Sermons of Eid al-Fitr Prayer, 1st of Shawwal 1436, Imam Khomeini Prayer Ground, Tehran

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

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings. Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, thanks be to God who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light; then those who disbelieved in their Lord equate (others with Him). We praise Him, we glorify Him, we repent to Him, and we send blessings and peace upon His beloved, His chosen one, and the best of His creation, our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and chosen progeny, the guided, the infallible, especially the Awaited One among the inhabitants of the earth.

I congratulate you all on this blessed Eid, to all of you brothers and sisters, to the dear nation of Iran, and to Muslims around the world. I advise you, the worshippers, and myself to observe piety, God-consciousness, self-discipline, and to stay away from sin.

This year's Ramadan was truly a blessed month; divine blessings poured down upon this nation, and its signs were evident in the fasting during the long and hot days, in the widespread Quranic gatherings throughout the country, in the grand assemblies of prayer and supplication—where thousands of young and old, men and women raised their hands in supplication and spoke sincerely and humbly with their God—in the charitable acts, in the extensive iftars that have fortunately become common in mosques, in streets, and finally in the great Quds Day march; these are signs of divine mercy. The fasting people who stayed awake the night before in observance of the 23rd night of Ramadan and the Night of Destiny participated in this great march with fasting tongues on a hot summer day. This is the correct way to recognize the Iranian nation; this is the Iranian nation. It is this Iranian nation that presents itself in worship during Ramadan in such a manner, and in the scene of confrontation and struggle against global arrogance in this manner. Our nation should not be recognized through the biased words of others; our nation should be recognized through itself, through its slogans, through its movement, through these magnificent manifestations; this is the Iranian nation. What the enemy tries to portray through its propaganda and what some misguided individuals unfortunately repeat is deviation and falsehood. The Iranian nation is the same nation that showed its various dimensions and components during this Ramadan. God willing, today you will all receive a passing report card; today, God willing, on the occasion of Eid, the Iranian nation will receive a passing report card for these acts of worship from the source of God's grace and mercy; God willing, some of you will receive not only a passing report card but also a prize, a degree, and spiritual and moral elevation. The slogans of the Iranian nation showed what the orientations are; on Quds Day, the slogan of 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America' shook the atmosphere of the country; it was not limited to Tehran and large cities; the entire country was under the umbrella of this great movement.

O Lord! Accept the Iranian nation with Your mercy and grace; O Lord! Pour down Your successes, Your mercy, and Your endless kindness upon this nation; O Lord! Include our dear martyrs, the Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), and all those who helped and supported the nation in this path in Your mercy and forgiveness.

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

By the Time. Indeed, mankind is in loss. Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised one another to truth and advised one another to patience.

|Second Sermon|

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

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our master and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon the leaders of the Muslims and the protectors of the oppressed, the Commander of the Faithful, and the Lady of the Women of the Worlds, and Hasan and Husayn, the two grandsons of mercy and the Imams of guidance, and Ali ibn Husayn, Zain al-Abidin, and Muhammad ibn Ali, and Ja'far ibn Muhammad, and Musa ibn Ja'far, and Ali ibn Musa, and Muhammad ibn Ali, and Ali ibn Muhammad, and Hasan ibn Ali, and the Awaited Hujjah, the guided, the proof of Your authority over Your servants and Your trustees in Your lands.

Greetings and congratulations to all the brothers and sisters who are praying, along with an exhortation to piety, is our first speech in the second sermon.

The events in our region during this Ramadan and before it were unfortunate; unfortunately, unholy hands made this blessed month bitter for many people in the region. In Yemen, in Bahrain, in Palestine, in Syria, many believing Muslim people endured hard days and faced difficult fasts due to the misdeeds of the enemies. All these matters are important for our nation.

One issue is our internal matter, which is the issue of the nuclear negotiations. I need to mention a few points regarding this matter. The first point is to express gratitude to those involved in these long and exhausting negotiations, the respected President, and especially the negotiating team who truly worked hard and made efforts; whether this text that has been prepared is approved in its legal channels or not, their efforts are preserved; we have conveyed this to those brothers directly. Of course, there is a predetermined legal path for the approval of this text that must be followed and will be followed; God willing. Our expectation is that those involved will carefully consider the interests—the interests of the country, the national interests—and what they will present to the nation, so that they can present it with heads held high before God Almighty.

The next point is that whether this text is approved or not, by God's grace, no one will be allowed to misuse it; no one will be allowed to undermine the fundamental principles of the Islamic system; the defensive capabilities and the security of the country will, by God's grace, be preserved, even though we know that the enemies place great emphasis on this particular point. The Islamic Republic will never submit to the excessive demands of the enemy regarding the preservation of its defensive and security capabilities, especially in this threatening atmosphere created by the enemies.

The next point is that whether this text is approved or not, we will not abandon our support for our friends in the region: for the oppressed people of Palestine, for the oppressed people of Yemen, for the people and government of Syria, for the people and government of Iraq, for the oppressed people of Bahrain, for the sincere fighters of resistance in Lebanon and Palestine; these will always be supported by us.

