanding grandson - Imam Sadiq (a.s.). I would like to extend my congratulations to all the people of Iran, all Muslims and all liberated people throughout the world. This auspicious birthday is the source of many blessings which have been bestowed on the lives of human beings over the course of many centuries. It has helped nations, peoples and humanity in general to achieve the best human, intellectual and mental qualities. It has helped them to create a lofty civilization and to achieve bright prospects for a better life. On this birthday anniversary, what is important for the world of Islam and the Islamic community is to pay attention to the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) expectations of the Islamic community and to try hard to meet these expectations. The happiness of the world of Islam lies in this and nothing else. Islam emerged for the liberation of humanity- both liberation from the suppression and pressures of oppressive and dictatorial regimes which have ruled over all people and in order to form a just government for the entire humanity, and liberation from deceptive thoughts and illusions which dominate the lives of people and which make their lives deviate from the right path. At a time when Islam was about to emerge, the Commander of the Faithful (peace and greetings be upon him) described the environment in which people were living as an environment of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"fitna\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\": \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"At that time, people had fallen into fitna, whereby the rope of religion had been broken\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 2]. Fitna means a dusty climate in which one cannot see anything. In such a climate, one cannot see the path and he does not know what to do. This was the conditions of the people who lived in that difficult area. The same conditions dominated - in a different way - the lives of the people in great countries and civilizations which existed at that time. It is not the case that we can think the people who were living in the Arabian Peninsula at a time when Islamic was about to emerge had terrible conditions while other people living in other areas were happy. The domination of cruel and oppressive regimes, their indifference towards the position of human beings and human principles and the outbreak of disastrous wars which were waged by powers for the sake of power had destroyed the lives of people. History shows that the two well-known civilizations of those days - that is to say, the Persian Sassanid civilization and the Roman civilization - were in such terrible conditions that it makes one pity the masses of the people who were living in those societies. The living conditions of those people were terrible and they were living in captivity. In such conditions, Islam came and freed people. This freedom first manifests itself in the hearts and souls of people. When one feels that he is free and when he feels the need to break chains, the forces inside him will be influenced by this feeling and then he can achieve social freedom if he shows determination and if he moves forward. Islam did this for people. The same message that Islam delivered at that time exists today in the world of Islam and in other parts of the world. The enemies of freedom kill the thought of freedom in people. When there is no thought of freedom, the movement towards freedom will either slow down or stop. Today, what we Muslims should do is to try to achieve the kind of freedom that Islam wants. The independence of Muslim nations, the establishment of popular governments throughout the world of Islam, the participation of all people in making decisions and determining fates and their movement on the basis of Islamic sharia are things which liberate nations. Of course, Muslim nations feel that they need this movement today. This feeling exists throughout the world of Islam and without a doubt, it will finally achieve results. If outstanding personalities - whether political, scientific and religious personalities - in Muslim countries carry out their responsibilities in the proper way, then the future of the world of Islam will be a bright one. Muslims are hopeful about this future. Today, the world of Islam feels that it is awake. It is exactly at this point that the enemies of Islam - those people who are opposed to Islamic Awakening, independence of nations and the domination of God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s religion in all countries - enter the arena. It is exactly at this point that all kinds of tricks are used for creating obstacles in the way of Islamic societies. And the most important trick that they use is creating discord. It is 65 years now that the world of arrogance has been trying with all its power to impose the existence of the Zionist regime on Muslim nations and to make them accept this regime. But it has failed. We should not look at some countries and governments which are willing to act against their national interests in order to safeguard the interests of their foreign friends - who are the enemies of Islam - and to consign Islamic interests to oblivion. Peoples are opposed to the presence of the Zionists. It is 65 years now that they have been trying to erase the memory of Palestine, but they have failed. During the 33-day war in Lebanon and during the 22-day war and - for the second time - the eight-day war in Gaza which were waged in recent years, Muslim nations and the Islamic Ummah showed that they are alive. The Islamic Ummah showed that despite the investment of America and other western powers, it has managed to preserve its identity, to slap the fake and imposed Zionist regime across the face and to frustrate the allies of oppressive Zionists who did their best during this time to preserve this imposed, oppressive and criminal regime. The Islamic Ummah showed that it has not forgotten about Palestine. This is a very important issue. It is in such conditions that the enemy is focusing all its efforts on making the Islamic Ummah forget about Palestine. How do they want to do this? They want to do this by creating discord, waging domestic wars, promoting deviant extremism in the name of Islam, religion and Islamic sharia. They want a group of people to say takfiri things against Muslims. The existence of these takfiri orientations which have emerged in the world of Islam is good news for arrogance and the enemies of the world of Islam. It is these takfiri orientations that attract the attention of Muslims towards insignificant issues instead of letting them pay attention to the truth about the existence of the malevolent Zionist regime. This is the exact opposite of what Islam wants. Islam has asked Muslims to be \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"strong against unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 48, 29]. Muslims should be strong against the enemies of religion. They should stand firm and they should not be influenced by the enemies. Being \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"strong against unbelievers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is the clear message of this ayah. Muslims should be compassionate towards one another, they should stay together and join hands and they should hold fast to the rope which Allah stretches out for them. This is the command of Islam. Now what happens if an orientation emerges which divides Muslims into believers and unbelievers, which targets a group of people as unbelievers and which pits Muslims against one another? Who can doubt the role of arrogance and the security services of arrogant and malevolent governments in creating, supporting and enriching these orientations and in equipping them with weapons? These arrogant powers sit and plan for this. The world of Islam should attend to this issue because it is a grave danger. Unfortunately, a number of Muslim governments unwittingly add fuel to the fire of this discord. They do not understand that fueling this discord will kindle a fire which will burn them as well. This is what arrogance wants: they want a group of Muslims to wage a war against another group of Muslims. Those who give rise to this war are people who benefit from the money provided by puppet rulers. These puppet rulers give them money and weapons in order to pit people in such and such a country against one another. This move has been reinforced by arrogance in the past three, four years during which a wave of Islamic Awakening has emerged in a number of Islamic and Arabic countries. They want to do this in order to overshadow Islamic Awakening. By making this move, they are pitting Muslims against one another. Moreover, the propaganda networks of the enemies are projecting an ugly image of Islam for public opinion throughout the world. They are doing this by magnifying events. What do people think of Islam when media networks show a person who is devouring the liver of another person in the name of Islam? The enemies of Islam have planned this. These are not things that happen all of a sudden and out of the blue. These are things for which many plans have been devised over a long period of time. There are different policies and spy rings behind these moves. There is big money behind these moves. Muslims should confront any phenomenon which is against their unity. This is a great responsibility for all of us. Both Shia and Sunni Muslims, and different groups which exist among Shia and Sunni Muslims should shoulder this responsibility. Unity means reliance on common points. We have many common points. Muslims\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' common points are more than their disagreements and therefore, they should rely on them. The main responsibility in this regard falls on the shoulders of outstanding personalities - whether political, scientific or religious personalities. Religious scholars in the world of Islam should prevent Muslims from creating sectarian and religious discord. Academic scholars should help students understand that today, unity is the most important issue in the world of Islam. The most important issue is unity for the sake of reaching goals. These goals are achieving political independence, establishing religious democracy and observing divine rules in Islamic societies. Islam invites people to freedom, dignity and honor. This is an obligation and responsibility today. Political personalities too should know that their dignity and honor lies in their reliance on Muslim peoples, not on foreigners and those who are arch enemies of Islamic societies. One day, arrogant powers dominated people everywhere in Islamic regions. One day, policies carried out by America and before that England and other countries, dominated the lives of people in Islamic regions. Nations gradually managed to liberate themselves from this direct domination. In the present time, the enemies want to replace this direct domination, which they imposed during the era of imperialism, with indirect domination - that is to say, political, economic and cultural domination. Of course, in some areas they are imposing this direct domination again. As you see, a number of European countries want to create the same situation which existed in the past in Africa. The path is Islamic Awakening. The path is awareness about the position of Muslim nations. Muslim nations have many resources, they have sensitive geographical locations, they have a very valuable historical legacy and they have unique economic resources. If Muslims collect themselves, find their true identity, rely on themselves and extend the hand of friendship, then this region will be an outstanding and enlightened region and the world of Islam will witness dignity, greatness and honor. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, this is what will happen in the future. One can see the signs of this future such as the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the establishment and stability of the Islamic Republic in this sensitive region. It is 35 years now that arrogant regimes - including America and other powers - have been doing their best to work against the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran. Despite this, the people of Iran and the Islamic Republic are becoming stronger, more rooted, more powerful and more influential on a daily basis. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, this strength, this stability and this power will increase in the future. In the world of Islam too, one sees that the awareness of people and youth about Islam and the future of Islam has increased compared to the past. In some countries, people are much more aware than they were in the past. Of course, the enemy is making some efforts, but if we look carefully and vigilantly, we will see that - by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor - this wave of Islamic movement is going forward. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) who opened up this path for us. He taught us that we should rely on God, ask Him alone for help and be hopeful about the future. Then, we moved forward on this path and by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we will continue to do this. I hope that Islam and Muslims achieve victory and I ask God to bestow His mercy and forgiveness on the martyrs of this bright path. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1859

[English Sub] Islamic Unity Conference - Birthday of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w / Imam Sadiq a.s Ayatullah Ali Khamenei\\\\\\\'s Full speech Farsi sub English 19 january 2014. Supreme Leader\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Officials and Participants of Conference on Islamic Unity Print 19/01/2014 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on January 19, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with government officials and foreign participants of the 27th Conference on Islamic Unity. The meeting was held in Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah on the occasion of the birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Sadiq (a.s.). In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful I would like to congratulate all of you dear audience who are present in this meeting, the dear guests of Unity Week, the ambassadors of Islamic countries and all the honorable officials who have accepted heavy responsibilities in the country, on the occasion of the auspicious birthday anniversaries of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and his outstanding grandson - Imam Sadiq (a.s.). I would like to extend my congratulations to all the people of Iran, all Muslims and all liberated people throughout the world. This auspicious birthday is the source of many blessings which have been bestowed on the lives of human beings over the course of many centuries. It has helped nations, peoples and humanity in general to achieve the best human, intellectual and mental qualities. It has helped them to create a lofty civilization and to achieve bright prospects for a better life. On this birthday anniversary, what is important for the world of Islam and the Islamic community is to pay attention to the Holy Prophet\\\\\\\'s (s.w.a.) expectations of the Islamic community and to try hard to meet these expectations. The happiness of the world of Islam lies in this and nothing else. Islam emerged for the liberation of humanity- both liberation from the suppression and pressures of oppressive and dictatorial regimes which have ruled over all people and in order to form a just government for the entire humanity, and liberation from deceptive thoughts and illusions which dominate the lives of people and which make their lives deviate from the right path. At a time when Islam was about to emerge, the Commander of the Faithful (peace and greetings be upon him) described the environment in which people were living as an environment of \\\\\\\"fitna\\\\\\\": \\\\\\\"At that time, people had fallen into fitna, whereby the rope of religion had been broken\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 2]. Fitna means a dusty climate in which one cannot see anything. In such a climate, one cannot see the path and he does not know what to do. This was the conditions of the people who lived in that difficult area. The same conditions dominated - in a different way - the lives of the people in great countries and civilizations which existed at that time. It is not the case that we can think the people who were living in the Arabian Peninsula at a time when Islamic was about to emerge had terrible conditions while other people living in other areas were happy. The domination of cruel and oppressive regimes, their indifference towards the position of human beings and human principles and the outbreak of disastrous wars which were waged by powers for the sake of power had destroyed the lives of people. History shows that the two well-known civilizations of those days - that is to say, the Persian Sassanid civilization and the Roman civilization - were in such terrible conditions that it makes one pity the masses of the people who were living in those societies. The living conditions of those people were terrible and they were living in captivity. In such conditions, Islam came and freed people. This freedom first manifests itself in the hearts and souls of people. When one feels that he is free and when he feels the need to break chains, the forces inside him will be influenced by this feeling and then he can achieve social freedom if he shows determination and if he moves forward. Islam did this for people. The same message that Islam delivered at that time exists today in the world of Islam and in other parts of the world. The enemies of freedom kill the thought of freedom in people. When there is no thought of freedom, the movement towards freedom will either slow down or stop. Today, what we Muslims should do is to try to achieve the kind of freedom that Islam wants. The independence of Muslim nations, the establishment of popular governments throughout the world of Islam, the participation of all people in making decisions and determining fates and their movement on the basis of Islamic sharia are things which liberate nations. Of course, Muslim nations feel that they need this movement today. This feeling exists throughout the world of Islam and without a doubt, it will finally achieve results. If outstanding personalities - whether political, scientific and religious personalities - in Muslim countries carry out their responsibilities in the proper way, then the future of the world of Islam will be a bright one. Muslims are hopeful about this future. Today, the world of Islam feels that it is awake. It is exactly at this point that the enemies of Islam - those people who are opposed to Islamic Awakening, independence of nations and the domination of God\\\\\\\'s religion in all countries - enter the arena. It is exactly at this point that all kinds of tricks are used for creating obstacles in the way of Islamic societies. And the most important trick that they use is creating discord. It is 65 years now that the world of arrogance has been trying with all its power to impose the existence of the Zionist regime on Muslim nations and to make them accept this regime. But it has failed. We should not look at some countries and governments which are willing to act against their national interests in order to safeguard the interests of their foreign friends - who are the enemies of Islam - and to consign Islamic interests to oblivion. Peoples are opposed to the presence of the Zionists. It is 65 years now that they have been trying to erase the memory of Palestine, but they have failed. During the 33-day war in Lebanon and during the 22-day war and - for the second time - the eight-day war in Gaza which were waged in recent years, Muslim nations and the Islamic Ummah showed that they are alive. The Islamic Ummah showed that despite the investment of America and other western powers, it has managed to preserve its identity, to slap the fake and imposed Zionist regime across the face and to frustrate the allies of oppressive Zionists who did their best during this time to preserve this imposed, oppressive and criminal regime. The Islamic Ummah showed that it has not forgotten about Palestine. This is a very important issue. It is in such conditions that the enemy is focusing all its efforts on making the Islamic Ummah forget about Palestine. How do they want to do this? They want to do this by creating discord, waging domestic wars, promoting deviant extremism in the name of Islam, religion and Islamic sharia. They want a group of people to say takfiri things against Muslims. The existence of these takfiri orientations which have emerged in the world of Islam is good news for arrogance and the enemies of the world of Islam. It is these takfiri orientations that attract the attention of Muslims towards insignificant issues instead of letting them pay attention to the truth about the existence of the malevolent Zionist regime. This is the exact opposite of what Islam wants. Islam has asked Muslims to be \\\\\\\"strong against unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 48, 29]. Muslims should be strong against the enemies of religion. They should stand firm and they should not be influenced by the enemies. Being \\\\\\\"strong against unbelievers\\\\\\\" is the clear message of this ayah. Muslims should be compassionate towards one another, they should stay together and join hands and they should hold fast to the rope which Allah stretches out for them. This is the command of Islam. Now what happens if an orientation emerges which divides Muslims into believers and unbelievers, which targets a group of people as unbelievers and which pits Muslims against one another? Who can doubt the role of arrogance and the security services of arrogant and malevolent governments in creating, supporting and enriching these orientations and in equipping them with weapons? These arrogant powers sit and plan for this. The world of Islam should attend to this issue because it is a grave danger. Unfortunately, a number of Muslim governments unwittingly add fuel to the fire of this discord. They do not understand that fueling this discord will kindle a fire which will burn them as well. This is what arrogance wants: they want a group of Muslims to wage a war against another group of Muslims. Those who give rise to this war are people who benefit from the money provided by puppet rulers. These puppet rulers give them money and weapons in order to pit people in such and such a country against one another. This move has been reinforced by arrogance in the past three, four years during which a wave of Islamic Awakening has emerged in a number of Islamic and Arabic countries. They want to do this in order to overshadow Islamic Awakening. By making this move, they are pitting Muslims against one another. Moreover, the propaganda networks of the enemies are projecting an ugly image of Islam for public opinion throughout the world. They are doing this by magnifying events. What do people think of Islam when media networks show a person who is devouring the liver of another person in the name of Islam? The enemies of Islam have planned this. These are not things that happen all of a sudden and out of the blue. These are things for which many plans have been devised over a long period of time. There are different policies and spy rings behind these moves. There is big money behind these moves. Muslims should confront any phenomenon which is against their unity. This is a great responsibility for all of us. Both Shia and Sunni Muslims, and different groups which exist among Shia and Sunni Muslims should shoulder this responsibility. Unity means reliance on common points. We have many common points. Muslims\\\\\\\' common points are more than their disagreements and therefore, they should rely on them. The main responsibility in this regard falls on the shoulders of outstanding personalities - whether political, scientific or religious personalities. Religious scholars in the world of Islam should prevent Muslims from creating sectarian and religious discord. Academic scholars should help students understand that today, unity is the most important issue in the world of Islam. The most important issue is unity for the sake of reaching goals. These goals are achieving political independence, establishing religious democracy and observing divine rules in Islamic societies. Islam invites people to freedom, dignity and honor. This is an obligation and responsibility today. Political personalities too should know that their dignity and honor lies in their reliance on Muslim peoples, not on foreigners and those who are arch enemies of Islamic societies. One day, arrogant powers dominated people everywhere in Islamic regions. One day, policies carried out by America and before that England and other countries, dominated the lives of people in Islamic regions. Nations gradually managed to liberate themselves from this direct domination. In the present time, the enemies want to replace this direct domination, which they imposed during the era of imperialism, with indirect domination - that is to say, political, economic and cultural domination. Of course, in some areas they are imposing this direct domination again. As you see, a number of European countries want to create the same situation which existed in the past in Africa. The path is Islamic Awakening. The path is awareness about the position of Muslim nations. Muslim nations have many resources, they have sensitive geographical locations, they have a very valuable historical legacy and they have unique economic resources. If Muslims collect themselves, find their true identity, rely on themselves and extend the hand of friendship, then this region will be an outstanding and enlightened region and the world of Islam will witness dignity, greatness and honor. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, this is what will happen in the future. One can see the signs of this future such as the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the establishment and stability of the Islamic Republic in this sensitive region. It is 35 years now that arrogant regimes - including America and other powers - have been doing their best to work against the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran. Despite this, the people of Iran and the Islamic Republic are becoming stronger, more rooted, more powerful and more influential on a daily basis. By Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, this strength, this stability and this power will increase in the future. In the world of Islam too, one sees that the awareness of people and youth about Islam and the future of Islam has increased compared to the past. In some countries, people are much more aware than they were in the past. Of course, the enemy is making some efforts, but if we look carefully and vigilantly, we will see that - by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor - this wave of Islamic movement is going forward. God\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) who opened up this path for us. He taught us that we should rely on God, ask Him alone for help and be hopeful about the future. Then, we moved forward on this path and by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor, we will continue to do this. I hope that Islam and Muslims achieve victory and I ask God to bestow His mercy and forgiveness on the martyrs of this bright path. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1859

