Statements in Meeting with Thousands of People from Sistan and Baluchestan and South Khorasan

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 infallible family, especially the Awaited One among the inhabitants of the earth.

First, I extend my warm welcome to each and every one of the brothers and sisters who have traveled from afar to be here, gracing this Hussainiyah with your warm breath and loving hearts. I am very grateful to all of you, brothers and sisters.

For me, meeting you dear ones is a memorable occasion; both the people of Birjand and South Khorasan, and the people of Sistan and Baluchestan. I mention this not merely to recount a part of history, but rather to dispel the false image that the enemies of this nation present about certain regions of the country; I wish to clarify the truth for public opinion regarding our brothers in various parts of the country.

I conducted the first open struggle against the tyrannical regime in Birjand. Prior to that, we had some activities, but they were not open and public. The first public confrontation was in Birjand during the month of Muharram in the year 1342 (1963), which is sixty years ago; most of you were not part of that gathering. The second confrontation was in Zahedan; when was that? It was also in the month of Ramadan of the same year, 1342. So, see, our memories from this region go back a long way; it is not a matter of ten or twenty years; it is over half a century.

In Birjand, on the day of Tasu'a, I was arrested and taken to the police detention center. The people of Birjand wanted to attack the police station on Ashura to free me; they had come to this conclusion. The wisdom of the late Mr. Tahami, a prominent and distinguished scholar of Birjand — who was a great cleric and would certainly have become a religious authority if he had been in Qom or Najaf — prevented this incident from occurring; he said it would create problems for me and stopped the people. What is the point? The point is that on that day, the people and scholars were united in this movement; we were not alone. I had gone to Birjand alone, but the entire Birjand, with all its people and great scholars, stood with us. This pertains to Birjand.

In the month of Ramadan of that year, I went to Zahedan. There were two great scholars in Zahedan: the first-rate Shia scholar, the late Mr. Kafami; and the first-rate Sunni scholar, the late Mawlawi Abdulaziz Mollazahi. There, I was also arrested; in the middle of Ramadan, I was taken from Zahedan to Tehran and to Qezel Qaleh prison. The late Kafami openly supported us, and the late Mawlawi Abdulaziz also issued a decree in line with our statements. Of course, I do not remember exactly how the timing of that decree relates to my presence in Zahedan, how much later it was or how simultaneous it was, but this decree was in line with what we were doing; the details of this decree are lengthy, and I do not wish to delve into it. This is our memory from this collection. That is, the first open movement that I personally undertook in confronting the tyrannical regime was carried out with the support of these two important centers, which today are the centers of two provinces, along with their people and scholars.

Of course, this was not all. These events relate to fifteen years before the victory of the revolution in 1342. Shortly before the victory of the revolution, I was exiled to Iranshahr. Also, after the victory of the revolution, we established connections with Sunni scholars throughout Baluchestan. Immediately after the victory of the revolution, Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) sent me to Baluchestan and Sistan to become familiar with the conditions of the people there, to report back to him, and to address the issues there; because we had prior familiarity. I will never forget the support of the Sunni scholars of Baluchestan during this trip, which required courage at that time. The late Mawlawi Abdulaziz Sadati, the elderly great cleric of Saravan, openly supported us and aligned himself with the revolution; these are the identities; these are the identities of the province, the identities of the people. The enemy does not want these truths to remain in your and my memory; they want them to be forgotten. In Chabahar, in Saravan, in Iranshahr, in Zahedan itself, and in Sistan, which is truly the center of the brave Zabolis, the brave and loyal people; this is the history of work there.

They have also given us prominent martyrs; besides the martyrs of the imposed war in these two provinces, prominent martyrs have also been sacrificed in the struggle against the Mojahedin in various incidents of [defending] security from that day until today. Today, we are still sacrificing martyrs; we sacrificed martyrs in 1360 (1981) as well; the late Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Hosseini Tabatabai from Zabol, the late Mawlawi Hossein Bor from the Sunni clerics, these are from the year 1360, and until now, our prominent brothers like the late martyr Sardar Shushtari or martyr Abdul Wahid Reigi, the cleric of [the county of] Khash, and so on; that is, this region is a region of revolution, a region of martyrdom, a region of movement in the way of God. The enemy cannot see this; they cannot tolerate it. We have martyrs of unity, martyrs of the sacred defense, and martyrs in the way of security, some of whose names I have mentioned.

