Statements in Meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and a Group of Ground Force Commanders

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and virtuous family, especially the Awaited One among the people of the earth.

Welcome, dear brothers, hardworking and truly devoted commanders; I must congratulate all of you, the esteemed commander of the army, the commanders of the forces, the high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic Army of Iran, and each and every member of this devoted army, on Army Day and the various manifestations of the army that, thanks be to God, have been a source of pride in different sectors. Of course, this congratulations is not limited to you; it also extends to your families, as they also work hard alongside you, especially your wives, who, if they did not cooperate with you, did not share in your struggles, and were not with you in this difficult task that you bear, you would not have been able to achieve these successes, and at least in some of these tasks, your capabilities would have faltered; especially as responsibilities increase, the burden on families grows heavier. Please convey our greetings to your wives and families, congratulate them on Army Day, the half of Sha'ban, the Sha'ban festivities, and the New Year.

Well, the statements of General Heydari were very good and accurately articulated both the face of "the harsh against the disbelievers" and the face of "the merciful among themselves"; this was a very good interpretation of the reality of today’s army. The armed forces are undoubtedly one of the manifestations and main elements of national power; of course, this is not the case in all countries; in many countries, the armed forces are not the element of the nation’s power, but rather the element of the power of tyrants and dictators; at times, if necessary, they strike at the nation as well; even in places where their claims of freedom and democracy have deafened the heavens; just look at the Saturdays in Paris now! However, in our country, thanks to Islam, and the teachings of Islam - because Islam has taught us this too - the soldiers, by the permission of God, are the fortresses of the people; you are the fortress of the nation, the fortress of the people. This fortress is not only during wartime; in wartime, you go and shield yourselves and accept danger against the attacking enemy, employing various methods derived from knowledge and experience to crush the enemy, suppress them, and force the aggressor to retreat; this is for war, and here you are truly the fortress and bulwark of the people.

In peacetime, it is the same; apart from natural disasters - which I will address - even if there are no natural disasters, and the armed forces are either in their barracks or in their headquarters, they are a source of reassurance for the people. When the people feel that an effective ground force, an effective air force, an effective navy, and an effective defense are present and ready in the country, they feel calm and assured; the enemies of the Iranian nation oppose this as well. You see, sometimes regarding the army, sometimes regarding the IRGC, and sometimes regarding their relations, they make statements to create anxiety within the armed forces, to make the people anxious; that is the goal. Therefore, even in peacetime, the presence of the armed forces, their readiness, whether in their barracks, in their offices, or in their centers of establishment, is a source of peace for the people.

Then we come to natural disasters; you observe, in the Kermanshah earthquake, the presence of the army and other armed forces was vital; I mean, if these forces had not been in those severely earthquake-stricken areas and had not rushed to help the people, our casualties - apart from the various destructions - would certainly have multiplied; this was during the Kermanshah earthquake. In the recent floods, I have, of course, ordered the armed forces to go, but I know and am aware that even before my order, a significant portion of the armed forces - the army, the IRGC, and others - were already in the field. The army was present in Golestan before the crisis headquarters arrived there; the army was already there; "the fortresses of the people" means these forces. And this presence was not just about equipment and tools; rather, their bodies, their physical capabilities were at the service of the people. An army colonel bends down so that an elderly man can place his foot on his back to get on the truck! See, these are things that remain, they do not get lost in the memory of history; the Iranian nation witnessed this, this is "the fortresses of the people"; this means when the army says "the army sacrifices for the nation," it is sincere in this statement, it is working; these are values that exist.

Well, another point is that the army of the Islamic Republic, thanks to the Islamic Republic, is not merely tools and experience and knowledge and technology, but in some parts of the army, it is also an exhibition of Islamic values; many points of the army are showcases of Islamic values: whether in its universities, in its barracks, or in its administrative and establishment centers, attention to the outward manifestations of religion, attention to the acts of Sharia, attention to service; these are things that have manifested themselves in the army; I do not make a general statement, not all are the same. The important thing is that we have examples that can be held up and shown. Abbas Babaei or Seyyed Shirazi or similar figures can be shown to a nation, can be shown to the Islamic Ummah and say these were like this; their commitment, their sacrifice, their humility, their fleeing from fame and recognition. At one point, we wanted to select the commander of the air force; three options were presented: Martyr Setari, Martyr Babaei, and another person whose name I do not remember; this was during my presidency. I entrusted it to them, I said I do not choose - I wanted them, now I do not remember, because it has been a long time, years have passed - you sit down and choose one of you; they sat down and chose. Of course, at that time, it was more customary for the commander of the air force to be a pilot, Martyr Setari was not a pilot, he was a technical force, but they chose him; for example, they said for this reason, for that reason. That is, for example, Martyr Babaei, whose name I now remember, or the other person whose name I do not remember, could have made a hint that would make it clear he wanted to be the commander, this would have easily happened, because after all, he was a pilot and pilots at that time had the most resources, meaning they had the best chance for command; however, they did not make a hint. These things are very important; often, superficial eyes and tongues separate from thought and intellect do not see or speak of these things; but they exist, they are present. I have been in the army a lot, I have sat and risen with many soldiers, I have tested this, these things exist in the army, this army is very valuable; a doctrinal army means this, you commanders should strengthen this.