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has described the \\\\\\\'unprecedented\\\\\\\' turnout of almost 85% in the election as a \\\\\\\'political quake\\\\\\\' for the enemy. Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said high turnout in the election, which witnessed more than 40 million Iranians casting their votes, was a great manifestation of people\\\\\\\'s solidarity with the Islamic establishment. Addressing Friday prayers congregation, Ayatollah Khamenei said that last Friday\\\\\\\'s election indicated a \\\\\\\'common sense of responsibility\\\\\\\' of the Iranian nation to determine the future of the country. The Leader added that all those who took part in the election proved their \\\\\\\'political consciousness and commitment\\\\\\\' towards the establishment to the whole world. The Leader said the high voter turnout in the election was a \\\\\\\'political quake\\\\\\\' for the enemy and a \\\\\\\'real celebration\\\\\\\' for the friends of the country. \\\\\\\"The Islamic Republic of Iran will by no means betray the votes of the nation,\\\\\\\" the Leader said, adding the legal system of the election will not allow any ballot rigging in Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei, however, maintained that the Guardian Council, the body tasked with overseeing the election, would look into the complaints of the candidates who are unhappy with the election results. The Leader also added that the establishment would never give-in to illegal demands, urging all presidential candidates to pursue their complaints through legal channels. Ayatollah Khamenei called for an end to illegal street protests aimed at reversing the result of the election. Following the announcement of the election outcome, supporters of the defeated candidate Mir-Hussein Mousavi-who rejected the election results-- took to the streets of Tehran and other cities in daily rallies. The Leader also warned against attempts made by foreign media outlets seeking to destabilize the country and blamed Britain in particular. Ayatollah Khamenei also decried the slander of former and incumbent top officials in pre-election debates by candidates. President Ahmadinejad was re-elected the next president of the country with over 60% percent of the votes. He won over his three rivals Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei with almost 25 million votes. The Leader said the time is over for rivalry, stressing that all should unite and line up behind the president-elect Complete Transcript http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=98610 In this sermon, I call all the respected brothers and sisters who have attended the Friday prayers here to piety and I advise them against any wrongdoing. In this sermon, I will address the issue of the election, which is a hot topic in our country. I want to address three different groups on three different issues; firstly, I want to address the general public. Secondly, I want to address the political elite, the candidates of the presidential election, activists and those who have been active in the process of election. I also have something to say to the leaders of the global arrogance, certain Western governments and their media. On the first issue, where I address you dear people, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude. I do not like to exaggerate while I am addressing my audience, but regarding the recent election, I must tell you great people that no matter what I say, words cannot describe the greatness of your great accomplishment. The June 12 election was a great show of the people\\\\\\\'s sense of responsibility, their will to participate, and their dedication to the system. Truly, I have never heard of anything similar to what you have accomplished taking place in any of the democratic systems around the world, whether they are false democracies or truly built on their people\\\\\\\'s vote. In the Islamic Republic, aside from the 1979 referendum, there has no election like the one held last Friday with a turnout of almost 85 percent. This means almost 40 million voters. You can see the presence of the 12 and last Shia Imam behind this. This is a sign of God\\\\\\\'s blessing to us. It is necessary that I address you all across the nation from the depths of my heart, to express my respect and tell you that I feel humble in your presence. Our young generation showed and proved they have insight and that like the first generation of the Islamic Revolution, they are committed. The difference is, during the days of the revolution, revolutionary fire burned in the hearts of all. It was the same is the days of the imposed war but in a different sense. Today, however, there is no more of that but we still witness this commitment, this sense of responsibility, this understanding and fervor in our youth. This is not something that can be ignored. Of course, there are differences of taste and of opinion among our people. Some people support a certain candidate; others back another person and his words and ideas. This is natural, but you can see a collective commitment amid all this and amongst people of all walks of life. You can see a consensus, a collective commitment to the protection of our country and system. Everyone entered the political scene in villages, towns, cities, major cities, different ethnic groups, people of different faiths, men, women, young and old. They all entered the scene. They all took part in this great movement. My dear people, this election was a political tremor for your enemies. For your friends across the world, it was a real celebration -- a historical ceremony and victory. Thirty years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, such a huge turnout and show of commitment to the Islamic system and the late Imam [Khomeini] shows the renewal of the pledge of allegiance to the late Imam and the martyrs. This was a breath of fresh air, a new movement and a great opportunity for the Islamic system. This election put religious democracy on display for the whole world to witness. All ill-wishers of the Islamic establishment saw for themselves the meaning of religious democracy. This is an alternative path in the face of dictatorships and arrogant regimes on the one side and democracies devoid of spirituality and religion on the other. This is religious democracy. This is what brings the hearts of people together and draws them to the scene. This is the first point I wanted to make about the election. The second point is that the June 12 election showed that people live with trust, hope and national enthusiasm in this country. This is against a great deal of comments your enemies make in their propaganda. If the people of this country were not hopeful about their future, they would not have taken part in any election. If people were not dedicated to the Islamic establishment, they would have never voted. If they did not feel free, they would have never shown up at polling stations. The trust they have in the Islamic system was evident in this election. Later on, I will tell you how the enemy targeted the very trust of the people in the Islamic establishment. This trust is the very thing they want to crush. This trust is the greatest asset of the Islamic system, so they want to take it away from the Islamic establishment. They want to cast doubt on the election and weaken the confidence of the people in the system. They want to cause the people to panic. The enemies of the Iranian nation know that without trust there would have been a low turnout. A low turnout would have questioned the legitimacy of the establishment. That is what they are after. They wanted to take away your [people] trust and keep you away from the polls to target this legitimacy, and if they had achieved this goal, the damage done would have been incomparable to any other. For the people to come to the polls en masse and then be told that they made a mistake and should not have trusted the Islamic establishment, this is an enemy game. This path is the same one they pursued even before the elections. A few months before the election, in late march, I said in Mashhad that the enemy has started whispers and rumors that their will be vote rigging. They were preparing the grounds for the events of today. I advised our friends in the country not to repeat what the enemy wants to plant in people\\\\\\\'s minds. The Islamic establishment has the people\\\\\\\'s trust and it has not gained this trust easily. For the past 30 years, authorities in the Islamic Republic have managed to maintain this trust, with their performance and painstaking efforts. The third issue I want to touch upon is the issue of rivalry. This competition was a free, serious and transparent race between four candidates as we all witnessed. These competitions, debates and discussion were so transparent that some began to voice objections. I will tell you that to they had the right to object to some extent. Certain problems were also created that resulted in what you see today. I must tell you that we were and still are under the impression that these rivalries were between the four candidates who are all individuals committed to the system. The Enemies want to portray the situation in the media - some of which belong to the Zionists -as if there is a row between the proponents and opponents of the Islamic Republic. No, this is not the case, this very untrue. The four candidates who entered the presidential race all belonged and still belong to the Islamic establishment. One of these four is the president of our country - a hardworking and trustworthy president. One of them is the two-term prime minister, he served the country when I myself was president. He was my prime minister for eight years. One of them was the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and one of the wartime commanders. One them was two-time head of parliament and Majlis speaker. They are all members of our Islamic establishment. Of course, they have differences of opinion and plans that differ from one another. But, they all belong to this Islamic establishment. This race was defined within the framework of the system. It was not a competition between insiders and outsiders as the Zionist and the US were trying to portray. No, this was a competition within the framework of the system between members of the system. I know them all personally, I know their system of thought and their tastes very well. I am familiar with their personalities. I have worked with all of them closely. I know them all. But of course, I do not share all their views. I believe some of their views and executive records are subject to criticism. I see some more suitable to serve the country than others. But, this is up to the people to decide, and this is exactly what happened, they chose who they wanted. My desire and my choice was never announced nor was there any need for the people to pay heed to it. The people had their own criteria and this is what they based their decision on. Millions here and outside the country decided for themselves. This is an internal issue. Misrepresenting the problem is underhand. The row is not between insiders of the system and outsiders. The row is not between revolutionary and anti-revolutionary forces, it is a difference of opinion between the members of the Islamic Revolution. People who voted for these four candidates, voted with faith in the system. They believed their candidate of choice was better for the country so they voted for him. They voted in favor of the person they found most competent. Well, these campaigns and debates were an important and interesting initiative. They were very clear, to the point and serious. The televised debates proved wrong those who were trying to say from the outside that these competitions are formalities. They saw that these rivalries are real and serious. They saw that they are really battling it out and exchanging viewpoints. From this perspective, these debates were positive. But, they also had some negative points which I will touch upon. The positive aspect was that in these televised discussions and debates everyone spoke their mind clearly and casually. A flood of criticism followed. Everyone was forced to respond. Everyone was criticized and they defended themselves. The stances that these individuals and groups had were unveiled before the eyes of the nation. They talked about their plans, commitments and projects. All this was publicized for the people so that they could judge for themselves. People felt that in the Islamic system they are not the outsiders. Everything was clearly laid out before the people. They were shown that the nature of their vote is not ceremonial. The right to vote truly does belong to the people. People want to have the right to choose. This is what the televised debates indicated. One of the main reasons that ten million additional voters participated in this election was because the people\\\\\\\'s minds had been engaged, therefore they came and voted for the candidate of their choice. These debates found their way into the streets and homes. These debates helped the people become better informed and hence make better decisions. The Islamic establishment is in favor of such debates. Note that such debates should not be steered in a direction that may cause people to hold grudges against one another. If these debates had remained within their intended framework, they would have been positive. But when they turn into arguments than they will gradually bring grudges and hard feelings. Of course, such debates should continue at managerial levels, but without a negative aspect. Officials should allow criticism and feel responsible to answer. If an individual is criticized, he must see it as an opportunity to enlighten the people and reveal fact and truth. If these debates are regularly carried out [as normal government practice], at election time when there are such debates we would not witness such reactions. All arguments would emerge and all ideas would be exchanged over time. These are the positive aspects of such debates. But, there have also been some negative aspects to the debates that need to be dealt with. In some cases, we saw that logical points were undermined and emotional and destructive responses dominated the debate. There were efforts to portray the last four years as a dark era. There were also attempts to portray previous administrations in a similar light. Allegations were made that have not been proven in any court, rumors were used as a reference, and unjust remarks were made. This administration, despite the excellent services it had rendered came under unjust attacks. Similarly, the performance of previous governments in the past 30 years came under attack. The candidates gave in to their emotions. They made some positive points. They also raised some unpleasant negative issues. Like the rest of the nation, I sat and watched these TV debates. I took pride in the freedom of speech I witnessed. I enjoyed the fact that the Islamic Republic has been able to aid the people in deciding their future, but the shortcomings saddened me. For supporters of the candidates the shortcomings and negative aspects were also a cause for concern; both sides were a party to this... both sides had their problems. On the one hand, insults were hurled against the president of the country, even two to three months prior to these debates, speeches were brought to me and in them, I read the insults made and the accusations leveled against the president of the country who was elected by the vote of the people. They accused him of lying. This is not good. They fabricated documents against the government and distributed them everywhere. I saw what was going on. They [accusations] were all untrue and contrary to the facts. They swore at the president, called him superstitious, and called him names. They closed their eyes to ethics and the law. On the other hand, almost the same thing happened. The performance of the past 30 years of the Revolution was brought under question. People were named who are among the system\\\\\\\'s veteran figures. They are people who have dedicated their lives to this establishment. Never before have I mentioned people by name in the Friday prayer sermons, but today, I have to mention some names, particularly Mr. [Akbar] Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mr. [Ali Akbar] Nateq-Nouri. I must mention their names and point out that nobody has accused them of corruption. Now, if anyone has any claims or complaints regarding their [Hashemi Rafsanjani and Nateq-Nouri\\\\\\\'s] relatives they should refer to judicial authorities. You cannot raise these issues in the media before they are proven. If it is proven, you can raise the issue as every member of society is equal, but you are not allowed to make claims. When such things are mentioned, misunderstandings are the outcome. This can cause misunderstandings for the younger generation. Everyone knows Mr. Hashemi. My relationship with him goes back to before the Islamic Revolution. I have known him for more than 25 years. Mr. Hashemi was one of the main revolutionary figures. He was one of the most active proponents of the revolution, and after the Islamic Revolution, he was one of the main political figures serving the people alongside the late Imam, And after the departure of the founder of the Islamic Revolution he has been alongside the leadership to date. On several occasions, there were assassination attempts on his life. Before the revolution, he donated his possessions for the revolutionary cause. Our youth should know these facts. After the revolution, he had different responsibilities. For eight years, he served as the president and before that he was the parliament speaker. He held other sensitive positions as well. Throughout these years, I am not aware of one incident in which he gathered wealth. These are the facts that everyone should know. In the most sensitive of periods, he served the revolution and the establishment. Of course, my opinion and Mr. Rafsanjani\\\\\\\'s differs on numerous issues, which is natural. However, we should not create any misunderstandings for the people. The president and Mr. Rafsanjani have had differences of opinion since the president took office in 2005. They have differences of opinion in foreign policy, in the manner of spreading social justice as well as on some cultural issues. However, the president\\\\\\\'s ideas are closer to mine. The same goes fort Mr. Nateq-Nouri. He has also served the revolution, rendered great services for the establishment and there is not a shred of doubt about that. The live televised debates are a positive step, but these shortcomings should be removed. After the debates, I had a talk with the president because I knew he would listen to me. The stance of the Islamic establishment is clear-cut regarding corruption and social justice. Corruption should be fought anywhere it is traced. There is a point I want to make here. We do not claim that our establishment is free of all economic and financial corruption. Yes, there is corruption. If there was no corruption, I would not have written the eight-point letter to the heads of the legislative, judiciary, and executive branches of the country. We have corruption, but the Islamic establishment is one of the healthiest establishments in the world today. However, it is not right to accuse the country of corruption based on some Zionist reports and sources. Moreover, questioning the credibility of statesmen goes beyond the bounds of decency. Financial corruption is an important issue in the Islamic establishment. The judiciary, executive and legislative branches of the country must do everything within their power to fight against it. Everyone is duty-bound to fight corruption. If corruption is not contained, it will spread in the same manner as you see occurring in many countries…. They are struggling with an alarming level of corruption as you have heard about in the UK. This is only a fraction of the scandal as it goes way beyond what has been publicized. Let me summarize the points I made. The Friday election was a historical event, which touched the entire world. Some of our enemies, however, attempted to cast doubt over this absolute and definitive victory. Some even attempted to portray it as a national defeat. They did not want you to enjoy this victory. They did not want to see the highest turnout in the world go down in history in your name. However, it has happened, it has been recorded in history. They cannot manipulate this. The time for rivalry is passed... These four candidates have all fought in the battlefront of this revolution and they are members of this establishment. Forty million people went to the polls and cast their votes for this revolution. It was not only the 24 million votes that went to the president; 40 million votes were cast in favor of the revolution. The people have trust [in the establishment], and all supporters of candidates should rest assured that the Islamic establishment would never betray the people\\\\\\\'s trust. In fact, the electoral system of the country does not allow for any vote rigging, which is testified to by all those in charge of the election process. When there is a margin of one hundred thousand or one million at most, then one can doubt that there may have been some form of manipulation or irregularity; however, when there is a difference of eleven million votes, how could any vote rigging have taken place? However, as I have said, and the Guardian Council has accepted, if some people have doubts then it should be dealt with through legal channels. Everything must be dealt strictly though legal channels. I will never accept illegal demands. If the legal frameworks are breached today, then no future election can be guaranteed. In every election, there is only one winner, and of course, some defeated candidates. Complaints, if there is any doubt, should be pursued through legal channels. We have a comprehensive and competent legal system. Just as the candidates have the right to appoint observers, they are given the right to file complaints. I have requested the Guardian Council conduct a partial vote recount in the presence of the candidates and their representatives. We have no problem with this. I want to address the politicians, candidates and political parties at this point. We are at a critical historical juncture. Look at current world affairs, the situation in the Middle East, global economic woes and the situation in our neighboring countries. We are duty bound to remain vigilant and to be careful not to commit mistakes at this critical point in time. In the election, people fulfilled their duty in the best way possible, which was by going to the polls. We have heavier responsibilities on our shoulders now. Those figures who are looked up to by the people and politicians, should be cautious about their words and deeds. If they show any amount of extremist attitude, it will penetrate into the ranks of the people. It may have dangerous consequences and may eventually get out of control. Extremism in society will trigger or fan other extremist moves in the country. If political elites disobey the law and make wrong decisions, they will be held accountable for any violent actions or rioting that ensues. I urge these people, these friends of mine, to exercise restraint and patience. You should see enemy hands at work [against the country]. You should see hungry wolves laying in ambush. They are taking off their masks of diplomacy and are showing their true colors. I urge you to open your eyes and see the enemy. In the past few days the prominent diplomats of some Western countries, which have been dealing with us through diplomatic rhetoric, have removed their masks. Today you can see their true face. They are now showing their enmity toward the Islamic establishment and the most treacherous of them all is Britain. I tell these brothers of ours to think of their responsibility. You are responsible before God. I call on you to remember what Imam has written in his will; the law has the final say. All differences should be settled at the ballot box. This is what elections are for, to let ballot boxes and not the streets determine what the people want. If after every election, the supporters of the candidates who have lost take to streets and the supporters of the candidate who has won respond in the same manner, then what need would we have for elections? Why should the people have to suffer? We should not take to the streets to show off with the number of our supporters to the people. Such acts are not a political issue for those terrorists who take advantage of the situation to hide among the masses in order to carry out their agenda. It is a very good cover for these saboteurs. Who will take responsible for this? Some of the people who were killed in these riots were ordinary people, ordinary Basij members. Who will be held accountable for this? They may start taking advantage of this situation to assassinate Basij members, which will naturally provoke emotional reactions. Who is to be held responsible for this? One is grieved to see them attack religious students at Tehran University dormitories and afterwards chant slogans in support of the leadership. Post-election rivalry on the streets is not the right way to go. It only challenges the election. I want all sides to put an end to this. If they do not stop such actions, then they will be responsible for the repercussions of such incidents. It is also wrong to assume that street riots can be used as leverage to pressure the establishment and to force officials to listen to them for what they believe is in the interest of the country. Giving in to illegal demands under pressure is in itself the beginning of dictatorship. This is a miscalculation and the consequences will be directed at those who orchestrated them. If necessary, I will tell the people about them in due time. I ask all these brothers and friends of mine to act based on friendship and abide by the law. I hope God will help us choose the righteous path. The celebration of 40 million votes should be appreciated and the enemy must not be allowed to ruin the celebration. However, if certain people decide to choose another path, then I will have no choice but to talk with the people more openly. The third group I wish to address are the leaders of the Western media and arrogant powers. In the past two to three weeks, I have heard the words and witnessed the actions of politicians from the United States and certain European countries. Before the elections, they attempted to cast doubt over the election itself so that there would be a low voter turnout. They had their own assessments of results forecasts, but they did not expect the mass participation of the people. They never predicted an 85 percent turnout, or 40 million voters. When they saw the mass turnout, they were shocked. They realized the reality of Iran. They came to understand that they need to adapt themselves to the new situation be it regional, nuclear or internal. When they saw the great popular movement on Election Day, they realized that a new chapter had been opened with regards to Iran and that they must come to terms with it. When some candidates began protesting the results, they felt that there was a change, so they jumped at the chance to ride this wave. Their tone after the election changed on Saturday and Sunday. Their attention shifted to the riots and that was when they gradually began removing their masks. Western officials, their presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers commented on this situation. The US President said that we were waiting for the day when people would take to the streets. At the same time they write letters saying that they want to have ties and that they respect the Islamic Republic. Which are we to believe? Inside the country, their elements [foreign countries] began street protests and vandalism, they set fire to public property, they made shops and businesses insecure, and they are trying to rob the people of their security. This has nothing to do with the people and their preferred candidates. This kind of behavior stems from ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for Western and Zionist secret services. The incidents occurring inside the country have misled some of those outside our borders, who imagine Iran to be the same as Georgia. A Zionist American capitalist a few years ago, had been quoted in the media saying that he had spent 10 million dollars in Georgia to start a velvet revolution. Our nation cannot be compared to any another nation. Their problem is they have not come to know this revolution and its people. American officials say they are worried about the Iranian nation, how can you be worried? Can you even speak about human rights when you are responsible for the blood shed in Afghanistan and Iraq? In Palestine who has and is supporting and funding the Zionist regime? During the term of a previous US government, eighty people affiliated with the Davidian sect were burnt alive in their compound in Waco, Texas. For some reason these people were disliked by the then US administration. Eighty people were burnt in that building, how dare you talk of human rights? In my opinion, these western officials should at least feel a little embarrassment!