The next point is that with these negotiations and with the text that has been prepared, in any case, our policy towards the arrogant government of America will not change. As we have repeatedly stated, we do not negotiate with America on various global and regional issues; we do not negotiate on bilateral issues; sometimes in exceptional cases like this nuclear case, we have negotiated based on expediency; this case is not the only one; there have been previous cases that I have referred to in my previous public speeches. The policies of America in the region are 180 degrees different from the policies of the Islamic Republic. The Americans accuse Hezbollah and the resistance of Lebanon—who are the most self-sacrificing forces of national defense in a country—of terrorism; there is no greater injustice than this. Meanwhile, they support the child-killing terrorist Zionist regime; with such a policy, how can one negotiate, how can one reach an agreement? There are other cases as well, but I will leave the details for another time.

The next point concerns the recent blusterings of America. In the few days since the end of these negotiations, the American officials—their male and female leaders—have been busy boasting, each one reciting a boast in their own way. Of course, we have no objection to their actions; their internal problems compel them to make these boasts, claiming that yes, we brought Iran to the negotiating table, we subdued Iran, we prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, we obtained this concession, and so on! Well, the reality of the matter is something else. They say we prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons; Iran's nuclear weapons have nothing to do with negotiations with America or anyone else; they know this themselves; sometimes they have even mentioned the importance of the fatwa against nuclear weapons; we consider the production, possession, and use of nuclear weapons to be forbidden based on the Quran and Islamic law, and we do not engage in it; this has nothing to do with them, nor with these negotiations. They know that this is the reality—they know that what prevents the Islamic Republic from producing nuclear weapons is not their threats and bluster; it is a religious barrier; they understand the importance of this fatwa—yet they still say that it was us [who prevented it]; they do not tell the truth to their own nation, they do not tell the reality. Regarding various other issues, they say we did this and that regarding the nuclear industry, we subdued Iran; they can only dream of subduing Iran. Five other American presidents from the beginning of the revolution until today have died or disappeared into history with this wish to subdue the Islamic Republic; you too, like them, will never achieve this wish to subdue the Islamic Iran.

One point that was mentioned in the recent statements of the American President was the admission of past mistakes by America; of course, he mentioned only a fraction of the whole. He admitted that on the 28th of Mordad, the Americans made a mistake in Iran; he admitted that in helping Saddam Hussein, the Americans made a mistake; he mentioned two or three cases, but he did not mention dozens of others; he did not mention the 25 years of the tyrannical and oppressive rule of the second Pahlavi; he did not mention the tortures, the plunders, the killings, the crimes, the disasters, the destruction of the dignity of the Iranian nation, the trampling of the internal and external interests of the Iranian nation that were carried out by America; he did not mention the domination of the Zionists, nor the destruction of the passengers of the passenger plane by missile fire from the sea, and many other things; yet he repeated a few mistakes. I want to give a piece of advice to these gentlemen: today, after many years since the 28th of Mordad or since the eight-year war and the defense of the Islamic Republic, you admit that you made a mistake; I want to say that you are still making mistakes, you are still making mistakes in various places in this region, especially regarding the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation; a few years later, someone else will come and will point out the same mistakes you are making, just as you today point out the mistakes of your predecessors; you too are making mistakes, wake up, get out of your mistakes, understand the truth. They are committing great mistakes in the region.

What I want to convey to the Iranian nation is this: the Islamic Republic, by God's grace and with His power, is powerful and strong, and it is becoming stronger day by day. For ten or twelve years, six major world powers—who are considered powerful countries in terms of economic wealth and so on—have sat in front of Iran with the aim of preventing Iran from pursuing its nuclear industry; they have explicitly stated this. Their real goal is to completely dismantle the components of the nuclear industry; they stated this clearly to our officials years ago, and they still have this wish. After ten or twelve years of struggle with the Islamic Republic, the result is that these six powers today 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 the country; they have been forced to tolerate the continuation of research and development of this industry. Research and development of the nuclear industry will continue; the operation of the nuclear industry will continue; this is something they have tried for years, yet today they have put it on paper and are signing that they have no objections. What does this mean other than the power of the Iranian nation? This is due to the steadfastness of the nation, the resistance of the nation, and the courage and innovation of our dear scientists. May God's mercy be upon Shahriari, Rezai Nejad, Ahmadi Roshan, and Alimohammadi; may God's mercy be upon the nuclear martyrs, may God's mercy be upon their families, may God's mercy be upon the nation that stands by its rightful words and claims.

One last point I want to mention. This gentleman has claimed that he can destroy the Iranian army. Our elders used to call such statements 'boasting in strangeness.' I do not want to say anything in this regard; those who will hear this statement, if they want to understand correctly, if they want to learn from their experiences, should know that we do not welcome any war, we do not initiate any war, and we do not preemptively engage; however, if a war occurs here, the one who will emerge defeated from the war will be the aggressive and criminal America.

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

When the victory of God and the conquest comes, and you see the people entering into the religion of God in multitudes, then glorify the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness; indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.

And peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.