Statements in Meeting with Students on the Eve of Student Day

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.

Welcome, my dear ones, our youth, our adolescents! You have brought joy to the Hussainiyah. Your pure hearts, your souls filled with enthusiasm, illuminate and purify any environment you enter. I have prepared several interconnected points to share with you today, my dear children.

The first point is about the thirteenth of Aban (November 4). You have heard a lot about it; the thirteenth of Aban is a historical day; it is both historical and educational. "Historical" means that events occurred on this day that are memorable in history; they cannot be forgotten and should not be forgotten. "Educational" means that due to these events, reactions have arisen that serve as lessons for us; we must use these experiences for the future of our country, for your future, for the future of your nation. The future belongs to you.

This day is important for us, but the Americans become very nervous about it. This is a day that commemorating it irritates the Americans. Now, this very gathering of yours — this gathering — when it is reflected, rest assured that the American inclination and the Americans themselves will become angry about this gathering, this anthem, this solidarity; why? Because this day embodies both the evil of America and the fact that America can be defeated; that is, those who think America is an untouchable power, when we look at the events of this day, it becomes clear that no, it is completely vulnerable; this becomes an experience for us.

Three incidents occurred on this day, some directly related to the Americans, some indirectly related to them. One incident is the exile of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), which occurred on the thirteenth of Aban in 1963. Why was the Imam exiled? Because a law was passed by the order of the Shah — by the order of Mohammad Reza — in the parliament that granted immunity to the Americans who were in Iran. At that time, about forty to fifty thousand Americans were in Iran, in military, security, and economic institutions. If they committed any crime in Iran, according to this law, they could not be prosecuted; that is, an American could drive a car, for example, hit someone, commit a crime, and the judicial system of the country had no right to prosecute him! This was the law of immunity for Americans. The Imam could not tolerate this; he gave a detailed speech — the audio and text of which are now available — and because of this speech, he was exiled for thirteen years! Now, when we say thirteen years, it is because at the end of these thirteen years, the revolution occurred; if the revolution had not occurred, this exile could have lasted thirty years due to the confrontation with this law supporting America. This is one incident that is almost directly related to the Americans.

The second incident is the massacre of students; children of your age were massacred in front of Tehran University, killed. Now, it is not possible to say the exact number, as there were no such statistics at that time; however, a number — even one is too many; even one is too many — of our dear children were martyred in front of Tehran University. This second incident also occurred on the thirteenth of Aban. This incident of the students was in 1978.

The third incident, which is one year after that incident — after the victory of the revolution — is the storming of the American embassy by students and the discovery of documents there that showed America's conspiracies against the Iranian nation; seventy to eighty volumes. You may not have time to read these books, but I once told the Ministry of Education to include the contents of these books in the school curriculum, unfortunately, they did not. These documents show what actions the Americans took while they were present in Iran — that is, from around 1949 and 1950 — what conspiracies and what betrayals they committed.

Now, there is a point here: the incident and the issue of the attack on the American embassy — which they called a "den of espionage" and indeed it was; it was a den of espionage — the Americans in their statements, in their propaganda, in their interviews, in an interview they had with me during my trip to New York during the presidency, introduce it as the beginning of the conflict between the Iranian nation and America; they say the reason the Americans stood against the Iranian nation was the action you took at the embassy; that is, you attacked our embassy, a dispute arose between us, enmity arose. They are lying; that is not the issue. The beginning of the conflict between the Iranian nation and America was on the twenty-eighth of Mordad (August 19). On the twenty-eighth of Mordad in 1953, a national government was in power. The Mossadegh government was a national government; its problem with the West was only about oil; it had nothing to do with clerics or claims of Islamic aspirations; it was only about oil. The oil was in the hands of the British, and he said the oil should be in our hands; that was his only crime. The Americans staged a coup, a strange coup.

I have some vague memories of that incident; I was fourteen years old at that time, and I will tell you. The difference between our fourteen or fifteen-year-old period and today’s teenager’s fourteen or fifteen years is like the difference between heaven and earth. You today understand issues precisely, analyze them, [but] we did not at that time; however, we have read history accurately and are aware of its details. The Americans plotted against Mossadegh, even though Mossadegh was optimistic about the Americans, trusted them, even had affection for them and thought the U.S. government would support him against the British; [but] they stabbed him in the back; they sent their agent — whose name was Kermit Roosevelt — to Iran, coordinated with the British, sent him with a suitcase full of dollars to Iran; he went to the British embassy — he did not even go to the American embassy — coordinated with a few treacherous military personnel, coordinated with a few elements affiliated with the British, gathered thugs and hooligans, and on the twenty-eighth of Mordad, they staged that infamous coup, and Mossadegh and his associates were all arrested; some were later executed, and some were imprisoned for many years.