Complete Transcript http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=98610 In this sermon, I call all the respected brothers and sisters who have attended the Friday prayers here to piety and I advise them against any wrongdoing. In this sermon, I will address the issue of the election, which is a hot topic in our country. I want to address three different groups on three different issues; firstly, I want to address the general public. Secondly, I want to address the political elite, the candidates of the presidential election, activists and those who have been active in the process of election. I also have something to say to the leaders of the global arrogance, certain Western governments and their media. On the first issue, where I address you dear people, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude. I do not like to exaggerate while I am addressing my audience, but regarding the recent election, I must tell you great people that no matter what I say, words cannot describe the greatness of your great accomplishment. The June 12 election was a great show of the people\\\\\\\'s sense of responsibility, their will to participate, and their dedication to the system. Truly, I have never heard of anything similar to what you have accomplished taking place in any of the democratic systems around the world, whether they are false democracies or truly built on their people\\\\\\\'s vote. In the Islamic Republic, aside from the 1979 referendum, there has no election like the one held last Friday with a turnout of almost 85 percent. This means almost 40 million voters. You can see the presence of the 12 and last Shia Imam behind this. This is a sign of God\\\\\\\'s blessing to us. It is necessary that I address you all across the nation from the depths of my heart, to express my respect and tell you that I feel humble in your presence. Our young generation showed and proved they have insight and that like the first generation of the Islamic Revolution, they are committed. The difference is, during the days of the revolution, revolutionary fire burned in the hearts of all. It was the same is the days of the imposed war but in a different sense. Today, however, there is no more of that but we still witness this commitment, this sense of responsibility, this understanding and fervor in our youth. This is not something that can be ignored. Of course, there are differences of taste and of opinion among our people. Some people support a certain candidate; others back another person and his words and ideas. This is natural, but you can see a collective commitment amid all this and amongst people of all walks of life. You can see a consensus, a collective commitment to the protection of our country and system. Everyone entered the political scene in villages, towns, cities, major cities, different ethnic groups, people of different faiths, men, women, young and old. They all entered the scene. They all took part in this great movement. My dear people, this election was a political tremor for your enemies. For your friends across the world, it was a real celebration -- a historical ceremony and victory. Thirty years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, such a huge turnout and show of commitment to the Islamic system and the late Imam [Khomeini] shows the renewal of the pledge of allegiance to the late Imam and the martyrs. This was a breath of fresh air, a new movement and a great opportunity for the Islamic system. This election put religious democracy on display for the whole world to witness. All ill-wishers of the Islamic establishment saw for themselves the meaning of religious democracy. This is an alternative path in the face of dictatorships and arrogant regimes on the one side and democracies devoid of spirituality and religion on the other. This is religious democracy. This is what brings the hearts of people together and draws them to the scene. This is the first point I wanted to make about the election. The second point is that the June 12 election showed that people live with trust, hope and national enthusiasm in this country. This is against a great deal of comments your enemies make in their propaganda. If the people of this country were not hopeful about their future, they would not have taken part in any election. If people were not dedicated to the Islamic establishment, they would have never voted. If they did not feel free, they would have never shown up at polling stations. The trust they have in the Islamic system was evident in this election. Later on, I will tell you how the enemy targeted the very trust of the people in the Islamic establishment. This trust is the very thing they want to crush. This trust is the greatest asset of the Islamic system, so they want to take it away from the Islamic establishment. They want to cast doubt on the election and weaken the confidence of the people in the system. They want to cause the people to panic. The enemies of the Iranian nation know that without trust there would have been a low turnout. A low turnout would have questioned the legitimacy of the establishment. That is what they are after. They wanted to take away your [people] trust and keep you away from the polls to target this legitimacy, and if they had achieved this goal, the damage done would have been incomparable to any other. For the people to come to the polls en masse and then be told that they made a mistake and should not have trusted the Islamic establishment, this is an enemy game. This path is the same one they pursued even before the elections. A few months before the election, in late march, I said in Mashhad that the enemy has started whispers and rumors that their will be vote rigging. They were preparing the grounds for the events of today. I advised our friends in the country not to repeat what the enemy wants to plant in people\\\\\\\'s minds. The Islamic establishment has the people\\\\\\\'s trust and it has not gained this trust easily. For the past 30 years, authorities in the Islamic Republic have managed to maintain this trust, with their performance and painstaking efforts. The third issue I want to touch upon is the issue of rivalry. This competition was a free, serious and transparent race between four candidates as we all witnessed. These competitions, debates and discussion were so transparent that some began to voice objections. I will tell you that to they had the right to object to some extent. Certain problems were also created that resulted in what you see today. I must tell you that we were and still are under the impression that these rivalries were between the four candidates who are all individuals committed to the system. The Enemies want to portray the situation in the media - some of which belong to the Zionists -as if there is a row between the proponents and opponents of the Islamic Republic. No, this is not the case, this very untrue. The four candidates who entered the presidential race all belonged and still belong to the Islamic establishment. One of these four is the president of our country - a hardworking and trustworthy president. One of them is the two-term prime minister, he served the country when I myself was president. He was my prime minister for eight years. One of them was the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and one of the wartime commanders. One them was two-time head of parliament and Majlis speaker. They are all members of our Islamic establishment. Of course, they have differences of opinion and plans that differ from one another. But, they all belong to this Islamic establishment. This race was defined within the framework of the system. It was not a competition between insiders and outsiders as the Zionist and the US were trying to portray. No, this was a competition within the framework of the system between members of the system. I know them all personally, I know their system of thought and their tastes very well. I am familiar with their personalities. I have worked with all of them closely. I know them all. But of course, I do not share all their views. I believe some of their views and executive records are subject to criticism. I see some more suitable to serve the country than others. But, this is up to the people to decide, and this is exactly what happened, they chose who they wanted. My desire and my choice was never announced nor was there any need for the people to pay heed to it. The people had their own criteria and this is what they based their decision on. Millions here and outside the country decided for themselves. This is an internal issue. Misrepresenting the problem is underhand. The row is not between insiders of the system and outsiders. The row is not between revolutionary and anti-revolutionary forces, it is a difference of opinion between the members of the Islamic Revolution. People who voted for these four candidates, voted with faith in the system. They believed their candidate of choice was better for the country so they voted for him. They voted in favor of the person they found most competent. Well, these campaigns and debates were an important and interesting initiative. They were very clear, to the point and serious. The televised debates proved wrong those who were trying to say from the outside that these competitions are formalities. They saw that these rivalries are real and serious. They saw that they are really battling it out and exchanging viewpoints. From this perspective, these debates were positive. But, they also had some negative points which I will touch upon. The positive aspect was that in these televised discussions and debates everyone spoke their mind clearly and casually. A flood of criticism followed. Everyone was forced to respond. Everyone was criticized and they defended themselves. The stances that these individuals and groups had were unveiled before the eyes of the nation. They talked about their plans, commitments and projects. All this was publicized for the people so that they could judge for themselves. People felt that in the Islamic system they are not the outsiders. Everything was clearly laid out before the people. They were shown that the nature of their vote is not ceremonial. The right to vote truly does belong to the people. People want to have the right to choose. This is what the televised debates indicated. One of the main reasons that ten million additional voters participated in this election was because the people\\\\\\\'s minds had been engaged, therefore they came and voted for the candidate of their choice. These debates found their way into the streets and homes. These debates helped the people become better informed and hence make better decisions. The Islamic establishment is in favor of such debates. Note that such debates should not be steered in a direction that may cause people to hold grudges against one another. If these debates had remained within their intended framework, they would have been positive. But when they turn into arguments than they will gradually bring grudges and hard feelings. Of course, such debates should continue at managerial levels, but without a negative aspect. Officials should allow criticism and feel responsible to answer. If an individual is criticized, he must see it as an opportunity to enlighten the people and reveal fact and truth. If these debates are regularly carried out [as normal government practice], at election time when there are such debates we would not witness such reactions. All arguments would emerge and all ideas would be exchanged over time. These are the positive aspects of such debates. But, there have also been some negative aspects to the debates that need to be dealt with. In some cases, we saw that logical points were undermined and emotional and destructive responses dominated the debate. There were efforts to portray the last four years as a dark era. There were also attempts to portray previous administrations in a similar light. Allegations were made that have not been proven in any court, rumors were used as a reference, and unjust remarks were made. This administration, despite the excellent services it had rendered came under unjust attacks. Similarly, the performance of previous governments in the past 30 years came under attack. The candidates gave in to their emotions. They made some positive points. They also raised some unpleasant negative issues. Like the rest of the nation, I sat and watched these TV debates. I took pride in the freedom of speech I witnessed. I enjoyed the fact that the Islamic Republic has been able to aid the people in deciding their future, but the shortcomings saddened me. For supporters of the candidates the shortcomings and negative aspects were also a cause for concern; both sides were a party to this... both sides had their problems. On the one hand, insults were hurled against the president of the country, even two to three months prior to these debates, speeches were brought to me and in them, I read the insults made and the accusations leveled against the president of the country who was elected by the vote of the people. They accused him of lying. This is not good. They fabricated documents against the government and distributed them everywhere. I saw what was going on. They [accusations] were all untrue and contrary to the facts. They swore at the president, called him superstitious, and called him names. They closed their eyes to ethics and the law. On the other hand, almost the same thing happened. The performance of the past 30 years of the Revolution was brought under question. People were named who are among the system\\\\\\\'s veteran figures. They are people who have dedicated their lives to this establishment. Never before have I mentioned people by name in the Friday prayer sermons, but today, I have to mention some names, particularly Mr. [Akbar] Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mr. [Ali Akbar] Nateq-Nouri. I must mention their names and point out that nobody has accused them of corruption. Now, if anyone has any claims or complaints regarding their [Hashemi Rafsanjani and Nateq-Nouri\\\\\\\'s] relatives they should refer to judicial authorities. You cannot raise these issues in the media before they are proven. If it is proven, you can raise the issue as every member of society is equal, but you are not allowed to make claims. When such things are mentioned, misunderstandings are the outcome. This can cause misunderstandings for the younger generation. Everyone knows Mr. Hashemi. My relationship with him goes back to before the Islamic Revolution. I have known him for more than 25 years. Mr. Hashemi was one of the main revolutionary figures. He was one of the most active proponents of the revolution, and after the Islamic Revolution, he was one of the main political figures serving the people alongside the late Imam, And after the departure of the founder of the Islamic Revolution he has been alongside the leadership to date. On several occasions, there were assassination attempts on his life. Before the revolution, he donated his possessions for the revolutionary cause. Our youth should know these facts. After the revolution, he had different responsibilities. For eight years, he served as the president and before that he was the parliament speaker. He held other sensitive positions as well. Throughout these years, I am not aware of one incident in which he gathered wealth. These are the facts that everyone should know. In the most sensitive of periods, he served the revolution and the establishment. Of course, my opinion and Mr. Rafsanjani\\\\\\\'s differs on numerous issues, which is natural. However, we should not create any misunderstandings for the people. The president and Mr. Rafsanjani have had differences of opinion since the president took office in 2005. They have differences of opinion in foreign policy, in the manner of spreading social justice as well as on some cultural issues. However, the president\\\\\\\'s ideas are closer to mine. The same goes fort Mr. Nateq-Nouri. He has also served the revolution, rendered great services for the establishment and there is not a shred of doubt about that. The live televised debates are a positive step, but these shortcomings should be removed. After the debates, I had a talk with the president because I knew he would listen to me. The stance of the Islamic establishment is clear-cut regarding corruption and social justice. Corruption should be fought anywhere it is traced. There is a point I want to make here. We do not claim that our establishment is free of all economic and financial corruption. Yes, there is corruption. If there was no corruption, I would not have written the eight-point letter to the heads of the legislative, judiciary, and executive branches of the country. We have corruption, but the Islamic establishment is one of the healthiest establishments in the world today. However, it is not right to accuse the country of corruption based on some Zionist reports and sources. Moreover, questioning the credibility of statesmen goes beyond the bounds of decency. Financial corruption is an important issue in the Islamic establishment. The judiciary, executive and legislative branches of the country must do everything within their power to fight against it. Everyone is duty-bound to fight corruption. If corruption is not contained, it will spread in the same manner as you see occurring in many countries…. They are struggling with an alarming level of corruption as you have heard about in the UK. This is only a fraction of the scandal as it goes way beyond what has been publicized. Let me summarize the points I made. The Friday election was a historical event, which touched the entire world. Some of our enemies, however, attempted to cast doubt over this absolute and definitive victory. Some even attempted to portray it as a national defeat. They did not want you to enjoy this victory. They did not want to see the highest turnout in the world go down in history in your name. However, it has happened, it has been recorded in history. They cannot manipulate this. The time for rivalry is passed... These four candidates have all fought in the battlefront of this revolution and they are members of this establishment. Forty million people went to the polls and cast their votes for this revolution. It was not only the 24 million votes that went to the president; 40 million votes were cast in favor of the revolution. The people have trust [in the establishment], and all supporters of candidates should rest assured that the Islamic establishment would never betray the people\\\\\\\'s trust. In fact, the electoral system of the country does not allow for any vote rigging, which is testified to by all those in charge of the election process. When there is a margin of one hundred thousand or one million at most, then one can doubt that there may have been some form of manipulation or irregularity; however, when there is a difference of eleven million votes, how could any vote rigging have taken place? However, as I have said, and the Guardian Council has accepted, if some people have doubts then it should be dealt with through legal channels. Everything must be dealt strictly though legal channels. I will never accept illegal demands. If the legal frameworks are breached today, then no future election can be guaranteed. In every election, there is only one winner, and of course, some defeated candidates. Complaints, if there is any doubt, should be pursued through legal channels. We have a comprehensive and competent legal system. Just as the candidates have the right to appoint observers, they are given the right to file complaints. I have requested the Guardian Council conduct a partial vote recount in the presence of the candidates and their representatives. We have no problem with this. I want to address the politicians, candidates and political parties at this point. We are at a critical historical juncture. Look at current world affairs, the situation in the Middle East, global economic woes and the situation in our neighboring countries. We are duty bound to remain vigilant and to be careful not to commit mistakes at this critical point in time. In the election, people fulfilled their duty in the best way possible, which was by going to the polls. We have heavier responsibilities on our shoulders now. Those figures who are looked up to by the people and politicians, should be cautious about their words and deeds. If they show any amount of extremist attitude, it will penetrate into the ranks of the people. It may have dangerous consequences and may eventually get out of control. Extremism in society will trigger or fan other extremist moves in the country. If political elites disobey the law and make wrong decisions, they will be held accountable for any violent actions or rioting that ensues. I urge these people, these friends of mine, to exercise restraint and patience. You should see enemy hands at work [against the country]. You should see hungry wolves laying in ambush. They are taking off their masks of diplomacy and are showing their true colors. I urge you to open your eyes and see the enemy. In the past few days the prominent diplomats of some Western countries, which have been dealing with us through diplomatic rhetoric, have removed their masks. Today you can see their true face. They are now showing their enmity toward the Islamic establishment and the most treacherous of them all is Britain. I tell these brothers of ours to think of their responsibility. You are responsible before God. I call on you to remember what Imam has written in his will; the law has the final say. All differences should be settled at the ballot box. This is what elections are for, to let ballot boxes and not the streets determine what the people want. If after every election, the supporters of the candidates who have lost take to streets and the supporters of the candidate who has won respond in the same manner, then what need would we have for elections? Why should the people have to suffer? We should not take to the streets to show off with the number of our supporters to the people. Such acts are not a political issue for those terrorists who take advantage of the situation to hide among the masses in order to carry out their agenda. It is a very good cover for these saboteurs. Who will take responsible for this? Some of the people who were killed in these riots were ordinary people, ordinary Basij members. Who will be held accountable for this? They may start taking advantage of this situation to assassinate Basij members, which will naturally provoke emotional reactions. Who is to be held responsible for this? One is grieved to see them attack religious students at Tehran University dormitories and afterwards chant slogans in support of the leadership. Post-election rivalry on the streets is not the right way to go. It only challenges the election. I want all sides to put an end to this. If they do not stop such actions, then they will be responsible for the repercussions of such incidents. It is also wrong to assume that street riots can be used as leverage to pressure the establishment and to force officials to listen to them for what they believe is in the interest of the country. Giving in to illegal demands under pressure is in itself the beginning of dictatorship. This is a miscalculation and the consequences will be directed at those who orchestrated them. If necessary, I will tell the people about them in due time. I ask all these brothers and friends of mine to act based on friendship and abide by the law. I hope God will help us choose the righteous path. The celebration of 40 million votes should be appreciated and the enemy must not be allowed to ruin the celebration. However, if certain people decide to choose another path, then I will have no choice but to talk with the people more openly. The third group I wish to address are the leaders of the Western media and arrogant powers. In the past two to three weeks, I have heard the words and witnessed the actions of politicians from the United States and certain European countries. Before the elections, they attempted to cast doubt over the election itself so that there would be a low voter turnout. They had their own assessments of results forecasts, but they did not expect the mass participation of the people. They never predicted an 85 percent turnout, or 40 million voters. When they saw the mass turnout, they were shocked. They realized the reality of Iran. They came to understand that they need to adapt themselves to the new situation be it regional, nuclear or internal. When they saw the great popular movement on Election Day, they realized that a new chapter had been opened with regards to Iran and that they must come to terms with it. When some candidates began protesting the results, they felt that there was a change, so they jumped at the chance to ride this wave. Their tone after the election changed on Saturday and Sunday. Their attention shifted to the riots and that was when they gradually began removing their masks. Western officials, their presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers commented on this situation. The US President said that we were waiting for the day when people would take to the streets. At the same time they write letters saying that they want to have ties and that they respect the Islamic Republic. Which are we to believe? Inside the country, their elements [foreign countries] began street protests and vandalism, they set fire to public property, they made shops and businesses insecure, and they are trying to rob the people of their security. This has nothing to do with the people and their preferred candidates. This kind of behavior stems from ill-wishers, mercenaries and elements working for Western and Zionist secret services. The incidents occurring inside the country have misled some of those outside our borders, who imagine Iran to be the same as Georgia. A Zionist American capitalist a few years ago, had been quoted in the media saying that he had spent 10 million dollars in Georgia to start a velvet revolution. Our nation cannot be compared to any another nation. Their problem is they have not come to know this revolution and its people. American officials say they are worried about the Iranian nation, how can you be worried? Can you even speak about human rights when you are responsible for the blood shed in Afghanistan and Iraq? In Palestine who has and is supporting and funding the Zionist regime? During the term of a previous US government, eighty people affiliated with the Davidian sect were burnt alive in their compound in Waco, Texas. For some reason these people were disliked by the then US administration. Eighty people were burnt in that building, how dare you talk of human rights? In my opinion, these western officials should at least feel a little embarrassment! Supreme Leader Ayatullah Sayyed Ali Khamenei - Friday Prayer Speech - 19Jun09 - English

