Statements at the Meeting with the Organizers of the Commemoration Congress for the Martyrs of Tehran Province

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 Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Certainly, one of the best activities that can be undertaken in this day and age is the very activity that you have initiated; it has a cultural aspect, a political aspect, a revolutionary aspect, it involves foresight, and it has a human and ethical dimension; it is an expression of gratitude towards those who sacrificed their lives so that we can sit here today without worries and speak together. Therefore, there are various aspects to this activity. Thank you for your efforts; God willing, may you be successful.

Of course, the struggles of the units related to Tehran Province—aside from the city of Tehran—during the Sacred Defense era are clear to us; this is not something hidden from those familiar with the issues of war and the Sacred Defense; however, these must be spoken about, written down, solidified, and artistically repeated. Experience has shown that if a truth, no matter how clear and prominent, is not repeated, it will be forgotten; when it is forgotten, it creates an opportunity for the enemies to promote the opposite of that phenomenon, or a distorted version of it. Therefore, this work is necessary.

The Tehran collection—both the city of Tehran and Tehran Province—has truly played a very important role during the Sacred Defense and after it until today. For instance, the Seyyed al-Shuhada Division, which undertook great efforts and works during the war; its commanders, both the division commanders and the battalion commanders whom he mentioned by name, truly accomplished significant and valuable works. It is necessary that these be articulated, clarified, and preserved. In these areas, we have shortcomings. Now, it has been pointed out that documents have been collected; well, these documents must be utilized in the best possible way. You must sit down and see how to derive explanatory, historical, and revolutionary benefits from these thousands of documents, and specific groups should be identified to utilize them, so that the documents do not remain idle. These are like treasures; there is a time when you extract a treasure, and there is a time when it remains buried; it is a treasure, but it is of no use. This treasure must be extracted and utilized.

One of the blessings of the work you are doing is that it demonstrates the continuity of the revolutionary spirit and revolutionary motivations in this collection and the area you are responsible for expressing—namely, this Tehran Province or the city of Tehran. When the Sacred Defense began, many motivations and aspirations that had talent and readiness did not have a field for expression; they found a field. Perhaps if there had been no Sacred Defense, the situation of the revolution's progress would have been different. The Sacred Defense provided a platform, a field for the talents, abilities, motivations, and loves that existed in people's hearts to be expressed. With the end of the Sacred Defense, some might have thought that the matter was over, but it was not. The reason is that you see, after more than thirty years since the end of the Sacred Defense, that your youth is trying in various ways and tricks to reach the battlefield against the Zionist regime or against ISIS, which is a puppet of global arrogance and America and others, and they succeed; this is very significant. Or consider the events of the seditions that occurred in Tehran in some past years; who stood against these seditions? It was the youth. These youths had neither seen the war nor the Imam, but they came to the field and neutralized all these seditions; the plans that the enemies devised to undermine the revolution and create problems for the country and the revolution were thwarted. Who extinguished the sedition of 2009, and what happened before that? It was these youths. Now, whether in the form of the Basij, the IRGC, or the police, they entered the field in various forms and worked hard. This is one of the blessings of the struggles of the Sacred Defense; that is, the Sacred Defense became a model for the movement of motivated and active individuals. In addition to that, it sent a message beyond the borders of the country, namely the message of steadfastness and resistance.

Today, it is acknowledged and accepted by many experts that many of the events occurring in the world today in favor of Palestine stem from the spirit of the Islamic Revolution and the spirit of the Islamic Republic. We may be cautious about this, consider it, and not be able to say it explicitly, but others say it explicitly; they express it clearly. And you see that the events happening today in the world in favor of Palestine are the same words that the Iranian nation has spoken, the same words that the Imam said, the same slogans that surged from the hearts of the people, reached their tongues, and are now being expressed at the regional and global levels.

Look at the universities in America! I heard that about two hundred universities in America are currently experiencing this movement of students; this is very significant. What they wanted to do in Iran has happened to them. Students are moving, doing things that force the American government and police to trample all their words and slogans underfoot, and in front of the eyes of the people, in front of the cameras and media of today's world, they come and trample the student and handcuff the professor and the student! What they have done is so significant that they have been forced to set aside their pretenses and enter the field; their reputation in the world has been tarnished; their words have been contradicted; these are very important events.

This is a result of the movement that has been shaped since the beginning of the revolution thanks to the warm breath of the Imam; may God elevate the ranks of this great man day by day and raise his banner higher. The Imam (may his soul be sanctified) was truly a phenomenon; a unique phenomenon. I truly cannot find any resemblance or parallel for this man throughout our long history; that warm breath he had, that power that God Almighty placed in his spirit and will, and that faith in him, his heartfelt faith, became the source of the outpouring of faith to the outside and its spreading and overflowing into the hearts of the people. The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and the believers, all of them have believed in God and His angels; if the Messenger were not a believer, he would not have deep faith, and the believers would not have gained such deep faith. It is the same here; it was his faith that deepened the faith of others.

In any case, this is a good work, a distinguished work, and thanks be to God, the movement of the revolution, with the motivation that was able to bring these youths, these distinguished individuals from the surrounding cities of Tehran—namely, Tehran Province—into this field, that motivation still exists today.

You saw in the events of last year, the youths of Tehran made their names memorable; both in Tehran itself and in some surrounding cities.

We hope that God Almighty grants you all success, support, and confirmation, and that this chain continues, God willing.

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