The conflict between the Iranian nation and America began on the twenty-eighth of Mordad. Why did you stage a coup and overthrow a national government that had come to power by the people's vote? And the oil that had been taken from the British, you handed it over to a consortium, which included the British, the Americans, and several other governments; that is, you fell from the pit into the well. Our dispute with the Americans began that day. So the Americans did not even spare a person who was optimistic about America and a Westernized person — Mossadegh was Westernized — for their interests, which at that time were oil.

Well, this was the beginning; now American politicians, with complete hypocrisy and shamelessness, say we are supporters of the Iranian nation! You hear this from them in the news and in social media and elsewhere; they say we are supporters of the Iranian nation; well, this claim is extremely shameless. My question to the Americans is what could you have done against the Iranian nation in these four decades since the revolution that you did not do? They have done everything they could, because they could not, because it was not profitable for them; if they could, they would have done it. If it had been profitable for them and they were not afraid of Iranian youth, they would have started a direct war like Iraq; but they were afraid.

They did everything they could: at the beginning of the revolution, they supported separatist groups; they supported the coup at Shahid Nojeh base in Hamadan; the Americans supported the blind terrorism of the Mojahedin, which martyred several thousand people in the streets and markets of the country; they supported the savage Saddam, in the eight-year war they supported him in every way; they provided weapons, provided information, helped, and forced the Arabs to pay money. There is information — which I am not very certain about, but apparently it is credible — that even the start of the war was instigated by the Americans, and they urged Saddam to start the eight-year war. They shot down our passenger plane over the Persian Gulf, killing nearly three hundred people on board; they did not even express regret afterward. They awarded that criminal general who shot down that plane; they gave him a medal; you did these things to the Iranian nation.

From the early days of the revolution, they imposed sanctions on the Iranian nation; in recent years, they imposed the most severe sanctions, which they themselves said no nation has ever faced such sanctions in history; in the sedition of 2009, they explicitly supported the seditionists; before that, Obama wrote to me that let’s cooperate, we are friends, in our terms, we swear that we do not intend to overthrow you, but when the sedition of 2009 began, they started supporting it in the hope that perhaps this sedition could succeed, bring the Iranian nation to its knees, and dismantle the Islamic Republic; you acted this way with the Iranian nation.

You Americans explicitly announced that you killed our brave commander, martyr Soleimani; you killed him and took pride in it; you said you ordered it. Martyr Soleimani was not just a national hero; he was a regional hero; now it is not the time to discuss what a tremendous and unparalleled role martyr Soleimani played in solving the problems of several countries in the region; you martyred this great man and his companions; martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and others. You supported the assassins of our nuclear scientists; the Zionist agents assassinated our scientists one by one, and you supported them; you did not condemn them at all, you supported them.

You have imprisoned billions of dollars of this nation’s assets in various countries, which if these funds were available to a devoted government like the current government, many good things could have been accomplished; [but] they have imprisoned them, kept them, except for the amount that was imprisoned in America from the beginning of the revolution. In most anti-Iranian incidents, the footprint of America can be seen; then they claim that they are concerned about the Iranian nation! Again, yesterday they reiterated the same thing that yes, we care about the Iranian nation; they are lying outright with complete audacity. Of course, they have acted with great enmity, but to their dismay, the Iranian nation has thwarted many of these hostilities. Some of these incidents still remain between us, and we have not forgotten. We will never forget the martyrdom of martyr Soleimani; let them know this. We have made a statement regarding this matter, and we stand by that statement. In its own time, God willing, it will be carried out.

Well, today’s America is the same as yesterday’s America. Today’s America is the same as the America of the twenty-eighth of Mordad, the same America that supported Saddam, the same America of the past years, with one or two important differences; one or two differences have occurred that we must pay attention to: one is that the methods of enmity have become more complex; we must pay attention to this. The enmities are the same, but the way they are exercised has changed, has become complex, and untangling the knots is not easy; we must be careful, we must be vigilant. Of course, we trust our children, our youth, our own officials, and we know they can untangle the knots, but it is complicated. This is one difference.