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech to Basijis 21/11/2012 The following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 21, 2012 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with Basijis and Salehin activists. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Thankfully, an event similar to the great event of Ashura - which has been narrated for us - took place in our own times. During the Sacred Defense Era, many men, women and young people who were trying to achieve their noble goals, laid down their lives and wealth and forgot about the material aspects of their lives. Today we are benefiting from the blessings of this event. The coincidence of this event with the great event of Ashura is a lesson for us. The Islamic Ummah should never forget the event of Ashura which is a lesson and a source of guidance for us. Definitely Islam is alive because of the event of Ashura and the efforts of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"And I am from Hussein.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" This narration means that Hussein (a.s.) continued the path of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and he continued to promote Islam after him. If it had not been for the event of Ashura and if these great sacrifices had not been made in the history of Islam, this valuable experience and this practical lesson would not have been bestowed on the Islamic Ummah and Islam would have definitely deviated from its path - as many religions before Islam did - and nothing would have remained from it. The greatness of Ashura is because of this. Of course, the pain and suffering which Imam Hussein (a.s.) and his followers endured on the day of Ashura were too agonizing and the harm which was inflicted was very serious. The life of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.) is more valuable than everything in the world. The pure and sacred lives of those followers of Imam Hussein (a.s.), the lives of those youth and those members of Imam Hussein\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (a.s.) household are not comparable to the life of other people. Their bodies were covered in blood and dirt. They made sacrifices and they laid down their lives. The households of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and Imam Ali (a.s.) were imprisoned. Those events are very tragic and very difficult to tolerate. But what was achieved on the day of Ashura was so great and glorious that it made it easy for Imam Hussein (a.s.), his followers and his household to endure the sufferings. This has been narrated by prominent figures. The late Hajj Mirza Javad Agha Maleki (may God bestow paradise on him) stressed in his book \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Muraqibaat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - what he has said in this book is certainly true - that the greater the sufferings grew on the day of Ashura, the brighter and more cheerful the face of Hussein ibn Ali (a.s.) would become. You should always keep in mind these important and extraordinary facts about Ashura. In our own times, we have seen similar examples of these sacrifices. We have seen similar examples of sacrifices which we have read about in history books. One significant and remarkable example of these sacrifices is what Basij did before the start of the imposed war, during the Sacred Defense Era and after it ended. We have enormously benefited from the blessings of Basij and by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, these blessings should and will continue to benefit us. An important point about Basij is that during the Sacred Defense Era, we could see that Basij enjoyed great purity. We should preserve this purity in Basij. The present situation is more complicated. It is dangerous to go to war, kill, fight and take on responsibilities which may result in martyrdom or disability. It is still dangerous even if nothing happens to you, but being present in a military confrontation is not complicated. The present situation in which you are faced with the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s plots and attacks has certain complications. The confrontation between you and the enemy has certain complications. The dangers that our soldiers were exposed to may not exist today, but the present situation has more complications. An advantage of the military confrontation we experienced was that whoever entered it showed great purity of intention. Entering the arena of war was a life and death situation. It was not a joke. It needed courage, selfless efforts, faith and reliance on God, but our soldiers went to war and they were martyred. Today we still need that kind of courage and faith in different arenas, but it is possible that certain people call themselves basijis without having these characteristics. You should be vigilant about this. First, we should guard ourselves against this and second, we should guard Basij against this. This is the duty of all members of Basij. You should strengthen the basiji spirit in Basij organizations including Salehin organizations which you manage. We should make sure that Basij has purity in everything it does. This is difficult to some extent. One reason why practicing self-restraint and paying attention to spiritual matters is called \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"greater jihad\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is the difficulty of this task. In a military confrontation with the enemy, one can easily measure one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s and other people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s purity. It is easier to do this in the case of a military confrontation, but in the arena of practicing self-restraint this is not very easy. In latter case, you may make a mistake in judging how pure your actions are and others may also misjudge what kind of person you are. Another point is that we should avoid negative qualities such as arrogance, pretension and hypocrisy. These qualities are very destructive. If we make an achievement, we should be thankful to God and we should know that our achievement has been made with the help of God and we should ask God to help us continue making these achievements. It is very important not to be arrogant and not be over-confident. We should not think that we have made achievements on our own and we should rely on God Almighty. It is a fact that there is no power except the power of God Almighty. Everything is done by God. Our achievements, our capabilities, our enthusiasm, our faith and our love all come from God. We should know this and we should be thankful to God. We should ask God Almighty to increase these qualities in our characters. This is an important issue. I noticed an important point in the statements of the dear people who spoke in this meeting. That point is the high quality of organizations which form the basis of Basij. What is damaging is superficiality in our beliefs, our understanding of different matters and our principles. Superficiality is damaging. It is like a precarious stack of things which is easily blown down by a strong wind. We should give depth to our beliefs. Thankfully, you pay attention to these issues. Salehin organizations were created with a view to giving depth to the thoughts and the spirits of young basijis in spiritual and educational matters. Generally, Basij is one of the miracles of the Revolution. Basij reflects the innovation of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.). It shows his understanding, his wisdom and it reflects the connection between his enlightened heart and the source of divine wisdom. Basij provided a solid foundation for the Revolution. See how active Basij is in the area of scientific matters, in the area of practical matters, in the area of technological matters, in the area of spiritual matters, in the area of social services, in the area of formulating theories on different parts of social life, and in different other areas. If one day something happens which makes our people arm themselves against the enemy for the purpose of defending their country, these youth, these basijis, these brave youth of our dear nation will once more prove the courage of the Iranian nation, the resistance of the Iranian nation, the power of the Iranian nation and the invincibility of the Iranian nation to the enemy. Other groups of people and other countries which have tried to tread the enlightened path of Islam will follow our example. We have a valuable experience in this regard. We should perform well because it will make Basij a living and dynamic role model in the world of Islam. Today this has almost happened. Therefore strengthening Basij, making all its members as pure and spiritual as possible, expanding its activities to all areas of life are among the tasks which should be carried out by the people in charge of Basij, member of Basij and everyone connected with Basij. Islam has advised us to start from ourselves. All of us, at all levels, should start from ourselves. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"He who considers himself the leader of people should educate himself before educating others.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [Nahjul Balaghah, Saying 73] This piece of advice is true at all levels. We should start from ourselves. We should establish this idea in Basij. The Islamic view of lifestyle can be a standard for self-evaluation in Basij. I am not saying that organizations which are higher in rank should evaluate our behavior. I am saying that we should be the people who evaluate our own behavior. How is our behavior in our workplace? How is our behavior towards our wife and children? How is our behavior at home and in social environments? How is our behavior towards people who stand below us in rank? How is our behavior towards people who stand above us in rank? How is our behavior towards the enemy? In Islam, there are certain criteria for all of these. We should evaluate ourselves. This is self-evaluation. This can lay a firm foundation for our lives and for the work we should do in all areas - especially the work we should do in Basij, which is the topic of our discussion. Anyway, our country, our nation, our Revolution and our history need Basij and Basij needs to improve itself on a daily basis in terms of quality. What you dear brothers and sisters are doing - in Salehin organizations - is very good and outstanding and it perfectly complements Basij. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we should improve Basij on a daily basis. We should raise quality in Basij. Of course, quality should be given more significance than quantity, but increasing the quantity of work as well as the quality of work is also important. That is to say, we should both increase the volume of our work and add depth to it. Both should be taken into consideration. Today the world of Islam needs this movement by Basij. The savage attack on Gaza over the past week, which is truly shocking, should awaken the world of Islam and it should give fresh impetus to the movement of Muslim peoples. The enemy is not sitting idle. This effort by the Zionist regime has several dimensions. First, it shows the extreme brutality of the Zionist regime. How savage these people are. They have no conscience at all. You become shocked when you see how savagely they attack innocent people and civilians. They have no human qualities. They are against the world of Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran. These creatures who have no human qualities want to challenge the Islamic Republic of Iran at international meetings. This is one aspect of the issue which is very important. Another shocking aspect of the issue is that the leaders of global arrogance behave so shamelessly in this crisis. They not only do not frown at the brutal Zionist regime and they not only do not prevent it from doing what it is doing, but they rather support and encourage it. America explicitly supported the Zionists. England supported them. France supported them. These are the leaders of global arrogance. Muslim peoples do not have enemies who are as hated and brutal as these people. All these people explicitly supported them. The recent event shows how willing the leaders of global arrogance are to observe morality. They are very far away from human qualities. Now that they give political support to the Zionist regime for the purpose of safeguarding their corrupt political interests, why do they claim that they support human rights? Does America - which not only fails to condemn this violent and savage attack in Gaza, but also supports it - have the right to claim that it supports human rights? Does it have the right to put itself in the position of prosecutors of other nations and governments in the name of defending human rights? This is a shameless claim. The same is true of France and England. Muslim nations have not forgotten their past behavior in the world of Islam, the crimes that they committed, the killings that were carried out and the pressures that they exerted on Muslim peoples in different countries. And today they support the actions of a brutal regime, namely the Zionist regime. This is another aspect of the issue. Another aspect of the issue is the behavior of Arab and Islamic governments regarding the event of Gaza which was not acceptable. Some of them only condemned the Zionists in words and some others did not even condemn the Zionists in words. Those who call Muslim nations to unity and claim to be the leaders of the Islamic Ummah should prove themselves in such situations. They are very outspoken on issues which suit their political agenda, but in this case - because they have to face America and England - they refuse to condemn the Zionists in an outspoken and genuine way or they merely offer verbal support, which is of little value and is not very effective. Today the world of Islam, especially Arab countries, should join hands to defend the people of Gaza and make the enemy lift the siege. They should try to help the innocent people of Gaza. Of course, God Almighty has bestowed on the people of Gaza the blessing to resist and stand up against this violent and savage enemy. The people of Gaza saw the result of their resistance: they managed to preserve their dignity. They proved that by relying on resistance and hard work it is possible - even with a small number of people - to defeat large and heavily armed groups that are supported by the arrogant powers. Today the Zionists, who have occupied Palestine, are looking for a ceasefire more desperately than the people and the officials of Gaza. Although they committed these crimes and brutal actions, they were harmed more. This happened because of the resistance of the small number of Muslim people and youth in Gaza. There is no other way to defeat the enemies. This is a message to the world of Islam. If the world of Islam wants to be invulnerable to the attacks, machinations and plots of the enemy, it should defend itself strongly. It should strengthen itself, both spiritually - strengthening one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s faith and determination - and materially. Material strength includes making scientific and technological progress, gaining experience and making advances in the area of building weapons and in other areas. The world of Islam and Islamic societies should equip themselves with these. If they do this, then every district even as small as Gaza can inflict as much harm on the enemy as the people of Gaza did. As I said before, what the people of Gaza did made the enemy look for a ceasefire more desperately than the people and the officials in Gaza although they went through pain and suffering and a number of them were martyred. This is a lesson for the world of Islam and of course we learned this lesson during the Sacred Defense Era. Thankfully, our people, our youth, our scientists and our experts have made progress in this regard. We have made progress in theoretical and practical areas. We have become fully aware of the fact that we should stand on our own feet which is one of the requirements for resistance. Another point is the issue of unity among the Islamic Ummah and among the people of each country. The unity among the people and the political parties of each country is important. The same is true of our nation. The reason I repeatedly point out that political parties, our dear officials, people who can address the public - including newspapers, websites, executive and other organizations in charge of our media - writers and people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representatives should preserve unity among themselves, is that unity is very important in essence. Fortunately our country has managed to preserve its unity and cohesion. Fortunately the recent disagreements between the officials have not shattered the unity of our nation. The fact that there are differences of opinion between the officials creates no problems as long as these differences do not result in major disputes. In the eyes of the enemy, our country has been very powerful since the start of the Revolution and this has happened because of our unity. Today they have the same opinion. Some time ago I advised the officials to preserve unity among themselves. Fortunately the esteemed officials of the three branches of government listened to my advice. This is very valuable. It is necessary to thank these people. The officials and the heads of the three branches of government listened to my advice. They stressed that they will preserve their unity in different areas although they have differences of opinion. We welcome this positive move made by these dear brothers and esteemed officials and we believe that it was a wise move and they should continue to be careful about what they say. What the MPs are doing in the Majlis is one of the things that has certain praiseworthy aspects. You dear brothers and sisters and the honorable people of Iran should know that asking questions of our government officials, whether the President or other executive officials, is a positive move because of two reasons. One reason is that it shows the people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representatives in the legislative branch have a sense of responsibility towards issues of the country. This is positive. Another reason is that the executive branch announced with confidence and with praiseworthy courage that it is prepared for answering the questions posed by the MPs. This is positive too. The legislative branch carries out its responsibility and our executive officials show that they have confidence in their decisions and sincerity. What else do we expect? This is the best situation. This decision has been made: the Majlis has announced that it wants to summon the President for questioning which shows their sense of responsibility, and the executive branch has announced that it is prepared to answer the questions with confidence - they said this to me too. This too is praiseworthy. These two moves made by the Majlis and the executive branch are both good. But I believe that the efforts should not be continued. They should end the issue immediately. This was a good test for both the Majlis and the executive branch. The people are also insightful and wise. Continuing this issue is exactly what the enemies want. The enemies want to pitch the two branches against each other. The enemies want to provoke people on each side to give in to their feelings and create uproar through newspapers, websites and other such things. Our country needs tranquility. All the officials, no matter which branch of government they belong to, need tranquility to do their duties and the people also want tranquility. The Majlis did its duty and in response to the decision of the Majlis, the executive branch showed that it has the necessary self-confidence to defend its actions. What these two branches of government did is satisfactory. Now I ask the brothers who made this decision in the Majlis to end this issue and show that government officials in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government respect unity and tranquility more than anything else. I thank all the brothers and sisters in Basij. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on all of you. I thank all the brothers and sisters who spoke in this meeting. I hope that God Almighty bestows great rewards on them. I also thank the dear brother who gave me his medal. I have accepted this medal, but I would like to give it back to him as gift. It is better for him to keep the medal because it will evoke the memory of his championship and something to remember me by. I hope that Allah the Exalted bestows success on you. Source : http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1727&Itemid=4