Well, there is a point here that I must mention, which is certainly a fundamental and important point, and that is that the officials must recognize the value of these people and must serve them. Of course, a lot has been done in Sistan and Baluchestan; a lot of work has been accomplished. The Baluchestan you see today is not the Baluchestan of the tyrannical regime; I have seen that day; the people had nothing. From the very first days, work began in this region; both there and in Zabol and other areas of the province; work is still ongoing today. This work must continue with strength.

The issue of the railway is very important; that the north and south of the eastern country be connected by railway is of great importance; it is important for the province and the provinces along the way, as well as for the country as a whole. The issue of water in Zabol is very important. All efforts, all paths must be taken to ensure the rights of the people regarding water, and God willing, it will be achieved; this work will be done. A lot of work has been accomplished; there is still a lot of work ahead of us that must be done. If the governments had acted on the resolutions made in the early 1380s (2000s) when I came to Baluchestan and decisions were made, today the face of the province would be different. There has been laziness and negligence from some governments. Today, thanks be to God, they are busy, they are working, they are striving. I hope and God willing, this hope will come to fruition. Well, these were issues related to this region.

There is a general matter that pertains to everyone; and from myself to all the people of Iran and to all officials, we must pay attention to this; what is it? The point that I particularly want the youth to pay attention to is this: when great transformations occur in the world or begin, nations and the officials of countries must multiply their vigilance. Now I will elaborate more. If this vigilance is exercised, nations will not be deceived, and they will not be forced to take paths against their own interests. If this vigilance is not exercised and negligence occurs, long-term blows will be inflicted on nations. Let me give an example:

An example related to the peak of colonialism, for instance, consider the eighteenth century, when British colonialism came to our region and many countries, especially in Central Asia and East Asia, were placed under its control; [because] nations were asleep, officials were negligent. The British gradually took the vital resources of the nations in the Indian subcontinent and in the countries on either side of East and West India — now India is just one example; otherwise, it was the same in Africa, in Latin America, and in North America — they took control of the interests of these nations and colonized them; these nations struggled for decades, perhaps two hundred years, to free themselves from colonialism. The British were mentioned as an example; France did the same, Portugal did the same, Belgium did the same, and other European countries did this to varying degrees. When the movement of colonialism began for specific reasons in Europe, nations should have been awake, and the officials of countries should have been vigilant, their attention should have been focused, but they were not; the result was the entrapment in the colonialism of a vast region of the world for two to three centuries. This is one example.

A closer example is after World War I; mainly after World War I and a little after World War II in our own region, namely the region of West Asia — the same place that Europeans like to call the Middle East, which is a wrong expression, and we should say West Asia — the calamity that befell this region, if our nations in this region, in West Asia and North Africa, had been awake, they would not have suffered this calamity; the British in one way, the French in another, and the Italians in another. Our region has lagged at least a hundred years behind the caravan of civilization and progress. So, see! When a transformation begins in the world, nations must be vigilant so that this transformation does not turn against them; the officials of countries must be vigilant; of course, officials cannot do anything significant without the support of the people.

What I mean is: I say today a great transformation in the world is either beginning or has begun. Today is a day when the nations of the region must not fall into the negligence that they did during the colonial era or after World War I; the nations of the region must be awake. I kindly ask you to pay close attention to what I am saying; especially our dear youth. We said the world is on the verge of a transformation or at the beginning of a transformation. What is this transformation? What is happening in the world that we refer to as a "transformation"? Its main lines are several things: first and foremost, the weakening of the arrogant powers of the world; this is one of the main lines of the transformation that is occurring. The arrogant power of America has weakened and is becoming weaker — I will explain this now — as well as some European countries; this is one of the main lines of this transformation. Another main line of this transformation is the emergence of new regional and global powers; new powers are arising that are either regional powers or global powers; well, [this] is transformation.