Secondly, at that time — the day of the twenty-eighth of Mordad and similar days — and even until the early days of the revolution, America was the dominant power in the world, [but] today it is not; this is an important difference. Today, America is not the dominant power in the world; many political analysts believe that America is declining, gradually losing its power. This is not just our opinion; of course, our opinion is the same, but political analysts around the world are saying this too. The signs are clear; America’s internal problems are unprecedented; both their economic problems and their social problems, as well as their moral problems within America; their divisions, their bloody conflicts, their miscalculations in global issues.

Twenty years ago, for example, they attacked Afghanistan — at that time the Taliban were in power — to root out the Taliban, they attacked, spent money, committed crimes, lost lives, killed many, and so on; they stayed in Afghanistan for twenty years, and after twenty years, they handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban! What does this mean? This means a miscalculation. It is clear that America’s calculation apparatus is no longer organized, orderly, and precise. They misunderstand issues. They misunderstand badly, and based on that, they act poorly. Or they attacked Iraq and failed. What you see today in Iraq, where elections are held and an Iraqi is elected, was not what the Americans wanted. When Saddam was removed, the Americans placed a military figure at the head of Iraq. Then they realized that a military figure could not govern, so they removed him and placed a civilian — Mr. Bremer — at the head of Iraq; that is, Iraq was to be governed by a non-Arab, non-Iraqi, American government!

Well, I said I have something to say regarding the issue of Hajj Qassem Soleimani; one of the points is here, but now is not the time to say it; their intention was not to abandon Iraq. Then they tried to bring their own agents to power, but they completely failed; they failed in Iraq, they failed in Syria, they failed in Lebanon. The recent agreement of the Lebanese regarding the maritime borders for gas and such was a defeat for America; because the Americans intervened, set a line: it must be this way, it must be that way, Hezbollah rejected all of this; [this] is America’s defeat. Well, it is clear that their calculations are erroneous.

Well, one of the things that — now I say this; some others in the world have apparently said this too — in my opinion, one of the signs of America’s decline is the coming to power of people like the current president and the previous president. A country of three hundred million, over three hundred million, they kill themselves, bring a president like Trump to power, whom the whole world considered insane; then he is ousted, and someone like this comes, of whom you know the issues. This is a sign of the decline of a nation; this is a sign of the decline of a civilization. Well, this is related to America.

Many other Western powers are also similar to America in these respects; now we do not want to name them, some other Western powers are also like America in this regard; in their media, they teach destruction, they teach chaos, they teach how to make Molotov cocktails, they teach how to make hand bombs. What is the reason for this? The discussion is not that they commit crimes with this; yes, it is a crime, but it is a decline, it is a degradation; this indicates the level of moral decline of a government, a ruling body whose media operates this way.

In the recent disturbances in our country over the past few weeks, America also had a clear role. The statement issued by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC is an important statement; it is lengthy, and some may not have the patience to read it. We had very important information and reports. These are very important pieces of information; there is a lot of material in this regard; then the discoveries of our intelligence agencies in this regard are very valuable. For Tehran, for large cities, for small cities, they have drawn up plans, they have made arrangements. Now, the apparent issue is that, for example, a bunch of young people or adolescents are in the streets. Well, these young people are our own children; we have no argument with them. These are excitement, emotions, a bit of carelessness in understanding issues that leads them to act this way; no, the discussion is about those who are orchestrating the matters; they are the ones who have entered the field with a plan.

What I am saying here must be considered by everyone: the other side has a plan; both our officials must consider this — fortunately, our intelligence personnel are attentive; our political officials, our economic officials, our various officials must know that the other side has entered the field with a plan — and the general public must know, and you young people must know; they have entered the field with a program. The program is that they want to bring the Iranian nation along with them, to make the Iranian nation’s beliefs align with those of the leaders of England and America and their ilk; that is the plan, that is the goal. Of course, the Iranian nation hit them in the face; after this, it will continue to hit them in the face.

Those who designed and entered the field with intention and with a plan and understanding — this is very important for us — were connected to foreign agencies and committed crimes. You see what a great crime the Shah Cheragh incident in Shiraz was! What sins had that second-grade child or sixth-grade child or tenth-grade child committed? That six-year-old child who lost his father, mother, and brother, why did they pile this heavy burden of grief on his shoulders? Why? What can this child do with this great and unbearable sorrow? These are crimes; these are great crimes. That young cleric — the young martyr cleric in Tehran, dear Arman — what sin had he committed? He was a young student, he had come to become a cleric; devout, faithful, committed, Hezbollah. [That he was] tortured, killed under torture, and his body thrown in the street. Are these small acts? Who are these people? We must think. Who are these people? They are not our children, they are not our youth; who are these people? Where do they get their orders? Why have those who claim to be advocates of human rights not condemned these acts? Why did they not condemn the Shiraz incident? Why do they repeat a false incident, a fabricated event, thousands of times in their information platforms on the internet, but ban the name Arsham from the internet so that it does not appear on their platforms? Why? Are they advocates of human rights? This is how they are. We must recognize these people; you must recognize them. Of course, we will not let these people go. The Islamic Republic system will definitely hold these criminals accountable. Anyone proven to have collaborated in these crimes, to have had a hand in these crimes, God willing, will be punished; without a doubt.

