Statements at the Meeting with Members of the National Commemoration Committee for Emergency Heroes

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 chosen progeny, especially the remaining one of God on the earth.

I thank you for this great work that your group has undertaken; that is, the commemoration of the emergency heroes over the years, both during the Sacred Defense and after it. This has been a very necessary and important task, and we hope that, God willing, it will have the desired effects.

The initiatives that Mr. Kolivand mentioned — in this beautiful text he read — these works must find an audience and listeners. It is not enough that you innovate and create a good play or write a good book or produce a good film. The things you mentioned excite people and are very good; however, you must ensure that in a country of eighty million, it reaches twenty million audiences; that is, you must truly promote it; this is important. Find the way; you can do it. If our youth can sit down, think, and seek solutions and innovations in areas where the infrastructure exists — I am not mentioning those areas where the infrastructure does not exist — they will undoubtedly reach very good places; we have tested this in industry, literature, art, politics, and construction activities in various sectors.

If the youth enter work with motivation and determination, and pursue their tasks, there is no impossible task. In those areas where the country lacks infrastructure, it can gradually be created. The advancements you see today in various sectors had no national infrastructure. We now have thousands of readable books related to the martyrs that are truly worth reading, and each one, when one has the opportunity to look at and read, is captivating — this is truly the case — whereas before the revolution, we had very little opportunity for artistic work and activities, especially in storytelling; it was very rare and at a low level. Today, the level of work is high; this infrastructure has been created by our youth, our artists. Therefore, you can move forward and, God willing, accomplish your goals.

There has been little discussion about the emergency responders and their great virtues; now, God willing, after this, with the establishment of your secretariat and your works, it will increase. I will say a few words in this regard. A warrior needs training and weapons; however, the one who provides this training and these weapons often does so outside the battlefield. A warrior needs assistance, bandaging, gauze, stopping bleeding, and getting to a clinic or hospital; the one who provides this support to the warrior is in the midst of the battle; this is an extraordinarily important difference between these two types of support. The emergency responder, under the rain of bullets and shrapnel, thinks of saving another. Our warrior has two tasks: one is to push the enemy back, and the other is to protect himself; however, our emergency responder does not think of preserving himself; he thinks of preserving others and enters the field to save others. What one sometimes observes in the corners of the memoirs of warriors about the actions of these emergency responders is truly astonishing! Their selflessness and actions, with all the hardships and difficulties; this must be explained to the people so they know and understand.

Another point is that our emergency responders were exemplars of human qualities and humanitarianism. We have seen instances where emergency responders even helped the enemy who was captured and injured; this is a great act. Well, the enemy has come to kill you in the battlefield, and it is expected that you would want to kill him in return; however, when you put on that emergency responder's backpack or go behind the front lines, establish a field hospital there, and provide assistance, you are actually behaving and acting in a way that is the exact opposite of how the world outside of humanity behaves, showing humanitarianism. I myself saw that near the front line — now I do not remember how many kilometers it was, but it was very close — doctors and nurses were working in the field hospital, and they had established an operating room, which was astonishing; the enemy's bullets and short-range shells reach here, and they established an operating room under enemy fire! This is very important. There were doctors during the Sacred Defense who had their bags ready, and as soon as an operation was about to start, they would call home and say, 'We are going!' They would grab their bags and set off; this is truly something that cannot be described in words; these can only be preserved and explained through the tools of art.

Today, our nation needs to know about these great movements and significant works that have emerged from this nation, from the children of this nation; it needs this, as we have a shortcoming in this regard, and thus many do not know; and more than this, our shortcoming in reflecting these to the world. You see that in countries, they have a mediocre and half-baked hero, and they elevate him, write books about him, and create stories; some even create heroes when they have none; they create history when they have none. We have our hero, we have our history, and we have our proud past; this must be conveyed, it must be reflected. This is a great task and one of our essential duties; this is the second task; to recognize, to introduce, and to transform this into public culture; that is, it must be made clear that assistance and help is an Islamic and humanitarian duty, and this must continue through generations, it must be ongoing. These tasks are the work of your groups. We hope, God willing, that this congress, this commemoration, will be a good beginning for these tasks to progress and be accomplished.

Then compare this with those wild beasts in human form who bomb ambulances, bomb hospitals, and indiscriminately kill the innocent and defenseless child! Today, the world is in their hands; today, the movement of the Islamic Republic and the steadfastness of the Islamic Republic and the 'new civilization' that the Islamic Republic repeatedly mentions is to confront this state of the world. Who can claim and truly believe that in the face of these savagery, this bloodthirstiness, a human has no duty? Who can say this? We all have a duty. Today, those who claim to have control over the world or govern countries in the world behave like this; they kill children, they kill the sick, they destroy hospitals, they indiscriminately bomb civilians. Well, if you have a war, let soldiers fight soldiers. Sometimes even this is not just; it is a tyrannical movement; that is, the movement has been a tyrannical one, but ultimately it is a war between soldiers. Why do they kill civilians? Why do they strike? Why do they destroy homes? Today, the world is in their hands.

This is the great duty that rests upon us. This sense of duty is what drives us to action; this sense of duty is what prevents the light of hope in our hearts from being extinguished, and it is this sense of duty that compels enemies like these Western savages, dressed in ties and colognes, to stand against the Islamic Republic and show enmity. [The problem] is this; that is, if you do not protest against these savageries, if you come to terms with them, if you even praise them, they will have no enmity towards you; the problem is that you are rejecting the foundation of this false civilization, and you are right to do so, you must reject it.

And God willing, this falsehood will be eradicated; falsehood is not lasting, falsehood will go away, undoubtedly, but action must be taken. It is not the case that we sit and watch until falsehood disappears on its own; no, that God Almighty declares falsehood to be transient means that if you stand against it, fight it, and work, it will not last, it does not have the power to resist. وَ لَو قاتَلَکُمُ الَّذینَ کَفَروا لَوَلَّوُا الاَدبارَ ثُمَّ لا یَجِدونَ وَلِیًّا وَ لا نَصیرًا; if you stand firm, if you resist, without a doubt, it will turn its back; but if you either sit down, show a friendly face, smile, flee, or praise it for its actions, no, it will not go away, it will become bolder day by day.

We hope, God willing, that God Almighty grants you success, makes us aware of our duties, and gives us the ability to fulfill these duties.

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