Well; we said America is weakening, or the Western powers, the arrogant powers are weakening. This is not a slogan; this is a reality and a statement that they themselves make; they themselves say that the indicators of America’s power in the world are declining. What are some of these indicators? Such as the economy; one of the most important indicators of America’s power was a strong economy, which they say is declining. One indicator was the ability to intervene in governments; America used to intervene in various governments, today this state is in decline; Europeans in one way, others in another. You hear it in the press and in the news from radio and television and world news; they confess. One of the indicators of power in America was the ability to change governments and countries. Pay attention! These are important. One day, America sent an agent to Iran with a suitcase of money, and the name of that agent is recorded and known by everyone: Kim Roosevelt; his name was Kim Roosevelt. These are not hidden things; these are things that were hidden at that time, but later became clear. An agent was sent with a suitcase of money, creating a coup like the coup of 28 Mordad! Through the conspiracy of America and England, jointly, and by the hand of an American agent who brought money here and distributed it among thugs and various individuals, they orchestrated the coup of 28 Mordad, toppling a government like that of Mosaddegh.

One day, America was like this; can America do this today? Absolutely not! Not regarding Iran, nor regarding any other country [either]. Today, America is forced to create hybrid wars to strike at the governments it wants to target; this hybrid war is very costly for them, and in the end, it does not yield results. With the extraordinary advancement of intelligence and security tools — which America has more than others — have you seen in the last ten years that America has been able to overthrow a government in a country with these hybrid wars, to replace a government? They conspired for ten years in Syria and could not achieve anything; they settled in Afghanistan for twenty years, brought all their military tools, but you saw how disgracefully they exited Afghanistan. When we say America has weakened, this is what it means.

The situation in Europe is not better than this. You hear these days about the issues in Africa; countries that were under French influence are rising one after another against France and toppling the French puppet governments; [that too] the people! Of course, their military is involved, but the people support them. This means that the Western powers, at the head of which is America and then Europe, no longer have the former power, they are weakening; this weakness is increasing day by day. Well, new powers are also rising, and I do not want to name those powers; I do not want to delve into that. This is a great global transformation.

Well, this transformation is happening. I said, during major global transformations, nations must be vigilant, and the officials of countries must be vigilant. This is the day we are in; we must be vigilant. When we say the enemy is weakening, it does not mean they cannot plot, they cannot be hostile, they cannot strike; they can; they are busy plotting. We must not let our guard down; we must not be negligent. Who do we mean by "we"? That means the officials and all the people. I said, without the support of the people, the officials of any country cannot accomplish anything significant; the people must be behind them, the people must be awake. The officials must also not be negligent; they must be vigilant. Amir al-Mu'minin said: "Whoever sleeps, does not mean that the enemy sleeps too"; if you fall asleep in your trench, it does not mean that your enemy is asleep in his trench; no, he may be awake, he may be aware of you, he may take advantage of your sleep; this is the fundamental issue: we must not be negligent.

We must be aware of the enemy's plans. Does the enemy have a plan? Yes, the enemy has a plan, a program; not just for us; America today has plans for Iraq, plans for Syria, plans for Lebanon, plans for Yemen, plans for Afghanistan, plans for the countries [surrounding] the Persian Gulf — which are its old traditional friends — it has plans for them! We are not concerned with the plans they have regarding them, but what is their plan regarding us? We are not uninformed; we are not uninformed. Our intelligence information tells us that the American government has established a group in America called the "Crisis Group"; what is its mission? The mission of this group is to create crises in countries, including our country. The mission of this group is to create crises; they look for points that they believe will cause crises in the country and provoke those points; this is the mission of America’s crisis group. They have sat down, thought, studied, and concluded that there are several crisis-inducing points in Iran that must be provoked, one of which is ethnic differences, one is religious differences, one is the issue of gender and the issue of women; these must be provoked in Iran to create crises and through crises, they can strike at our dear country; this is America’s program, and "the camel dreams of cotton seeds"!