Supreme Leader Meets with Students on National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogance The following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 3, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with high school and university students. The meeting was held on the occasion of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Students on \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"National Day of Fighting Against Global ArroganToday, the warm presence of you dear youth in this hussainyyah is a reminder and a manifestation of the epic and enthusiasm which has been the supporter and guarantee of the revolutionary movement of the Iranian nation over the course of many years- from the beginning of the Revolution until today. The great blessing of God on our country and on the Islamic Republic is the existence of youth with their clear, strong and reasonable motives, with their pure hearts and with their sincere intentions. Our meeting today has been scheduled on the anniversary of the events of the 13th of Aban which occurred over the course of different years - before and after the victory of the Revolution in the country. There are three events: Imam\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s exile in the year 1343, the ruthless slaughter of students in Tehran in the year 1357 and the courageous movement of students in capturing the Den of Espionage in the year 1358. Each of these three events was in some way related to the government of the United States of America. In the year 1343, Imam (may God bestow paradise on him) was exiled because of his opposition to \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"capitulation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", which meant preserving the security of American agents in Iran and their judicial immunity. So this event was related to America. In the year 1357, the regime which was dependent on America killed students on the streets of Tehran and the asphalt of these streets was colored with the blood of our teenagers. This was done by America in order to defend the regime which was dependent on it. This event was also related to America. The event in the year 1358 was a counterattack. Our courageous and religious youth attacked the U.S. embassy and discovered the truth and identity of this embassy, which was the Den of Espionage, and presented this fact to people throughout the world. In those days, our youth called the U.S. embassy the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Den of Espionage\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Today, after the passage of 30-plus years since that day, the name of U.S. embassies in countries which have the closest relationship with America - that is to say, European countries - has become the den of espionage. This means that our youth are 30 years ahead of the rest of the world. This event was related to America as well. These three events were related, in different ways, to the government of the United States of America and its relations with Iran. Therefore, the 13th of Aban - which is tomorrow - was named \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Day of Fighting Against Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". What does arrogance mean? Arrogance is a Quranic term. The word \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" has been used in the Holy Quran. An arrogant individual, an arrogant government and an arrogant group of people means those individuals and those governments which intend to interfere in the affairs of other human beings and other nations. They interfere in all the affairs of other nations in order to preserve their own interests. They think they are free to do anything and they grant themselves the right to impose different things on other nations and to interfere in the affairs of other countries. And they do not answer to anyone. This is the meaning of arrogance. At the opposite end of the scale, there is a group of people who fight against arrogance. What does fighting against arrogance mean? Primarily, it means refusing to give in to this bullying. The meaning of fighting against arrogance is not convoluted and it is not complicated. Fighting against arrogance means the refusal of a nation to give in to the interference and imposition of an arrogant power, individual or government. This is the meaning of fighting against arrogance. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, when I have the opportunity in the future, I will have a detailed discussion about arrogance and fighting against arrogance with you youth and students. Now, there is no time. This is a brief definition of arrogance and fighting against arrogance. The people of Iran consider themselves to be fighters against arrogance because they have not given in to the imposition of the government of America. The government of America is an arrogant government. It grants itself the right to interfere in the affairs of other countries. It wages wars and it interferes in the affairs of other countries. Today, you see that this goes beyond the borders of Asian, African and Latin American countries. It has reached Europe. They interfere in their affairs as well. The Iranian nation stood against the arrogance that the government of the United States of America showed. It stood against the interference and bullying that it caused and it stood against the domination that it had achieved over our dear country in the course of many years. The taghuti and monarchical regime was a regime which was dependent on America without any domestic support. By relying on America, they did whatever they wanted in Iran. They oppressed the people, they usurped their rights, they practiced discrimination among them. They prevented the country from achieving growth and making progress - which was the natural and historical right of the people - in order to promote the interests of America in Iran. The Iranian nation stood firm and it carried out a revolution. Then, it cut out the roots of arrogant powers in the country. It was not like a number of other countries which confronted arrogance at first, but which left it unfinished. Of course, these countries have received a blow because of this. When I was present in a country - whose name I do not want to mention - which had fought against the English for many years, which had put an end to the oppression of the English by fighting against them and which had achieved independence, I saw that they had put up the statue of an English commander in an important recreational center. I said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What is this?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" And this center was named after this arrogant and colonialist commander who had committed thousands of crimes in that country. Of course, they did not gain any benefit from this consideration and compromise. That is to say, this country was and still is under pressure. Compromising and showing leniency towards arrogant powers will bring no benefit for any country. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the great Revolution carried out by the people of Iran confronted American arrogance and it did not leave this task unfinished because it had felt the blow which the Americans had dealt, over many years, on its skin and flesh. It knew who and what these people are. The arrogant outlook which the Americans have adopted and which has continued since decades ago until today has made all nations in the world have a feeling of mistrust and hatred towards the government of America. This is not particular to our country. Any nation which trusted America received a blow, even those who were America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s friends. In our county, Dr. Mosaddeq trusted and relied on the Americans so that he could free himself from the pressure of the English. Instead of helping Dr. Mosaddeq who had trusted them, the Americans allied themselves with the English. They dispatched their agents to our country and they launched the coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état of the 28th of Mordad. Mosaddeq trusted them and he received a blow for that. Even those who were on friendly terms with America and who had trusted this country received a blow. The taghuti regime had a very close relationship with America. However, the greed of America exhausted them as well. As I said, they imposed \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"capitulation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - the judicial immunity of American agents - on this regime and they had to accept this because they had no other source of support except for America. The meaning of capitulation is that if an American sergeant slaps a high-ranking Iranian officer across the face, no one has the right to sue him. If an American agent of low rank shows transgression towards a honorable Iranian man or woman, no one has the right to sue him. The Americans say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You do not have the right to do this. We ourselves will resolve the issue\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". A people cannot be humiliated more than this. They imposed this on Iran which was their friend. They did not even show mercy to their friend. They threw Mohammad Reza out of their country after he fled from Iran and spent a short time in America. They did not let him stay. They did not show even this bit of loyalty to him. They are such people. Nations and even governments do not trust America because of this behavior and this attitude which can be seen in its policies. Anyone who trusted America received a blow. Therefore, today, America is the most hated global power among nations. If a fair and healthy public opinion poll is carried out among all nations in the world, I do not think that the negative scores of any nation equal the negative scores of the government of America. Today, this is the condition of America throughout the world. You have heard the statements that the Europeans make against the Americans. Therefore, the issue of fighting against arrogance and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The National Day of Fighting against Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is a fundamental issue, one that is based on correct analyses and statements. And you dear youth and the millions of youth throughout the country, who are students like you, should have a correct analysis of these events. Well, the youth of the early years of the Revolution did not need analyses. Everything was clear to them because they had witnessed everything with their own eyes. They had witnessed the presence of the Americans and SAVAK, which had been taught by the Americans themselves. But today, you should think, analyze and be careful. This should not be only in words. It should be clear why the people of Iran are opposed to arrogance, why they are opposed to the positions of the United States of America and what their hatred results from. Today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s youth should understand this correctly by carrying out research. Well, I would like to raise a few points about our current issues with America, which is a source of discussions these days. There are certain questions in the minds of the people. First, I want to offer an important and necessary piece of advice: no one should think that the negotiating team of our country have compromised with the other party which includes America - the six governments which are known as the P5+1. This is wrong. They are the agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They are our own children and they are the children of the Revolution. They are carrying out a mission and the responsibility which they have undertaken is difficult. They are carrying out this responsibility, which falls on their shoulders, with many efforts. Therefore, one should not weaken and insult them and use certain terms - which we sometimes hear such as the notion that they have compromised with the enemy and other such things - against an agent who is carrying out a task and who is in charge of an affair. The things that are said against them are not true. You should pay attention to the fact that the current negotiations with these six countries - including America - are only about the nuclear issue and nothing else. In the beginning of this year, I said in Holy Mashhad that there is nothing wrong with negotiations on particular issues. But I said that I do not trust these negotiations and I am not optimistic about them. However, if they want to negotiate, they can do it and, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we will not suffer a loss in these negotiations. The Iranian nation benefits from a certain experience which I will refer to in brief. This experience will increase the intellectual capability of our nation, like the experience that we gained in the year 1382 and 1383 in the area of suspending our enrichment activities. At that time, during negotiations with the Europeans, the Islamic Republic agreed to suspend its enrichment activities for a while. But this turned out to be to our benefit. Why? It is because we found out there is no hope at all that our western partners will cooperate with us if we suspend our enrichment activities. If we had not accepted that optional suspension - of course, it was imposed in a way, but we and our officials accepted it anyway - some people would have said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If you had retreated a little bit, all problems would have been solved and Iran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s nuclear file would have become normal\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". That act of suspending our enrichment activities brought us this advantage: it became clear that problems will not be solved by retreating, suspending enrichment activities, postponing our work and cancelling many of our plans and programs. It became clear that the other side is after something else. We noticed this and therefore we started our enrichment activities again. Today, the condition of the Islamic Republic has dramatically changed compared to its condition in the year 1382. In those days, we used to bargain for two, three centrifuges, but today several thousand centrifuges are working. Our youth, our scientists, our researchers and our officials made great efforts and moved things forward. Therefore, we will not suffer a loss as a result of today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ongoing negotiations. Of course, as I said, I am not optimistic and I do not think that these negotiations will produce the results which the Iranian nation expects. However, it is an experience. This will broaden and strengthen the experience of the Iranian nation. It is alright to hold these negotiations, but it is necessary for the Iranian nation to be vigilant. We strongly support our officials, who are active in the camp of diplomacy, but our people should be vigilant. They should know what is happening so that some mercenary promoters of the enemy and some promoters who receive no rewards and who further the goals of the enemy out of naivety cannot mislead public opinion. They want to instill the idea into the minds of the people that if we surrender to the other side on the nuclear issue, all economic, financial and other such problems will be solved. This is one of the methods which they use and one of the lies which they spread. They are promoting this idea. Of course, foreign promoters promote such ideas with very efficient methods. Inside the country too, some people promote the idea that if we back down and surrender to the other side on this issue, all economic and other such problems will be solved. Some of these people do it out of naivety without any bad intention and some people promote this idea intentionally. However, this idea is wrong. Why is it wrong? There are a few reasons why it is wrong. I would like you - including the people who are present in this meeting, our wise, well-informed and highly motivated youth and our university and school students throughout the country - to think about such issues. As I once said, you are the officers of the soft war. One reason is that the enmity of America towards the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic is not at all about the nuclear issue. It is wrong to think that America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s hostility towards us is based on the nuclear issue. This is not the case. The nuclear issue is an excuse. Even long before the nuclear issue - that is to say, since the beginning of the Revolution - these hostilities and oppositions existed. Even if one day the nuclear issue is resolved - imagine that the Islamic Republic retreats, which is the thing they want - you should not think that these hostilities will be over. No, they will gradually make tens of other excuses. For example, they will say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you have missiles?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you have drones?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why are you on unfriendly terms with the Zionist regime?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you not officially recognize the Zionist regime?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you support resistance groups?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" in, as they call it, the Middle East region and why and why and why... The issue is not that they have disagreements with the Islamic Republic about its nuclear program. This is not the case. America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sanctions began since the beginning of the Revolution and these sanctions increased on a daily basis so much so that today, it has reached a high level. They showed other kinds of hostility as well. They brought down a plane which belonged to the Islamic Republic and they killed 290 humans. During the early years of the Revolution, when the people were still enthusiastic about the victory of the Revolution, they launched the coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état based in Shahid Nojeh military base. They launched a coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état against the Revolution and they supported anti-revolutionary elements in different corners of the country. They gave weapons and other such things to the anti-revolutionary camp. This is the same thing that they did in other countries later on. Their enmity is not based on the nuclear issue. The issue is something else. The Iranian nation said no to the requests of America. The Iranian nation said that America cannot do a damn thing against us. The Americans are opposed to the identity of the Islamic Republic. They are opposed to the influence and power of the Islamic Republic. Recently, one of the American politicians and intellectuals said - his speech was broadcast and this is not a confidential issue - that Iran is dangerous, no matter if it is atomic or non-atomic. This person openly said that the influence and power of Iran - as they say, the hegemony of Iran - is dangerous in the region. This is the kind of Iran which enjoys dignity, respect and power today. They are opposed to this kind of Iran. They will be satisfied when Iran becomes a weak, abandoned, isolated, untrustworthy and humiliated nation. Their enmity is not based on the nuclear issue. This is one point. Another point is that in order to solve the economic issues of the country, all our efforts should be focused on domestic issues. The kind of progress and the kind of solution is valuable which is reliant on the domestic power of a nation. If a people rely on their own power and capabilities, they will no more descend into chaos when another country frowns at and imposes sanctions on them. We should solve this. All that we want to say to officials - whether past or present officials - is that they should look at domestic capabilities in order to resolve the issues and the problems of the country including economic problems. We have certain capacities in the country. These capacities - which include human, natural and geographical resources and regional location - should be utilized. Of course, we support diplomatic dynamism. When we say problems should be solved from the inside, this does not mean that we should close our eyes, that we should not benefit from diplomatic dynamism and that we should not interact with the world. Diplomatic dynamism and diplomatic presence are very necessary. The officials who do these things are part of the work, but we should rely on domestic issues. In diplomatic arenas, that country can be successful which relies on its innate power. That government which relies on its innate power and innate capacities can make others accept what it says at the negotiating table and achieve the desired results. Such governments are taken into consideration. An important point which should receive attention in this regard is that we have never become desperate in the face of our enemies during these years and we will never become desperate in the future. During the first decade after the Revolution, particularly during the first years, we did not have access to many material resources. We did not have money, we did not have weapons, we did not have experience, we did not have organization, we did not have competent armed forces and we did not have military equipment. This was while our enemy was at the peak of his power and capability, whether the enemy which fought against us in the arena of war or the enemy which stood behind him - that is to say, the Ba\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ath regime of Saddam and America, NATO and the Soviet Union of those days. At that time, the Reagan administration was one of the strongest and most powerful governments throughout the world in political and military arenas. This was while we lived in poverty and with difficult conditions, but they could not do anything to us. Today, the situation has changed. Today, the Islamic Republic has weapons. Today, it has money, it has science, it has technology, it has the power to produce, it has international dignity, it has millions of youth who are ready to work and it has millions of talents. Today, we have such a condition. Today, our condition cannot at all be compared with 30 years ago. This is while the situation is the exact opposite of this for the opposing camp. In those days, the Americans were at the peak of their power, but today they are not. Recently, one of the current American government officials, who is a well-known personality, said that today America has reached a point where its friends do not respect it and its enemies do not fear it. It was he who said this, not us. They themselves mention such things. Recently, they have had some political problems. You have seen the disagreement of American politicians about the government\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s budget which shut down the government for 16, 17 days. They sent 800,000 employees on involuntary leave. This is a weakness. This is inefficiency. They have the biggest economic and financial problems. Our problems are nothing compared to their problems. And I will tell you that in the year 2001 or 2002 of the Christian calendar - that is to say, 10, 11 years ago - the financial officials of America made a certain prediction. They predicted that in the year 2011 or 2012, they would have a surplus of 14 trillion dollars. Pay careful attention to this. In 2001, their prediction for 2011 and 2012 was this: they said that in 2011 and 2012 they would have a surplus of 14 trillion dollars. Now, it is 2013, but they have a deficit of around 17 trillion dollars and they do not have any surplus. That is to say, they miscalculated this figure up to 30 trillion dollars. This is their economic condition. This is the way they calculate. This is the condition in the opposing camp. Moreover, as you can see, they have many disagreements. It is mutual interests which have connected them - the Americans and the Europeans - to one another. Otherwise, deep inside, they are on unfriendly terms. The French nation hates the Americans. In different events such as the issue of Syria, the Americans could not establish a partnership with a government which has the closest relationship with them. That is to say, even the English said that we would not take part in this issue. This is while about 40 governments cooperated with them when they attacked Iraq. When they attacked Afghanistan, about 30 governments cooperated with them. The Americans have such a condition in the present time. We have a very good condition. We have made progress, we have become powerful and our people have become a well-informed people. Of course, they exert pressures on us. We should endure and pass through these pressures by relying on our domestic capabilities. This is a wise thing to do and it is being done. Of course, as I said earlier - and I would like to repeat this - we approve of the efforts that the honorable administration and the officials of the country are making. This is an important task and experience and it is most probably a valuable course of action. They can do this. If they achieve results, then so much the better. But if they do not achieve results, this should mean that the county must stand on its own feet in order to solve its problems. I would like to repeat my previous advice: you should not trust the enemy which smiles at you. We would like to offer this advice to our officials, who are our children. Those officials who are working in the arena of diplomacy are our own children and our own youth. This is our advice to them: you should take care not to be misled by a deceptive smile. You should see the subtleties of the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s plans. Today, the Americans have the most troubles with the deviated Zionist regime- more than any other regime. They have the most consideration for Zionist lobbies. They show consideration for them and we see the situation. The claws of wealthy and powerful Zionist individuals and companies have such domination over the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress that they have to show consideration for them. We do not have to show consideration for the Zionists. Since the first day we said - and we say it today and we will say it in the future - that we consider the Zionist regime to be an illegal and bastard regime. It is a regime which has come into being with conspiracy and it is being preserved and guarded with conspiracy and conspiratorial policies. The Americans show consideration for this regime. The reason why they do this requires another detailed discussion. The money, power and capital of the Zionists is doing a good job and it is influencing these poor Americans. Therefore, the Americans have to show some consideration for them. It is not only the Americans who have such a condition. Many other western politicians, these poor creatures, have the same problem. They too have the same problem. Therefore, our officials should pay attention and they should look at their statements. On the one hand, they smile and they show interest in negotiations and on the other hand, they immediately say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"All options are on the table\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". So what? What move can they make against the Islamic Republic? If they are serious about these negotiations, they should control themselves. They should stop those people who open their mouth to talk nonsense. A certain wealthy American politician had the audacity to say that they should drop an atomic bomb in such and such a desert in Iran and that they should issue such and such threats. Well, they should smash this person\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mouth! A government which suffers from the delusion that it has a responsibility towards all the issues in the world and a government which considers itself responsible for dealing with the nuclear issue of such and such a country should not dare to issue nuclear threats - particularly in such a time - against a country with such a good condition. They should stop those people who talk nonsense. Anyway, our people are, thankfully, a vigilant people and our officials are the officials of these people. They too are vigilant and they pay full attention. We support whatever action which is to the benefit of the country and we support, help and pray for those officials who carry out such actions. But we also advise both the people and officials - particularly you dear youth - to open your eyes and ears. Any nation can achieve its lofty goals with wisdom, vigilance and watchfulness. And I hope that, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, the prayers of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) will be a source of support for you and I hope that the immaculate soul of Imam and the pure souls of our martyrs pray for you. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, you youth will take the country in your own hands with your enthusiastic spirits and I hope that it will be your turn to reach the peaks with your innovation. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1837&Itemid=4