Today, the army is in the hands of the religious and revolutionary youth of the army; that is, these gentlemen who are now in the command of the army are mostly revolutionary youth who entered after the revolution. Of course, some are from a little before the revolution, but mostly they are from the entries after the revolution who have joined the army. Today, the leadership of this large organization, this valuable institution is in your hands; strengthen the army in this direction as much as you can. Today, our army is more religious than ever, more effective than ever, meaning there is no doubt about it. Now, those who have become accustomed to belittling the nation and honoring the traitors to the nation, repeatedly claim that the modern army was formed by Reza Khan. Well, how much could this modern army resist against foreign invasions? How many in that modern army stood up for this struggle and lost their lives? Count them and see; they could not resist for even one day; however, this army resisted for eight years in an organized war, stood firm, and acted. We witnessed their work, we saw their movements, we saw the hardships they endured. This is it. This army has better knowledge, more experience, a much higher spirit, better capabilities, more religion, more devotion, and more trustworthiness; this is thanks to the Islamic Republic; it is this Islamic Republic that has raised the army in this way that, thanks be to God, is a source of pride.

The army and the armed forces today do not only address national interests; they secure national interests, but the blessings of our armed forces today reach many other countries as well. Just think, if our armed forces - the army and the IRGC - had not intervened in the fight against ISIS, what would the region look like today? Of course, countries did their own work, but who can ignore the role of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic? You see, if they had not intervened, what would the nations in our neighboring countries - our neighbors - be like, and who would be in power? That is, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic are distributing their blessings, sharing God-given bounties among themselves and others, their goodness reaches everyone; and we hope this continues and your goodness reaches the world; God willing.

One important task that I believe has been and will be in the army, and God willing, you will strengthen it more - General Heydari also referred to it - is the unity of the armed forces; that is, your unity with the IRGC should not be separated. It was a beautiful move that these gentlemen made after the ugly act of the Americans towards the IRGC, they stood up and shook hands with the IRGC members; this was a very beautiful and correct move that took place; this makes the enemy very angry; any action you take that angers the enemy is a good action; any action that benefits the enemy is a bad action; whatever it may be; whether the person doing this is like me wearing a turban, or like you in military uniform, it makes no difference; the enemy should not be provoked, the enemy should not be given morale. One of the most fundamental methods of warfare today in the world is the war of spirits - of course, it has always been this way, but today it is more so - to weaken the spirit of the opponent. The man has thousands of billions of dollars in debt and misfortune in his own country, floods come, storms come - like that storm that came a few years ago in Carolina and they could not even respond for years - they have these troubles, and then he sits down to slander the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation and the officials of the country, saying nonsense and things that are befitting of themselves attributed to Iran; this is how the enemy is. He wants to weaken the spirit of the opponent; they know what the reality is, they know their own troubles, their own misfortunes, they also see the great and rapid movement of the Iranian nation. The work that is currently being done regarding the floods in these several provinces, these are extraordinary works; truly, language and expression cannot adequately describe these; the army in one way, the IRGC in another way, the Basij in another way, the people in another way, the clergy and the seminarians in another way; thousands of seminarians went, thousands of students set out to help the people, with empty hands; many of them do not have the capability; the financial resources that the people provided for this work; these are extraordinary things, these have no parallel in the world, or they are very rare; these demonstrate the great movement of the Iranian nation. The enemy sees these, well, he does not find it expedient to reveal it, so he sits down and makes nonsense to weaken morale. On this side, you should not do anything that strengthens the enemy's spirit and weakens the spirit of our own; no one should act in this way. In propaganda, in statements, in declarations, in actions, this must be observed.

The army, thanks be to God, is a good army; we hope that day by day you will perform better, raise your specializations, improve your performances, and that the reports given to the higher authorities will be accurate and real. All departments should pay attention that reports must be given accurately, because reports are decision-making, and the decision-maker must have correct reports at their disposal to make the right decisions. We thank all of you; God willing, may you be successful and supported.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.