They have stated! They have stated that they want to create a situation in Iran similar to that of Syria and Yemen; they have stated this explicitly. Of course, they are mistaken! They cannot; there is no doubt about it; but provided that we remain vigilant, that we keep our attention focused. If you are asleep, even a child can strike you, let alone an armed and prepared enemy. We must not fall into negligence, we must not remain asleep. We must be vigilant so that we do not go astray, do not take the wrong path, do not make mistakes. If we are vigilant, recognize the enemy, understand the enemy's methods, and strive not to assist the enemy's plans in our words, logic, actions, and every endeavor, the enemy cannot do anything. We must be vigilant so that we do not go astray, do not make mistakes, and do not confuse truth with falsehood.

The Quran has given us a criterion. The Quran says: "Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and those who are with him"; the discussion is whether we are with the Prophet or not — this is the path — it has a sign: "and those who are with him are severe against the disbelievers"; if you see that the path you are taking makes the disbelievers happy, know that you are not "severe against the disbelievers", thus you are not "with the Messenger of God"; but if you see that the path you are taking angers the arrogance, the oppressive governments against religion and Islam, then it is good; this is "severe against the disbelievers". This became the criterion and standard. We must be attentive, know what we are doing, know what we are saying; the words we speak should not assist the enemy's plans, should not complete the enemy's table. Sometimes someone may be negligent, make a move, say something that completes the enemy's plan; this is dangerous. We must be careful that this does not happen. If we remain vigilant, the enemy cannot do anything, cannot do anything. In these forty-plus years, time and again, these enemies today and enemies who were previously there and have disappeared, like the former Soviet Union, who were also hostile to us, did everything they could; the Iranian nation was awake, vigilant, followed the path indicated by the Imam. The Imam's finger of guidance is precious for us today; see what the Imam said, what he wanted, and what direction he was guiding us towards. The nation did this, and thus they have succeeded until today; today is the same; today we must also remain vigilant.

The enemy has targeted two fundamental points: one is national unity, and the other is national security. National unity is important; do not let them disrupt unity. What does unity mean? It means that in the fundamental issues of the country, where the interests of the nation are at stake, religious differences, political differences, group differences, and ethnic differences must be set aside; everyone must stand together; different ethnicities alongside each other, different religions alongside each other; where there is a specific orientation, this unity is important. And security; those who threaten national security are the enemies of the nation, working for the enemy; whether they realize it or not. Sometimes they act without realizing what they are doing! Therefore, these two points are important. The enemy has targeted these two points, namely unity and security, which must be resisted.

Thanks be to God, our nation is awake. I am very optimistic and hopeful about our dear nation’s awareness, due to the experience of over forty years — not because of slogans and bravado and such things, but because we have experienced and seen — and because of what one observes in the youth of this country: these loyalties, these affections, these expressions of sincerity that are shown, these good participations [like] this Arbaeen, which I will say a word about Arbaeen as well; these are indicators of hope. We must move forward with this strength, with this motivation, with this faith. The enemy is serious in its enmity and in its plotting, and we are also very serious in confronting the enemy.

In conclusion, I find it necessary to thank the people of Iraq for their valuable hospitality during this Arbaeen event; this is no joke! The Iraqis hosted over 22 million pilgrims along the route from Najaf to Karbala or Kadhimayn to Karbala, hosting them for several days, putting their possessions at stake; this truly deserves gratitude. I sincerely thank the Iraqi brothers and sisters; the same goes for the Iraqi officials; especially I thank the Hashd al-Shaabi; I thank the Iraqi police forces; I thank the Iraqi government for being able to establish security; [these] have accomplished great tasks. I also sincerely thank our own police forces. Our police forces worked hard during these travels, in the matter of the border, they truly put their minds to work, did not recognize day or night; this is very valuable, it has great worth. We must recognize the value of these self-sacrificing forces, these good youths in various sectors; we must preserve each other, value each other, have compassion for one another, and God will have mercy on us, God willing.

O Lord, by the right of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, send down Your blessings and mercy upon the nation of Iran and upon the people of these two provinces.

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