The following is the full text of the speech delivered on November 3, 2013 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with high school and university students. The meeting was held on the occasion of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"National Day of Fighting Against Global Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Speech in Meeting with Students on \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"National Day of Fighting Against Global ArroganToday, the warm presence of you dear youth in this hussainyyah is a reminder and a manifestation of the epic and enthusiasm which has been the supporter and guarantee of the revolutionary movement of the Iranian nation over the course of many years- from the beginning of the Revolution until today. The great blessing of God on our country and on the Islamic Republic is the existence of youth with their clear, strong and reasonable motives, with their pure hearts and with their sincere intentions. Our meeting today has been scheduled on the anniversary of the events of the 13th of Aban which occurred over the course of different years - before and after the victory of the Revolution in the country. There are three events: Imam\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s exile in the year 1343, the ruthless slaughter of students in Tehran in the year 1357 and the courageous movement of students in capturing the Den of Espionage in the year 1358. Each of these three events was in some way related to the government of the United States of America. In the year 1343, Imam (may God bestow paradise on him) was exiled because of his opposition to \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"capitulation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", which meant preserving the security of American agents in Iran and their judicial immunity. So this event was related to America. In the year 1357, the regime which was dependent on America killed students on the streets of Tehran and the asphalt of these streets was colored with the blood of our teenagers. This was done by America in order to defend the regime which was dependent on it. This event was also related to America. The event in the year 1358 was a counterattack. Our courageous and religious youth attacked the U.S. embassy and discovered the truth and identity of this embassy, which was the Den of Espionage, and presented this fact to people throughout the world. In those days, our youth called the U.S. embassy the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Den of Espionage\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Today, after the passage of 30-plus years since that day, the name of U.S. embassies in countries which have the closest relationship with America - that is to say, European countries - has become the den of espionage. This means that our youth are 30 years ahead of the rest of the world. This event was related to America as well. These three events were related, in different ways, to the government of the United States of America and its relations with Iran. Therefore, the 13th of Aban - which is tomorrow - was named \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Day of Fighting Against Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". What does arrogance mean? Arrogance is a Quranic term. The word \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" has been used in the Holy Quran. An arrogant individual, an arrogant government and an arrogant group of people means those individuals and those governments which intend to interfere in the affairs of other human beings and other nations. They interfere in all the affairs of other nations in order to preserve their own interests. They think they are free to do anything and they grant themselves the right to impose different things on other nations and to interfere in the affairs of other countries. And they do not answer to anyone. This is the meaning of arrogance. At the opposite end of the scale, there is a group of people who fight against arrogance. What does fighting against arrogance mean? Primarily, it means refusing to give in to this bullying. The meaning of fighting against arrogance is not convoluted and it is not complicated. Fighting against arrogance means the refusal of a nation to give in to the interference and imposition of an arrogant power, individual or government. This is the meaning of fighting against arrogance. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, when I have the opportunity in the future, I will have a detailed discussion about arrogance and fighting against arrogance with you youth and students. Now, there is no time. This is a brief definition of arrogance and fighting against arrogance. The people of Iran consider themselves to be fighters against arrogance because they have not given in to the imposition of the government of America. The government of America is an arrogant government. It grants itself the right to interfere in the affairs of other countries. It wages wars and it interferes in the affairs of other countries. Today, you see that this goes beyond the borders of Asian, African and Latin American countries. It has reached Europe. They interfere in their affairs as well. The Iranian nation stood against the arrogance that the government of the United States of America showed. It stood against the interference and bullying that it caused and it stood against the domination that it had achieved over our dear country in the course of many years. The taghuti and monarchical regime was a regime which was dependent on America without any domestic support. By relying on America, they did whatever they wanted in Iran. They oppressed the people, they usurped their rights, they practiced discrimination among them. They prevented the country from achieving growth and making progress - which was the natural and historical right of the people - in order to promote the interests of America in Iran. The Iranian nation stood firm and it carried out a revolution. Then, it cut out the roots of arrogant powers in the country. It was not like a number of other countries which confronted arrogance at first, but which left it unfinished. Of course, these countries have received a blow because of this. When I was present in a country - whose name I do not want to mention - which had fought against the English for many years, which had put an end to the oppression of the English by fighting against them and which had achieved independence, I saw that they had put up the statue of an English commander in an important recreational center. I said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"What is this?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" And this center was named after this arrogant and colonialist commander who had committed thousands of crimes in that country. Of course, they did not gain any benefit from this consideration and compromise. That is to say, this country was and still is under pressure. Compromising and showing leniency towards arrogant powers will bring no benefit for any country. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the great Revolution carried out by the people of Iran confronted American arrogance and it did not leave this task unfinished because it had felt the blow which the Americans had dealt, over many years, on its skin and flesh. It knew who and what these people are. The arrogant outlook which the Americans have adopted and which has continued since decades ago until today has made all nations in the world have a feeling of mistrust and hatred towards the government of America. This is not particular to our country. Any nation which trusted America received a blow, even those who were America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s friends. In our county, Dr. Mosaddeq trusted and relied on the Americans so that he could free himself from the pressure of the English. Instead of helping Dr. Mosaddeq who had trusted them, the Americans allied themselves with the English. They dispatched their agents to our country and they launched the coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état of the 28th of Mordad. Mosaddeq trusted them and he received a blow for that. Even those who were on friendly terms with America and who had trusted this country received a blow. The taghuti regime had a very close relationship with America. However, the greed of America exhausted them as well. As I said, they imposed \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"capitulation\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - the judicial immunity of American agents - on this regime and they had to accept this because they had no other source of support except for America. The meaning of capitulation is that if an American sergeant slaps a high-ranking Iranian officer across the face, no one has the right to sue him. If an American agent of low rank shows transgression towards a honorable Iranian man or woman, no one has the right to sue him. The Americans say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"You do not have the right to do this. We ourselves will resolve the issue\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". A people cannot be humiliated more than this. They imposed this on Iran which was their friend. They did not even show mercy to their friend. They threw Mohammad Reza out of their country after he fled from Iran and spent a short time in America. They did not let him stay. They did not show even this bit of loyalty to him. They are such people. Nations and even governments do not trust America because of this behavior and this attitude which can be seen in its policies. Anyone who trusted America received a blow. Therefore, today, America is the most hated global power among nations. If a fair and healthy public opinion poll is carried out among all nations in the world, I do not think that the negative scores of any nation equal the negative scores of the government of America. Today, this is the condition of America throughout the world. You have heard the statements that the Europeans make against the Americans. Therefore, the issue of fighting against arrogance and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The National Day of Fighting against Arrogance\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is a fundamental issue, one that is based on correct analyses and statements. And you dear youth and the millions of youth throughout the country, who are students like you, should have a correct analysis of these events. Well, the youth of the early years of the Revolution did not need analyses. Everything was clear to them because they had witnessed everything with their own eyes. They had witnessed the presence of the Americans and SAVAK, which had been taught by the Americans themselves. But today, you should think, analyze and be careful. This should not be only in words. It should be clear why the people of Iran are opposed to arrogance, why they are opposed to the positions of the United States of America and what their hatred results from. Today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s youth should understand this correctly by carrying out research. Well, I would like to raise a few points about our current issues with America, which is a source of discussions these days. There are certain questions in the minds of the people. First, I want to offer an important and necessary piece of advice: no one should think that the negotiating team of our country have compromised with the other party which includes America - the six governments which are known as the P5+1. This is wrong. They are the agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They are our own children and they are the children of the Revolution. They are carrying out a mission and the responsibility which they have undertaken is difficult. They are carrying out this responsibility, which falls on their shoulders, with many efforts. Therefore, one should not weaken and insult them and use certain terms - which we sometimes hear such as the notion that they have compromised with the enemy and other such things - against an agent who is carrying out a task and who is in charge of an affair. The things that are said against them are not true. You should pay attention to the fact that the current negotiations with these six countries - including America - are only about the nuclear issue and nothing else. In the beginning of this year, I said in Holy Mashhad that there is nothing wrong with negotiations on particular issues. But I said that I do not trust these negotiations and I am not optimistic about them. However, if they want to negotiate, they can do it and, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, we will not suffer a loss in these negotiations. The Iranian nation benefits from a certain experience which I will refer to in brief. This experience will increase the intellectual capability of our nation, like the experience that we gained in the year 1382 and 1383 in the area of suspending our enrichment activities. At that time, during negotiations with the Europeans, the Islamic Republic agreed to suspend its enrichment activities for a while. But this turned out to be to our benefit. Why? It is because we found out there is no hope at all that our western partners will cooperate with us if we suspend our enrichment activities. If we had not accepted that optional suspension - of course, it was imposed in a way, but we and our officials accepted it anyway - some people would have said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If you had retreated a little bit, all problems would have been solved and Iran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s nuclear file would have become normal\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". That act of suspending our enrichment activities brought us this advantage: it became clear that problems will not be solved by retreating, suspending enrichment activities, postponing our work and cancelling many of our plans and programs. It became clear that the other side is after something else. We noticed this and therefore we started our enrichment activities again. Today, the condition of the Islamic Republic has dramatically changed compared to its condition in the year 1382. In those days, we used to bargain for two, three centrifuges, but today several thousand centrifuges are working. Our youth, our scientists, our researchers and our officials made great efforts and moved things forward. Therefore, we will not suffer a loss as a result of today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ongoing negotiations. Of course, as I said, I am not optimistic and I do not think that these negotiations will produce the results which the Iranian nation expects. However, it is an experience. This will broaden and strengthen the experience of the Iranian nation. It is alright to hold these negotiations, but it is necessary for the Iranian nation to be vigilant. We strongly support our officials, who are active in the camp of diplomacy, but our people should be vigilant. They should know what is happening so that some mercenary promoters of the enemy and some promoters who receive no rewards and who further the goals of the enemy out of naivety cannot mislead public opinion. They want to instill the idea into the minds of the people that if we surrender to the other side on the nuclear issue, all economic, financial and other such problems will be solved. This is one of the methods which they use and one of the lies which they spread. They are promoting this idea. Of course, foreign promoters promote such ideas with very efficient methods. Inside the country too, some people promote the idea that if we back down and surrender to the other side on this issue, all economic and other such problems will be solved. Some of these people do it out of naivety without any bad intention and some people promote this idea intentionally. However, this idea is wrong. Why is it wrong? There are a few reasons why it is wrong. I would like you - including the people who are present in this meeting, our wise, well-informed and highly motivated youth and our university and school students throughout the country - to think about such issues. As I once said, you are the officers of the soft war. One reason is that the enmity of America towards the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic is not at all about the nuclear issue. It is wrong to think that America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s hostility towards us is based on the nuclear issue. This is not the case. The nuclear issue is an excuse. Even long before the nuclear issue - that is to say, since the beginning of the Revolution - these hostilities and oppositions existed. Even if one day the nuclear issue is resolved - imagine that the Islamic Republic retreats, which is the thing they want - you should not think that these hostilities will be over. No, they will gradually make tens of other excuses. For example, they will say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you have missiles?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you have drones?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why are you on unfriendly terms with the Zionist regime?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you not officially recognize the Zionist regime?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"why do you support resistance groups?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" in, as they call it, the Middle East region and why and why and why... The issue is not that they have disagreements with the Islamic Republic about its nuclear program. This is not the case. America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s sanctions began since the beginning of the Revolution and these sanctions increased on a daily basis so much so that today, it has reached a high level. They showed other kinds of hostility as well. They brought down a plane which belonged to the Islamic Republic and they killed 290 humans. During the early years of the Revolution, when the people were still enthusiastic about the victory of the Revolution, they launched the coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état based in Shahid Nojeh military base. They launched a coup d\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'état against the Revolution and they supported anti-revolutionary elements in different corners of the country. They gave weapons and other such things to the anti-revolutionary camp. This is the same thing that they did in other countries later on. Their enmity is not based on the nuclear issue. The issue is something else. The Iranian nation said no to the requests of America. The Iranian nation said that America cannot do a damn thing against us. The Americans are opposed to the identity of the Islamic Republic. They are opposed to the influence and power of the Islamic Republic. Recently, one of the American politicians and intellectuals said - his speech was broadcast and this is not a confidential issue - that Iran is dangerous, no matter if it is atomic or non-atomic. This person openly said that the influence and power of Iran - as they say, the hegemony of Iran - is dangerous in the region. This is the kind of Iran which enjoys dignity, respect and power today. They are opposed to this kind of Iran. They will be satisfied when Iran becomes a weak, abandoned, isolated, untrustworthy and humiliated nation. Their enmity is not based on the nuclear issue. This is one point. Another point is that in order to solve the economic issues of the country, all our efforts should be focused on domestic issues. The kind of progress and the kind of solution is valuable which is reliant on the domestic power of a nation. If a people rely on their own power and capabilities, they will no more descend into chaos when another country frowns at and imposes sanctions on them. We should solve this. All that we want to say to officials - whether past or present officials - is that they should look at domestic capabilities in order to resolve the issues and the problems of the country including economic problems. We have certain capacities in the country. These capacities - which include human, natural and geographical resources and regional location - should be utilized. Of course, we support diplomatic dynamism. When we say problems should be solved from the inside, this does not mean that we should close our eyes, that we should not benefit from diplomatic dynamism and that we should not interact with the world. Diplomatic dynamism and diplomatic presence are very necessary. The officials who do these things are part of the work, but we should rely on domestic issues. In diplomatic arenas, that country can be successful which relies on its innate power. That government which relies on its innate power and innate capacities can make others accept what it says at the negotiating table and achieve the desired results. Such governments are taken into consideration. An important point which should receive attention in this regard is that we have never become desperate in the face of our enemies during these years and we will never become desperate in the future. During the first decade after the Revolution, particularly during the first years, we did not have access to many material resources. We did not have money, we did not have weapons, we did not have experience, we did not have organization, we did not have competent armed forces and we did not have military equipment. This was while our enemy was at the peak of his power and capability, whether the enemy which fought against us in the arena of war or the enemy which stood behind him - that is to say, the Ba\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ath regime of Saddam and America, NATO and the Soviet Union of those days. At that time, the Reagan administration was one of the strongest and most powerful governments throughout the world in political and military arenas. This was while we lived in poverty and with difficult conditions, but they could not do anything to us. Today, the situation has changed. Today, the Islamic Republic has weapons. Today, it has money, it has science, it has technology, it has the power to produce, it has international dignity, it has millions of youth who are ready to work and it has millions of talents. Today, we have such a condition. Today, our condition cannot at all be compared with 30 years ago. This is while the situation is the exact opposite of this for the opposing camp. In those days, the Americans were at the peak of their power, but today they are not. Recently, one of the current American government officials, who is a well-known personality, said that today America has reached a point where its friends do not respect it and its enemies do not fear it. It was he who said this, not us. They themselves mention such things. Recently, they have had some political problems. You have seen the disagreement of American politicians about the government\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s budget which shut down the government for 16, 17 days. They sent 800,000 employees on involuntary leave. This is a weakness. This is inefficiency. They have the biggest economic and financial problems. Our problems are nothing compared to their problems. And I will tell you that in the year 2001 or 2002 of the Christian calendar - that is to say, 10, 11 years ago - the financial officials of America made a certain prediction. They predicted that in the year 2011 or 2012, they would have a surplus of 14 trillion dollars. Pay careful attention to this. In 2001, their prediction for 2011 and 2012 was this: they said that in 2011 and 2012 they would have a surplus of 14 trillion dollars. Now, it is 2013, but they have a deficit of around 17 trillion dollars and they do not have any surplus. That is to say, they miscalculated this figure up to 30 trillion dollars. This is their economic condition. This is the way they calculate. This is the condition in the opposing camp. Moreover, as you can see, they have many disagreements. It is mutual interests which have connected them - the Americans and the Europeans - to one another. Otherwise, deep inside, they are on unfriendly terms. The French nation hates the Americans. In different events such as the issue of Syria, the Americans could not establish a partnership with a government which has the closest relationship with them. That is to say, even the English said that we would not take part in this issue. This is while about 40 governments cooperated with them when they attacked Iraq. When they attacked Afghanistan, about 30 governments cooperated with them. The Americans have such a condition in the present time. We have a very good condition. We have made progress, we have become powerful and our people have become a well-informed people. Of course, they exert pressures on us. We should endure and pass through these pressures by relying on our domestic capabilities. This is a wise thing to do and it is being done. Of course, as I said earlier - and I would like to repeat this - we approve of the efforts that the honorable administration and the officials of the country are making. This is an important task and experience and it is most probably a valuable course of action. They can do this. If they achieve results, then so much the better. But if they do not achieve results, this should mean that the county must stand on its own feet in order to solve its problems. I would like to repeat my previous advice: you should not trust the enemy which smiles at you. We would like to offer this advice to our officials, who are our children. Those officials who are working in the arena of diplomacy are our own children and our own youth. This is our advice to them: you should take care not to be misled by a deceptive smile. You should see the subtleties of the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s plans. Today, the Americans have the most troubles with the deviated Zionist regime- more than any other regime. They have the most consideration for Zionist lobbies. They show consideration for them and we see the situation. The claws of wealthy and powerful Zionist individuals and companies have such domination over the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress that they have to show consideration for them. We do not have to show consideration for the Zionists. Since the first day we said - and we say it today and we will say it in the future - that we consider the Zionist regime to be an illegal and bastard regime. It is a regime which has come into being with conspiracy and it is being preserved and guarded with conspiracy and conspiratorial policies. The Americans show consideration for this regime. The reason why they do this requires another detailed discussion. The money, power and capital of the Zionists is doing a good job and it is influencing these poor Americans. Therefore, the Americans have to show some consideration for them. It is not only the Americans who have such a condition. Many other western politicians, these poor creatures, have the same problem. They too have the same problem. Therefore, our officials should pay attention and they should look at their statements. On the one hand, they smile and they show interest in negotiations and on the other hand, they immediately say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"All options are on the table\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". So what? What move can they make against the Islamic Republic? If they are serious about these negotiations, they should control themselves. They should stop those people who open their mouth to talk nonsense. A certain wealthy American politician had the audacity to say that they should drop an atomic bomb in such and such a desert in Iran and that they should issue such and such threats. Well, they should smash this person\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mouth! A government which suffers from the delusion that it has a responsibility towards all the issues in the world and a government which considers itself responsible for dealing with the nuclear issue of such and such a country should not dare to issue nuclear threats - particularly in such a time - against a country with such a good condition. They should stop those people who talk nonsense. Anyway, our people are, thankfully, a vigilant people and our officials are the officials of these people. They too are vigilant and they pay full attention. We support whatever action which is to the benefit of the country and we support, help and pray for those officials who carry out such actions. But we also advise both the people and officials - particularly you dear youth - to open your eyes and ears. Any nation can achieve its lofty goals with wisdom, vigilance and watchfulness. And I hope that, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, the prayers of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) will be a source of support for you and I hope that the immaculate soul of Imam and the pure souls of our martyrs pray for you. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, you youth will take the country in your own hands with your enthusiastic spirits and I hope that it will be your turn to reach the peaks with your innovation. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr Prayers Print 29/07/2014 Supreme Leader\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr PrayersThe following is the full text of the sermons delivered on July 29, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at the Eid ul-Fitr prayers in Tehran. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. \\\\\\\"All Praise is due to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light. Yet those who reject faith hold others as equal, with their Guardian-Lord\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 6: 1]. And peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, the friend of our hearts and the interceder with our sins, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, and upon those who guide the guided. All praise is due to Allah, from Whom I seek help, to Whom I repent and Whom I rely on. I would like to tell all you dear brothers and sisters about divine mercy and forgiveness on this holy and auspicious day and I congratulate you on Eid ul-Fitr. I hope that God bestows His blessings on you and accepts your good deeds and your jihad of worship - those you fulfilled on the warm days and in the blessed nights of the auspicious month of Ramadan. Thankfully, our people benefitted from the auspicious month of Raman. They benefitted from Quranic, dua and dhikr meetings, from iftar meals, from the enthusiastic Nights of Qadr and from the different prayers and supplications that were thankfully said throughout our Islamic country. These prayers, supplications and the like prepare the ground for divine mercy and they are a source of divine blessings. Moreover, at the end of the month, the great movement of the people of Iran was launched on Quds Day. This movement announced to the world the lively, vigilant and loud cry of our people. These were the events of this great month out of which our people emerged glorious and finally they reached Eid ul-Fitr. Dear brothers and sisters, each religious practice that you did in the month of Ramadan was a good deed and a piece of paradise. When you ask Allah the Exalted - in a prayer of the auspicious month of Ramadan - to help you achieve paradise, this means that you want to achieve the practices whose manifestation is divine paradise, as promised by God. And thankfully this happened. You should appreciate the value of what you achieved in the month of Ramadan and you should preserve it. In the month of Ramadan, what we witnessed in personal, public, popular and social practices was that the people organized public and simple iftar meals. Thankfully, this has become common. Last year, our dear people were asked to organize iftar meals in a less extravagant way and to increase the number of those people who benefit from these meals. This year, the news that we received showed that the people made an effort and developed this in public and holy centers, on the streets, in hussainiyahs and in each and every part of the country. The piece of advice that this humble person wants to offer is that you should promote and develop such practices as much as you can because it influences our Islamic lifestyle. Quds Day was really and truly a great day. While the weather was very hot and our people were fasting, men and women - particularly those women wearing hijab and who had their children in their arms - participated in the rallies. When a people want to show that they are alive and when they want to show their communal determination, they show it on such occasions. This communal determination is not particular to a specific group of people. Rather, it involves all individuals. Our dear people thankfully showed this communal determination. I hope that God bestows His blessings on you dear people. I hope that He increases your dignity and achievements on a daily basis and I hope that He bestows upon the officials of the country the blessing to render services to you on a daily basis. \\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful‌ Say: He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 112] In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad and upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. And greetings be upon the Commander of the Faithful, Siddiqat at-Tahirah, the mistress of all women, Hassan, Hussein - the children of mercy and the Imams of guidance - Ali ibn al-Hussein, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja\\\\\\\'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja\\\\\\\'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hassan ibn Ali and Hujjat al-Qaem. I advise the dear brothers and sisters - who say prayers - all the people of Iran and myself to observe divine piety. This piety is a source of influence in all areas including the area of making judgments and taking action on all important social and international issues and issues related to the world of Islam and humanity. Today, the first issue of the world of Islam is the issue of Gaza. Perhaps, it can be said that this issue is the first issue of humanity. A rabid dog and a marauding wolf has attacked innocent people. Who is more innocent than the innocent children who lost their lives in an oppressive way during these attacks? Who is more innocent than the mothers who held their children in their arms and who witnessed their death and pains? Today, the usurping and kafer Zionist regime has committed these crimes in front of the eyes of all human beings. Therefore, humanity should react. Three points need to be said about the issue of Gaza: The first point is that what the leaders of the Zionist regime are doing today is genocide and a great historical catastrophe. The perpetrators and supporters of these crimes should be put on trial and punished on an international level. Their punishment is what people\\\\\\\'s representatives and righteous and sympathetic personalities in the world should request. And they should not escape punishment with the passage of time. They should be punished, whether they are in power or when they lose their power and are overthrown. Both the perpetrators of these crimes and those who are openly supporting them - you have heard and seen the news about their support - should be punished. This was the first point. The second point is that we should see the power of endurance and resistance of a people who have stood up for their legitimate claims. They are a people who have been surrounded by all sides and who live in a small and confined area. The sea is closed to them, the land is closed to them and all borders are closed to them. Their drinking water, their electricity and their basic amenities are not usable. All these disasters have befallen them because of the enmity and invasion of the enemy and there is no one to help them. All these disasters have befallen them because of the enmity and invasion of the enemy and there is no one to help them. These people are faced with an armed, malevolent and merciless regime such as the Zionist regime and its evil, malevolent and najis leaders who are striking them day and night without any consideration. Despite such crimes, these people have stood firm and they are resisting. This is a lesson. This shows that one\\\\\\\'s power of resistance - the power of resistance of a mother who sees her child dead in front of her and the power of resistance of a woman who sees her husband, brother and father under pressure - is beyond what we can imagine in our minds. We should know our inner power. Human beings can be powerful and show resistance like this. These people - whose population is about 1,800,000 persons - are standing firm despite the fact that they live in an enclosed and surrounded land that is about 400, 500 square kilometers. They are standing firm despite the fact that their gardens, shops and houses are the target of the enemy\\\\\\\'s attack. Besides, the path of business and finance is closed to them and they are under such attack. This shows the level and amount of a people\\\\\\\'s resistance. And I will tell you that by Allah\\\\\\\'s favor and permission, these people will finally achieve victory over the enemy. Of course, even in the present time, the transgressing enemy is regretful like a dog which has done something wrong. He has gotten stuck and he does not know what to do. If he turns back, he will be disgraced. If he continues, it will be more difficult for him on a daily basis. That is why you see that America, Europe and all global criminals have joined hands to force an imposed truce on the people of Gaza. They want to do this in order to save the Zionist regime. The Zionist regime has gotten stuck and it will continue to get stuck from now on. This was the second point. And the third point is that the political leaders of arrogance say, \\\\\\\"We should disarm Hamas and Jihad\\\\\\\". What does it mean to disarm these groups? It means that these groups have a number of missiles with which they can somehow defend themselves in the face of the incessant attacks of the enemy. They say, \\\\\\\"We should even take away these few missiles from them\\\\\\\". From their viewpoint, Palestine - including Gaza - should be in such a condition that the enemy can attack and fire on it whenever it wants. And Palestine should not be able to defend itself at all. This is what they want. The President of America has issued a \\\\\\\"fatwa\\\\\\\" saying that the resistance should be disarmed. Of course, it is clear that you want it to be disarmed so that it cannot deliver any blow against these crimes. But we say that the opposite should happen. The entire world - particularly the world of Islam - should provide the people of Palestine with as many weapons as they can. God, help Islam and the Muslims. Help the armies of the Muslims. Abandon the kufar, the enemies and the hypocrites. And I ask Allah for forgiveness for myself and you. \\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful‌ Say: He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 112] Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1938

Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr Prayers Print 29/07/2014 Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr PrayersThe following is the full text of the sermons delivered on July 29, 2014 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at the Eid ul-Fitr prayers in Tehran. In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"All Praise is due to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light. Yet those who reject faith hold others as equal, with their Guardian-Lord\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 6: 1]. And peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, the friend of our hearts and the interceder with our sins, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, and upon those who guide the guided. All praise is due to Allah, from Whom I seek help, to Whom I repent and Whom I rely on. I would like to tell all you dear brothers and sisters about divine mercy and forgiveness on this holy and auspicious day and I congratulate you on Eid ul-Fitr. I hope that God bestows His blessings on you and accepts your good deeds and your jihad of worship - those you fulfilled on the warm days and in the blessed nights of the auspicious month of Ramadan. Thankfully, our people benefitted from the auspicious month of Raman. They benefitted from Quranic, dua and dhikr meetings, from iftar meals, from the enthusiastic Nights of Qadr and from the different prayers and supplications that were thankfully said throughout our Islamic country. These prayers, supplications and the like prepare the ground for divine mercy and they are a source of divine blessings. Moreover, at the end of the month, the great movement of the people of Iran was launched on Quds Day. This movement announced to the world the lively, vigilant and loud cry of our people. These were the events of this great month out of which our people emerged glorious and finally they reached Eid ul-Fitr. Dear brothers and sisters, each religious practice that you did in the month of Ramadan was a good deed and a piece of paradise. When you ask Allah the Exalted - in a prayer of the auspicious month of Ramadan - to help you achieve paradise, this means that you want to achieve the practices whose manifestation is divine paradise, as promised by God. And thankfully this happened. You should appreciate the value of what you achieved in the month of Ramadan and you should preserve it. In the month of Ramadan, what we witnessed in personal, public, popular and social practices was that the people organized public and simple iftar meals. Thankfully, this has become common. Last year, our dear people were asked to organize iftar meals in a less extravagant way and to increase the number of those people who benefit from these meals. This year, the news that we received showed that the people made an effort and developed this in public and holy centers, on the streets, in hussainiyahs and in each and every part of the country. The piece of advice that this humble person wants to offer is that you should promote and develop such practices as much as you can because it influences our Islamic lifestyle. Quds Day was really and truly a great day. While the weather was very hot and our people were fasting, men and women - particularly those women wearing hijab and who had their children in their arms - participated in the rallies. When a people want to show that they are alive and when they want to show their communal determination, they show it on such occasions. This communal determination is not particular to a specific group of people. Rather, it involves all individuals. Our dear people thankfully showed this communal determination. I hope that God bestows His blessings on you dear people. I hope that He increases your dignity and achievements on a daily basis and I hope that He bestows upon the officials of the country the blessing to render services to you on a daily basis. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful‌ Say: He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 112] In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad and upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. And greetings be upon the Commander of the Faithful, Siddiqat at-Tahirah, the mistress of all women, Hassan, Hussein - the children of mercy and the Imams of guidance - Ali ibn al-Hussein, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hassan ibn Ali and Hujjat al-Qaem. I advise the dear brothers and sisters - who say prayers - all the people of Iran and myself to observe divine piety. This piety is a source of influence in all areas including the area of making judgments and taking action on all important social and international issues and issues related to the world of Islam and humanity. Today, the first issue of the world of Islam is the issue of Gaza. Perhaps, it can be said that this issue is the first issue of humanity. A rabid dog and a marauding wolf has attacked innocent people. Who is more innocent than the innocent children who lost their lives in an oppressive way during these attacks? Who is more innocent than the mothers who held their children in their arms and who witnessed their death and pains? Today, the usurping and kafer Zionist regime has committed these crimes in front of the eyes of all human beings. Therefore, humanity should react. Three points need to be said about the issue of Gaza: The first point is that what the leaders of the Zionist regime are doing today is genocide and a great historical catastrophe. The perpetrators and supporters of these crimes should be put on trial and punished on an international level. Their punishment is what people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representatives and righteous and sympathetic personalities in the world should request. And they should not escape punishment with the passage of time. They should be punished, whether they are in power or when they lose their power and are overthrown. Both the perpetrators of these crimes and those who are openly supporting them - you have heard and seen the news about their support - should be punished. This was the first point. The second point is that we should see the power of endurance and resistance of a people who have stood up for their legitimate claims. They are a people who have been surrounded by all sides and who live in a small and confined area. The sea is closed to them, the land is closed to them and all borders are closed to them. Their drinking water, their electricity and their basic amenities are not usable. All these disasters have befallen them because of the enmity and invasion of the enemy and there is no one to help them. All these disasters have befallen them because of the enmity and invasion of the enemy and there is no one to help them. These people are faced with an armed, malevolent and merciless regime such as the Zionist regime and its evil, malevolent and najis leaders who are striking them day and night without any consideration. Despite such crimes, these people have stood firm and they are resisting. This is a lesson. This shows that one\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s power of resistance - the power of resistance of a mother who sees her child dead in front of her and the power of resistance of a woman who sees her husband, brother and father under pressure - is beyond what we can imagine in our minds. We should know our inner power. Human beings can be powerful and show resistance like this. These people - whose population is about 1,800,000 persons - are standing firm despite the fact that they live in an enclosed and surrounded land that is about 400, 500 square kilometers. They are standing firm despite the fact that their gardens, shops and houses are the target of the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s attack. Besides, the path of business and finance is closed to them and they are under such attack. This shows the level and amount of a people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s resistance. And I will tell you that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor and permission, these people will finally achieve victory over the enemy. Of course, even in the present time, the transgressing enemy is regretful like a dog which has done something wrong. He has gotten stuck and he does not know what to do. If he turns back, he will be disgraced. If he continues, it will be more difficult for him on a daily basis. That is why you see that America, Europe and all global criminals have joined hands to force an imposed truce on the people of Gaza. They want to do this in order to save the Zionist regime. The Zionist regime has gotten stuck and it will continue to get stuck from now on. This was the second point. And the third point is that the political leaders of arrogance say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We should disarm Hamas and Jihad\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". What does it mean to disarm these groups? It means that these groups have a number of missiles with which they can somehow defend themselves in the face of the incessant attacks of the enemy. They say, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We should even take away these few missiles from them\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". From their viewpoint, Palestine - including Gaza - should be in such a condition that the enemy can attack and fire on it whenever it wants. And Palestine should not be able to defend itself at all. This is what they want. The President of America has issued a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"fatwa\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" saying that the resistance should be disarmed. Of course, it is clear that you want it to be disarmed so that it cannot deliver any blow against these crimes. But we say that the opposite should happen. The entire world - particularly the world of Islam - should provide the people of Palestine with as many weapons as they can. God, help Islam and the Muslims. Help the armies of the Muslims. Abandon the kufar, the enemies and the hypocrites. And I ask Allah for forgiveness for myself and you. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful‌ Say: He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 112] Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings Source: http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1938

Eidul Fitr 1436 Sermon by The Leader of Islamic Ummah Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr Prayers Print 18/07/2015 Supreme Leader\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Sermons at Eid ul-Fitr PrayersThe following is the full text of the sermons delivered on July 18, 2015 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, at the Eid ul-Fitr prayers in Tehran. First Sermon In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"All Praise is due to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light. Yet those who reject faith hold others as equal, with their Guardian-Lord\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 6: 1]. All praise is due to Allah Whom we praise, Whom we remember, to Whom we repent, and peace and greetings be upon His beloved and noble one, the best among His servants, our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, upon his immaculate, pure and chosen household, and upon those who guide the guided, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth. I would like to congratulate all you dear brothers and sisters, the dear people of Iran and all Muslims throughout the world on this auspicious Eid. I advise you who say prayers and myself, to observe divine piety, piousness, safeguarding the inner self and avoidance of sins. This year, the month of Ramadan was an auspicious month in the real sense of the word. In this month, divine blessings were showered on the people. The signs of these blessings were witnessed in the people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s fasting during the long and hot days of Ramadan, in large Quranic meetings all over the country, in great dua and supplication meetings - where thousands of youth, elderly people, men and women engaged in dua and supplication and where they spoke to their God in a pure and humble way - in donating charity, in the large iftar meals that have fortunately become common for several years now, in mosques, on the streets and finally in the magnificent Quds Day rallies. These are signs of divine mercy. The people participated in these great rallies in a hot summer day while they were fasting and while they had kept a vigil the night before - on the 23rd of the month of Ramadan - on the occasion of the Nights of Qadr. This is the right way to know the people of Iran. These are the people of Iran. It is the people of Iran who paint such a picture of themselves on the scene of worshipping God during the month of Ramadan and on the scene of fighting against arrogance, each in different ways. Our people should not be known through the hostile words of others. Rather, they should be known through themselves, through their slogans, through their movements and through such magnificent reflections. These are the people of Iran. The picture that the enemy tries to portray about the people of Iran- unfortunately some obtuse individuals repeat this- by using propaganda, is deviant and wrong. The people of Iran are the same people who showed their different aspects and dimensions in this month of Ramadan. By Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, all of you will pass your test today. As well as passing this test, some of you will - by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor - receive rewards, gain promotion and achieve spiritual transcendence today. The slogans of the people of Iran showed what our orientations are. On Quds Day, the slogan of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Death to Israel\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Death to America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" shook the scene of the country. And these slogans were not particular to Tehran and large cities. The entire country stood under the umbrella of this movement. Dear God, accept what the people of Iran have done with Your mercy and kindness. Dear God, shower Your grace, mercy and infinite blessings on our people. Dear God, bestow Your mercy and forgiveness on our dear martyrs, our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) and all those people who helped and supported the people on this path. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, I swear by the time, Most surely man is in loss, Except those who believe and do good, and enjoin on each other truth, and enjoin on each other patience\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 103]. Second Sermon In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate and infallible household. And greetings be upon the Imams of Muslims and supporters of the oppressed, especially upon the Commander of the Faithful, the Mistress of all women, Hassan and Hussein - the children of mercy and the Imams of the guided - Ali ibn al-Hussein Zayn al-Abidin, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hassan ibn Ali and Hujjat al-Qaem al-Mahdi, Your representative among Your servants and trustworthy ones in Your land. The first thing that I would like to say in the second sermon is to greet and congratulate all the brothers and sisters who say prayers and to advise them to observe piety. The events that occurred in our region during the month of Ramadan and before that, were and still are bitter events. Unfortunately, some vicious hands made the blessed month of Ramadan bitter for the regional peoples. Many Muslim peoples in Yemen, Palestine and Syria experienced difficult days and fasts because of the evil plots of the enemies. All these events are important to our people. Another issue is a domestic one: the issue of the nuclear negotiations. I deem it necessary to raise a few points in this regard. The first point is a word of thanks to officials in charge of these long and arduous negotiations - the honorable President and particularly the negotiation team who really made great efforts and worked hard. They will certainly be divinely rewarded whether the document that has been prepared will- through its determined legal procedures- be ratified or not. We have said this to those brothers in person as well. Of course in order to ratify this document, there is a clear legal procedure that, by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor, has to be taken. We expect that these officials take the interests- interests of the country, interests of the people- into consideration by paying careful attention, so that when they deliver the matter to the people, they can do so with their heads held high in front of Allah the Exalted as well. The next point is that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor and grace, no one will be allowed to take advantage of this document in any way and to undermine the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic whether this document is ratified or not. The defense capabilities and the security area of the country will- by God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s grace- be protected although we know that the enemies have placed great emphasis on these areas. The Islamic Republic will never give in to the enemy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s greed in the area of protecting its defense capabilities and security- particularly in this environment filled with the enemies\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' threats. The next point is that whether this document is ratified or not, we will not abandon our regional friends: the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Yemen, the people and government of Syria, the people and government of Iraq, the oppressed people of Bahrain and the sincere mujahids of the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. These people will always enjoy our support. The next point is that our policy towards the arrogant government of America will not change in any way despite these negotiations and the document that has been prepared. As we have said many times, we have no negotiations with America on different global and regional issues. We have no bilateral negotiations with America. Sometimes, we have negotiated with them in exceptional cases such as the nuclear issue and we have done so because of our interests. The nuclear issue was not the only case. There were other cases as well which I have referred to in my previous public speeches. The American policies in the region are 180 degrees the opposite of the policies of the Islamic Republic. The Americans accuse Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance - who are the most self-sacrificing forces in their country in the area of national defense - of terrorism. There is no injustice worse than this. This is while they support the terrorist child-killing government of Zionism. How can one do business, negotiate and reach an agreement with such a policy? There are other cases as well and I will expand on them in other speeches. Another point is about the Americans\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' blustering in recent days. In the recent days that the negotiations have been concluded, the American excellencies - their male and female officials - are busy blustering. Each of them is blustering in a different way. Of course, this is alright with us. Their domestic problems force them into blustering. They claim that they have dragged Iran towards the negotiating table, that they have made Iran surrender, that they have obtained such and such concessions from our country and other such claims. However, the truth is something else. They say that they have prevented Iran from building nuclear weapons, but this has nothing to do with our negotiations with America and other countries. They themselves know this and sometimes they have spoken about the importance of the fatwa that bans nuclear weapons. According to the commands of the Holy Quran and Islamic sharia, we consider building, keeping and using nuclear weapons as haraam and therefore, we will not do so. This has nothing to do with them and with these negotiations. They themselves know that this is the truth. They know that what prevents the Islamic Republic from building nuclear weapons is not their threats and intimidating behavior. There is a religious barrier behind this and they know the significance of this fatwa, but they still claim that it was they who prevented Iran. They are not honest with their own people and they do not tell them the truth. On various other matters, they say that they have adopted such and such a measure about Iran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s nuclear industry and that they have forced Iran to surrender, but they can only see Iran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s surrender in their dreams. From the beginning of the Revolution until today, five other U.S. presidents died or were lost in history dreaming that they would force the Islamic Republic to surrender. You too will enjoy the same fate. You too will never achieve the dream of forcing the Islamic Republic to surrender. There was one point in the statements that the American president made in recent days: he admitted to America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s past mistakes. Of course, he said a hodgepodge of things. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in Iran on the 28th of Mordad. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in helping Saddam Hussein. He admitted to two, three mistakes, but he did not mention tens of others. He did not speak about the 25-year oppressive and treacherous rule of the second Pahlavi monarch. He did not speak about the many instances of torture, looting, massacre, disaster and calamity that were caused by America. He did not speak about the destruction of the Iranian peoples\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' dignity and America\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s efforts to trample upon their domestic and foreign interests. He did not speak about the Zionists\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' domination, the killing of Iranian passengers on a passenger plane and many other things. Nonetheless, he mentioned a number of mistakes. I would like to offer a friendly word of advice to these excellencies: today - after the passage of many years from the 28th of Mordad, the eight-year war and the defense that the Islamic Republic put up there - you acknowledge that you have made certain mistakes. I would like to say to you that you are making a mistake in the present time as well. In the present time too, you are busy making mistakes in different places in the region and particularly towards the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran. In a few years, someone else will turn up and show you your mistakes, just as today you are admitting to the mistakes that your predecessors made. You are making mistakes as well. Therefore, you should awaken, correct your mistakes and understand the truth. You are making grave mistakes in the region. What I want to say to the people of Iran is that by Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s favor and grace, the Islamic Republic has become powerful and strong. It has become stronger on a daily basis. It is 10, 12 years now that six great global powers - which are among powerful countries in the world in terms of economic wealth - have been sitting in front of Iran, trying to prevent it from pursuing its nuclear industry. They have said this openly. Their real goal is to open the nuts and bolts of the nuclear industry. They have said this to our officials many years ago. In the present time too, they pursue the same dream. The result of a 10, 12-year struggle with the Islamic Republic is that they have been forced to tolerate the operation of several thousand centrifuges in the country. They have been forced to tolerate the continuation of this industry in our country. They have been forced to tolerate the development of this industry and the continuation of research on it. Research and developing the nuclear industry will continue. The cycle of the nuclear industry will continue. This is what they have been trying to prevent for many years, but today they have signed on paper that they have no problem with our nuclear industry. Apart from the power of the Iranian people, what other meaning does this have? This has been achieved because of the people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s resistance and steadfastness and our dear scientists\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' courage and innovation. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon the likes of Shahriari, Rezainejad, Ahmadi Roshan and Ali Muhammadi. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon our nuclear martyrs. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon their families. God\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy be upon a people who stand by their truthful claims and rights. I would like to raise another point which is the last one. An individual has said that he can destroy Iran\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s army. Our predecessors used to call such statements, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"boasting among strangers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [audience laughs]. I do not want to say anything more in this regard. If those who will hear this statement want to know the truth and if they are willing to use their experiences correctly, they should know that should any war break out - of course we do not welcome and begin any war - he who will emerge humiliated [literally: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"head-cracked\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"] out of it, will be transgressing and criminal America. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful When there comes the help of Allah and the victory, And you see men entering the religion of Allah in companies, Then celebrate the praise of your Lord, and ask His forgiveness. Surely He is oft-returning to mercy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" [The Holy Quran, 110]. Greetings be upon you and Allah\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s mercy and blessings