Well, now I want to say a few words to you young people. First of all, today’s adolescent, unlike the adolescent of the past, is a mature and wise element, a wise element. In our time, it was not like this; I tell you. I speak of myself; when the twenty-eighth of Mordad incident occurred, we were at the age of some of you, for example, let’s say fourteen or fifteen; a shadow of the events was before our eyes, [but] we did not pay attention to who the elements were, who was on this side, who was on that side, what the goal was, why they were doing it; no, we were not aware of these things. Today’s adolescent is not like this; today’s adolescent thinks, analyzes, understands analysis correctly, points come to their mind, today’s youth are analytical; this is a very important point, this is very noteworthy. Our children and our youth have something to say, and this is the characteristic of the Islamic Revolution; I must say this: this is the characteristic of the Islamic Revolution. If the Islamic Revolution had not occurred, our youth — now the adolescents and the children, not just the youth; even the youth, for example, those twenty to twenty-something years old — would have been so engrossed in trivial pursuits and lustful activities that they would not even remember to think about the fundamental issues of the country; it was like that back then. I would come here into the street, there was a place called the Youth Palace, behind the city park back then and now; it was early evening, a group of young people had poured into the street — there had been a gathering or a party — and as a seminary student, I would be bewildered by the sight of these young people and the way they were behaving in the street. Well, this young person, with these characteristics, does he have the patience to think about the political issues of the country and the future of the country and commitment and responsibility and such? It was the Islamic Revolution that awakened the youth; both during the movement — in the last year of the movement when the youth came to the field at the command of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) — and after the movement until today, our youth have grown day by day, they have analytical power, they have the ability to understand events.

Well, this is a reality; this reality, as we understand it, the enemy also understands; the enemy also understands that the eyes and ears of today’s youth are open, their attention is focused, they are intelligent, they can analyze; what does the enemy do? The enemy does not remain idle; the enemy, in order to neutralize this state of our youth, begins to create mental content for the youth; this massive volume of lies in social networks is because of this. All these lies, all these falsehoods, all these misleading statements, all these accusations, are because the enemy wants to create content for this active mind. That is why I keep saying "the jihad of explanation, the jihad of explanation." You must create the content; I am telling the officials; the media officials, the communication officials. Before the enemy creates false, misleading, and deceptive content, you must create truthful and correct content, and convey it to the minds of the youth; the enemy is busy doing this.

(I thank you very much; thank you very much; now for the time being, listen inside the gathering, and then go really plan for it)

My real expectation from you young people is this; now I will say, I will say again. Now a little time is passing, but it is a good opportunity to talk a little with you. Well, therefore, the enemy is also planning. I said that officials must feel responsible, they must know why the enemy is sensitive to a certain word, to a certain name, and why it spreads this volume of lies in the virtual space; and they must remedy it, counter it; this [is the duty of] the officials. You young people also have a duty; you must also feel responsible. You must feel responsible to be able to distinguish the truth from the lie. In my opinion, it is possible; it is not that it cannot be done. Some things are being pushed into minds in large volumes, with frequent repetition, but it can be understood whether this is false or not. So, distinguishing the correct word from the lie and distortion.

Secondly, be careful of those who are in agreement; guide them. I do not say to fight, [but] guide them, explain to them. There are those who are in agreement with the enemy; [of course] not that they do it intentionally; some do not understand, they are unaware. One sees, recognizes individuals who say certain things in the virtual space, write in newspapers; they are not adversaries, [but] they misunderstand; these must be guided. The best people who can guide them are you young people; write to them, tell them, send messages, explain, argue in your gatherings.