What was revealed regarding the orchestrators of the recent riots seen in the Islamic Republic of Iran? Why is it hypocritical for the so-called supporters of the Iranian people to call themselves such? What are just a few of the things done by the rioters and orchestrated by their foreign masters, which showed that in reality these elements were anti-Iranian? Furthermore, what are just a few of the things done by the rioters and orchestrated by their foreign masters, which showed that in reality these elements were not only anti-Iranian, but they were anti-Islamic as well? And despite the all-out efforts of the enemies of the Islamic Republic in creating absolute chaos via the recent riots, what did the Iranian people and the Iranian nation turn this great threat into? The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei, explains and asks all the hypocrites out there, \"You Call Yourself A Supporter of The Iranian People!?\"

GAZA (Reuters) - A Reuters cameraman was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in what appeared to have been an Israeli military strike. Fadel Shana, a 23-year-old Palestinian, was covering violence in the enclave for the international news agency. Two bystanders were also killed in an explosion after Shana stepped from his vehicle. His soundman escaped serious injury. Film from Shana's camera showed an Israeli tank stationed several hundred meters (yards) away firing a shell. The film then went blank, apparently at the moment Shana was hit. Earlier, local residents had said the explosion appeared to have been caused by an air strike. The Reuters vehicle, an unarmored sport utility vehicle bearing "TV" and "Press" markings, had just stopped and Shana got out to film, local residents said.

President: Gaza, Test Field for So-Called Human Rights Advocates TEHRAN (FNA)- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday night that Gaza is a test field for the so-called human rights advocates proving invalidity of their claims for supporting human rights. He made the remarks commenting on Saturday's savage attacks of the Zionist regime on Gaza when Israeli F-16 bombers attacked the city and fired around 30 missiles into the densely populated areas of Gaza. The attacks killed 225 people and wounded 400 others. The horrific brutality of Israel against civilians have triggered international outrage and shocked world public opinion. "All theories of secularism, humanism and liberalism have proved to be inefficient in the test field of Palestine, Gaza Strip in particular," the president said according to the Islamic republic news agency. Addressing a local seminar, he added, "We have witnessed today in news reports that the innocent Gazans were surrendered by the most savage and indecent people of history." Condemning Israeli leaders for their crimes against humanity, President Ahmadinejad strongly criticized the indifference of the United Nations Security Council and those of the Western countries towards the Israeli war crimes in Gaza. "Those who issue a resolution when their pets are hit by a car, showed no reaction to the slaughter of the women and children who are deprived of the least living facilities," said the president. He added that the world should mourn the massacre of innocent people in Gaza. "The ideology of Zionism and its dominance have reached the end line. Zionists are at the end of the road both in theory and practice in all economic, political, military and cultural terms," President Ahmadinejad added. He noted that the Zionists were to take revenge of innocent people now that have realized their era have come to an end.

On Saturday January 10th 2009 the second coordinated international protest took place against Israels assault on Palestine. In this particular rally that took place in Toronto thousands of people showed up across the street from the Israeli consulate.

As Iran continues its efforts to cope with post-election unrest, Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the country will deal with the crisis under the law while relying on national unity. The Leader said Sunday that legal measures were the only solution to the issues that the country has been facing since the 10th presidential elections on June 12. “The people\'s emotions, especially that of the youth, must not be toyed with and they should not be pitted against one another as the Iranian nation, regardless of the differences of opinion, is a united nation that has good relations with the [Islamic] establishment.” Ayatollah Khamenei went on to urge political parties not to play with one another\'s feelings and said, “If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective.” The Leader\'s remarks came after certain European countries and the US condemned the measures taken by the Tehran government to restore stability in the country following the election, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide. “They express their opinions about Iran in a manner that one would think all their other problems have been resolved and only the Iranian problem remains,” said Ayatollah Khamenei. “However, what they do not understand is that wherever they politically set foot in becomes tainted in the eyes of the Iranian nation.” “Their support will only have a negative effect as the Iranian nation knows during the eight-year sacred defense [the Iraq-Iran war] when their homes were bombarded and destroyed by missiles and chemical weapons were used against them, these governments showed no concern and [instead] aided the enemy of the Iranian nation.” Pointing to the crimes committed by the US and certain European countries against the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Palestine, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that their “concern and show of humanitarianism is not befitting of these governments and when they voice support for the Iranian nation and certain figures, their intentions are clear and the people are well aware of them.” Iran\'s Intelligence Minister has dismissed claims of vote-rigging in the presidential election, blaming the US and Israel for the spread of such rumors among the people. \"I announce that no organized rigging which could affect the result of the election has taken place,\" Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said in an interview with IRIB\'s Channel Two on Sunday night. He said the nation\'s enemies conspired several months before the presidential election to stir unrest in the country and dissuade the Iranians from voting. \"Americans and Zionists sought to destabilize Iran ... they were upset with a stabilized and secure Iran ... even months before the election they started to talk about the possibility of vote-rigging in the election and they continued the course following the vote,\" Ejei said. He said the Iranian intelligence services were aware of US and Israeli plots to mar the election months before the vote, adding that Iran foiled some assassination attempts masterminded by Washington and Tel Aviv. Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential election with almost two-thirds of the votes. The announcement triggered opposition rallies in protest at the result with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi calling for the result to be annulled. Ejei took a swipe at Mousavi, saying his demand for holding the election anew would undermine the credibility of the electoral system. The three defeated candidates -- Mousavi, Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei -- have lodged more than 600 alleged \'irregularities\' with the electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council. Mousavi and Karroubi believe these irregularities are enough for the election results to be annulled. However, the head of Iran\'s Electoral Office, Kamran Daneshjou, has criticized the complaints filed by the defeated presidential candidates for being \'too general\'. The Guardian Council has also stressed that there were no \'major\' irregularities in the presidential election.

Officials in Dubai said the team appeared to be a professional hit squad, probably sponsored by a foreign power. They released CCTV footage which they said showed some of the suspects in disguises, including wigs and false beards, in the hotel near Dubai's international airport. The suspects allegedly trailed Mr Mabhouh when he arrived in Dubai from Syria, paid for everything in cash and used various mobile phones.

A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead by the Israeli army that opened fire on a group of Palestinians protesting against a buffer zone being built on the border between the east of the Gaza strip and Israel. Moaweya Hassanein, 19, was shot in the abdomen and carried to a hospital, where he died of wounds. An Israeli human rights group has released video footage which showed a non-violent crowd of Palestinian protesters being taken surprise by a gunshot fired by an Israeli soldier on the other side of a nearby security fence.

Israel seizes vessel, protesters say Naval ships move in on a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, reportedly killing twenty people, protest organizers and Arab media report. The last we heard, Israeli soldiers landed on the top deck of the Turkish boat and opened fire," said Adam Shapiro, husband of one of the flotilla leaders. He said he spoke with his wife by telephone around 8:30 p.m. and she described watching the Israeli seizure from her boat. "After that, we lost communication with all of the ships," Shapiro said. "She said her boat was being chased by Israeli ships and they were trying to outrun it." According to one unconfirmed report, the other protest vessels had been intercepted and were being led to Israel. Some of the injured reportedly have been evacuated to a hospital in Haifa. Flotilla organizers, Arab leaders and Turkish diplomats have already condemned the reported attack. Flotilla organizers say they were carrying first-aid supplies and medical professionals in the event of casualties, but according to Shapiro, "we thought that the possibility that Israeli soldiers would shoot" was a remote one. Flotilla organizers said they carried no weapons. The six-vessel flotilla, packed with hundreds of international activists, food and other humanitarian supplies, left Cyprus on Sunday night and was attempting to break Israel's long-standing blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel had vowed to intercept the boats, by force if necessary, and tow them to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where passengers would be arrested or deported. Israel says the blockade of Gaza, which is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, is needed to combat terrorism. A live video feed from the Turkish boat showed images of Israeli soldiers boarding the vessel and firing some sort of weapons, though it was unclear whether the weapons were live rounds or less-lethal devices, such as stun grenades. The feed was abruptly cut.

Naval ships move in on a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, reportedly killing three people, protest organizers and Arab media report. The last we heard, Israeli soldiers landed on the top deck of the Turkish boat and opened fire," said Adam Shapiro, husband of one of the flotilla leaders. He said he spoke with his wife by telephone around 8:30 p.m. and she described watching the Israeli seizure from her boat. "After that, we lost communication with all of the ships," Shapiro said. "She said her boat was being chased by Israeli ships and they were trying to outrun it." According to one unconfirmed report, the other protest vessels had been intercepted and were being led to Israel. Some of the injured reportedly have been evacuated to a hospital in Haifa. Flotilla organizers, Arab leaders and Turkish diplomats have already condemned the reported attack. Flotilla organizers say they were carrying first-aid supplies and medical professionals in the event of casualties, but according to Shapiro, "we thought that the possibility that Israeli soldiers would shoot" was a remote one. Flotilla organizers said they carried no weapons. The six-vessel flotilla, packed with hundreds of international activists, food and other humanitarian supplies, left Cyprus on Sunday night and was attempting to break Israel's long-standing blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel had vowed to intercept the boats, by force if necessary, and tow them to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where passengers would be arrested or deported. Israel says the blockade of Gaza, which is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, is needed to combat terrorism. A live video feed from the Turkish boat showed images of Israeli soldiers boarding the vessel and firing some sort of weapons, though it was unclear whether the weapons were live rounds or less-lethal devices, such as stun grenades. The feed was abruptly cut.

Saddam Hussein - The Trial you will never see. This is an excellent documentary showing how the western country was involved in his atrocities. Infact, this documentary was never showed in US because of known reasons...

FM: Iran fully supports Lebanon, Syria Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has expressed Iran's full support for Lebanon and Syria in the event of any possible Israeli aggression. The Iranian government and nation is fully prepared to support the Lebanese and Syrian nations and governments in the face of a possible Israeli aggression, Mottaki said at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday. The Iranian minister further added that the three countries are constantly exchanging views about Israel's war threats and said Iran will offer any assistance to Lebanon and Syria. Mottaki strongly condemned the recent aggression by Israeli forces near Lebanon's southern border, saying, "Moves by the Zionist regime and the recent aggressions showed its desperation rather than an indication of a will and decision to display its strength." "Iran reserves the right for the Lebanese government, nation and army to stop any aggression in their defense and put all ways to pursue the case through international circles on their agenda," he said. Mottaki further added that that the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, failed to fulfill its duty and to prevent such aggressions. According to the Iranian minister, regional countries will not allow Israel's hit-and-run policies to continue. He noted that Iran and Lebanon enjoy common stance on regional and international issues and support the establishment of just systems in international relations.

Analysis segment with Middle East Analyst Muhammad Owais in Washington DC. Sayyed Nasrallah: Israel behind Hariri\'s Assassination Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah accused on Monday the Israeli enemy of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, presenting tangible proof and evidence of an Israeli potential role in the crime as well as other crimes that hit Lebanon during the few past years. His eminence unveiled footage intercepted from Israeli surveillance planes of the site of the 2005 murder of ex-Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri prior to his assassination. Several clips, each minutes long and undated, showed aerial views of the coastline off west Beirut on various days prior to the Hariri assassination. Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking during an exceptional press conference he held at Shahed hall in Beirut\'s southern suburb of Beirut. The conference, attended by media outlets\' top editors and journalists, was set to mark political turning point in the case of Hariri\'s murder and open new horizons that the court could pick up and build on \"if it wanted to be impartial.\"

Indian troops kill dozens in Kashmir At least 18 people have been killed and over 100 injured in Indian-controlled Kashmir as soldiers open fire on pro-independence rallies in disputed Himalayan region. Security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of protesters in the Budgam and Tangmarg areas. An Indian soldier was also killed in the violence. The protests were particularly intense following the news of the desecration of the Quran in the US. On Sunday, India imposed a curfew in many areas of Kashmir. However, people have been pouring out to the streets across Kashmir to protest against Indian rule despite the curfews. The latest round of public outrage began after a government forces' teargas grenade killed a teenager back in June. More than 80 protesters and by-standers have lost their lives during the unrest ever since. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142336.html Kashmiris protest Quran desecration Hundreds of Muslims have defied curfews in Indian-administered Kashmir and hit the streets to voice their anger over desecration of Islam's holy book in the US. Protests were held in the region's main city of Srinagar and its neighboring districts despite strict curfews, The Nation reported on Monday. "Death to the US!" and "Death to Quran desecrators!" chanted the protesters, who described the act as despicable. The protesters also called for punishment of those behind the desecration of the Quran. "These are absolutely pro-Islam protests and we demand befitting punishment to those who have desecrated the holy Quran. No Muslim anywhere in the world will watch the desecration of the holy Quran as a mute spectator. This protest is beyond borders and nationalities," a 55-year-old Kashmiri said. Although an American pastor cancelled earlier plans to burn copies of the Quran, other anti-Islam elements in the US desecrated the holy book in New York and in Washington on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The protest rallies in Srinagar erupted after local television showed a small group of protesters tearing apart and burning pages from the Muslim holy book outside the White House on Saturday. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142324.html India knocks Press TV off air in Kashmir India has banned local cable operators in Indian-administered Kashmir from airing Iran's English-language Press TV in the disputed Himalayan region. State Chief Secretary SS Kapur made the announcement in Kashmir's summer capital of Srinagar on Monday. "We have decided to impose a ban on the airing of Press TV broadcasts by local cable operators," Kapur told reporters. The ban comes as Press TV has become popular across the Muslim-majority region due to its enhanced coverage of the regional events over the past three months. Media organizations have strongly condemned the move and demanded that the government put the channel back on air. However, reports say more and more people in Kashmir continue to get their news from Press TV via internet services or direct broadcast satellites. In a separate development, hundreds of Kashmiris have come out to the streets to voice their anger over the desecration of Islam's holy book in the US. Protests were held in the Indian-administered region's main city of Srinagar, and its neighboring districts despite strict curfews in place. The protesters, who were shouting anti-US slogans, described the act as despicable, calling for the punishment of those behind the desecration of the Quran. The protests erupted after pages from the Muslim holy book were torn up and burned in Washington, as well as in other US cities. The move has outraged Muslims all over the world. Meanwhile, at least twelve people were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir as soldiers opened fire on pro-independence rallies on Monday. Unrest in Kashmir has claimed at least 83 lives over the past three months. Kashmir has been rocked by a wave of protests over the death of a teenager back in June. He was killed when Indian police fired teargas shells during demonstrations against India's rule over the mainly Muslim-populated Kashmir. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142343.html

Ahmadinejad urges fair nuclear talks After the EU announced the date for a new round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the talks should be based on justice. President Ahmadinejad in an address to the people of the northwestern Iranian province of Ardebil on Sunday said the Islamic Republic had previously expressed readiness to hold talks over its nuclear energy program. "Holding talks with Iran is the best choice for you. You have no other option. All the other ways are closed. You know the fact very well," he added. The Iranian chief executive, however, stressed that the talks should be held based on justice and respect. "They thought they can weaken the Iranian nation through imposing sanctions and posing threats, but Iranians have showed integrity, convergence and strength," he emphasized. "The Iranian nation will not give up an iota of its international rights," he went on to say. President Ahmadinejad's remarks came after European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced that the new round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group will take place from November 15 to 18. Ashton's spokesman, Darren Ennis, said on Saturday that the talks will most probably take place in the Austrian capital, Vienna. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/147053.html

This video was recorded when people were starting to gather. Despite the heavy snow and severe weather conditions, people of conscience showed up to announce their solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia who are uprising against the dictatorial rule over them.