Of course, we know that dealing with these issues must be planned. The events of these past few weeks were not merely street disturbances; [behind] this, there were much deeper plans. The enemy has started a hybrid war; a hybrid war; I say this to you based on information. The enemy means America, Israel, some cunning and malicious European powers, some groups and factions, have brought all their resources into the field. What do all these resources mean? It means their intelligence agencies, their media agencies, their capacity in the virtual space, using their past experiences. Well, they have experience in Iran; they have experience from 1999, from 2009, from the following years; they have been defeated in those places, they are using those experiences; they have brought those experiences into the field. They have done these things in other countries, they have suffered some blows, they have achieved some successes, and they are using those experiences. The enemy brought all these capacities into the field in these past few weeks to be able to overcome the Iranian nation. I said that in the truest sense of the word, the nation hit them in the face; the Iranian nation truly thwarted them.

Well, this is now an expression of expectation from you dear youth and all the youth who will hear this speech later, but I have another expectation; see, I said in one or two previous speeches that there are many signs that the current order of the world is changing and a new order will prevail over the world. What is our role as Iranians, what is our place as Iranians in this new order? This is an important question. Now, this new order that I am talking about, that the current order will change to a new order, what is it? It cannot be said precisely, it cannot be said exactly what this order is, but some lines can be drawn. There are some fundamental lines that will certainly be present in this new order. The first fundamental line is the isolation of America; America will be isolated in the new global order. Contrary to what Bush Sr. said twenty or thirty years ago that today America is the only dominant power in the world; after the incident of the attack on Iraq by Kuwait and the entry of Americans and the dismantling of the Iraqi attack, [Bush Sr.] proudly said — to this effect — that today America is the master of the world; in this new order that I am talking about, no, America will no longer have an important position and will be isolated. Yes, it will be so, "Death to America" will be the slogan. Moreover, some say that when you say "Death to America," the Americans will act against you; I say no, on the day the Americans started their enmity, that is, on the twenty-eighth of Mordad, no one in Iran was saying "Death to America," but they struck their blow; their blow was not due to "Death to America." After they struck their blow, on the sixteenth of Azar (December 7) of that year, students at Tehran University said "Death to America"; "Death to America" is the legacy of the sixteenth of Azar; it was said from that time; the Americans had struck their blow before that.

Well, so one thing is that America will have to withdraw its presence from the world. Now the Americans have bases in many regions of the world; in our region, in Europe, in Asia, military bases with large populations, they also take the costs from the poor country where they have a base; the costs must be provided by that country, and the Americans eat and dominate! This will come to an end; America’s presence in the world will be withdrawn. This is the first fundamental line, one of the fundamental lines of the future new order of the world.

The second fundamental line; the transfer of political, economic, cultural, and even scientific power from the West to Asia. Today, Western powers have political power, they have scientific power, they have cultural power, they have economic power; that is, they have many things, of course, the more accurate expression is to say that they had them, and they are gradually losing them; but they have had these for years; for two or three centuries, the West has acted this way. In this new order, this state will be transferred from the West to Asia. Asia will become the center of knowledge, the center of economy, the center of political power, the center of military power; we are in Asia. Well, this is another point.

The third point, [that is] the third fundamental line: the idea of resistance and the front of resistance against oppression will expand, which is pioneered by the Islamic Republic. Because the Europeans, since the industrial revolution and their advancement and the beginning of colonialism, have accustomed the people of the world and the countries of the world to the idea that subjugation and domination are two inevitable opposite parts of the world; that is, the world is divided into dominating states and powers and subjugated states and countries; this situation has existed and this system of domination has continued for several centuries. Everyone accepted that they must accept the dominance of Western powers, even accept their culture, even accept their naming.

You see; let me say this — I once said this — they call our region: the Middle East! What does Middle East mean? It means that the essence of the world and the center of the world is Europe; like the story of Mullah Nasreddin who was asked where the center of the world is? He said the place where my donkey’s stable is; this is the center of the world! Any region that is far from Europe is called the Far East; because it is far from Europe; any region that is close, like some North African countries, is the Near East; any region that is in between is the Middle East; that is, the criterion and essence in naming countries is Europe. The Westerners considered themselves this much entitled! This is why I insist on not saying Middle East, but saying West Asia. It is West Asia; why do we say Middle East? This spirit of resistance against oppression and the power-seeking and domination-seeking of dominating powers was created by the Islamic Republic. The first person in the world who said "Neither East nor West" was our Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified); neither East nor West. At that time, the power of the world was divided between America and the Soviet Union. He said: neither this nor that. All the countries of the world had to connect to either this or that; they knew they had to, [but] he said no to this and no to that. This spirit, this logic, this firm and strong statement has spread. Today in our region, there are many who consider themselves affiliated with the resistance front, are people of resistance, believe in resistance, and in many cases achieve results, like the result that the Lebanese achieved thanks to Hezbollah in the matter of dividing gas lines. I mentioned three fundamental lines: the isolation of America, the transfer of power to Asia, the expansion of the resistance front and the logic of resistance; of course, there are other things that can be said, I have other fundamental issues in mind.

Well, now in this new world, what role does Iran play? Where does our dear country stand? This is what you must think about; this is what you must prepare yourselves for; this is what the Iranian youth can accomplish. We can have a prominent position in this new order; we can. Why? Because our country has outstanding characteristics that many other countries do not have. First of all, human resources; we have very good human resources; that is, the intelligence and talent of the Iranian youth is above the average intelligence and talent of the world; this is the case. Today we see the blessings of the intelligence and talent of the youth born in the 1980s and 1990s before our eyes. Now, the youth and those who are innovating in various scientific fields, in various technological fields — in various fields, they are placing the country among the top four or five countries in the world, those born in the 1980s and 1990s; they have now come to fruition; and God willing, the Iranian nation will see the blessings of those born in the 2000s — who are mostly you — and the 2010s in the future. Well, of course, there will be disturbances, there will be problems that can hinder this. Well, therefore, our first advantage is the advantage of human resources.

The second advantage is the forces of nature, the nature of the country; we have resources in the country whose diversity of natural resources is among the rarest in the world. I once said here in this very Hussainiyah in a speech — I do not remember the statistics now, I had studied it that day — that in these few essential metals needed for industry, we are one percent of the world’s population, we are one percent, but these few metals are four percent, five percent of the world’s inventory; that is, we have more natural resources than our population. Now, I mentioned metals, the same goes for plants, medicinal plants, and mines; in this regard, we are very wealthy. I have emphasized how much I have relied on mines in various governments; unfortunately, many did not pay attention, and many governments did not listen to my words. We hope that God willing, this government will address these issues. I have heard they are doing good work in the field of mines; well, this is another fundamental point.

Therefore, our country has advantages in terms of human resources, it has advantages in terms of natural forces, and it has advantages in terms of geographical location; we are the crossroads of communications between East and West and North and South. You look at the map, place the world map in front of you; we are in a sensitive point. East and West can pass through us; North and South can also pass through us. We can be a very advanced and good transit route in the world. Of course, it requires railways, rail lines; it cannot be done with roads; I must express these grievances with you young people — I have repeatedly emphasized about rail lines in various governments; unfortunately, there has been negligence. Of course, in the early days after the Imam’s passing, some good railway work was done, [but] after that, no proper work has been done, and now, God willing, they intend to do good work. We must, God willing, find our place in this area of transportation and transit.

More important than all these several advantages is our governmental and civilizational logic, which is the Islamic Republic. We have combined the republic and the Islamic; we have combined the presence of the people and the votes of the people with divine knowledge; combining these two is not easy, [but] we have done this with divine grace. Of course, we have shortcomings. I never claim that we have no shortcomings in these areas; no, we have shortcomings, but the discourse, the logic, is a new logic in the world. Well, this is regarding these issues.

My last word to you dear youth. You see, all your actions and ours, all our words and movements send a message to the outside world. We must be careful to see what message we are sending. A message does not have to be verbal; sometimes the quality of your sitting sends a message; sometimes your gathering in one place sends a message; sometimes the slogan you chant sends a message. Be careful of this message you are sending to the world. I say the most important thing that must be conveyed from the Iranian nation and from the Iranian youth to the enemy front is the power of the Iranian nation’s resistance. The Iranian nation, the Iranian youth, must, through their actions, movements, slogans, and performances, make it clear to the world — which of course the enemy will also understand — that the Iranian nation has the power of resistance, has a firm determination to stand against oppression. Of course, this is the duty of all people. The statesmen have heavy responsibilities; the statesmen have many duties in this regard. The shortcomings of the past must not be repeated. Some government agencies must be very active in this regard, including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Culture, the ministries related to production: the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture; or the ministries related to this transportation issue — these are important agencies — or the scientific assistant that connects the elites to the Elites Foundation; these have heavy responsibilities that must be fulfilled.

My dear ones! Rest assured that if I fulfill my duty, you fulfill your duty, various agencies fulfill their duties, each of us, wherever we are, recognize and fulfill our duty, all the problems of the country will be resolved, and the country will reach its ultimate aspiration.

God’s mercy be upon our Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), God’s mercy be upon our predecessors, God’s mercy be upon our martyrs, and God’s mercy be upon the families of the martyrs.

God willing, may you all be successful. May God protect you all. Stay alive.