Statements in Meeting with Students and Pupils

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.

First of all, welcome dear youth, dear children, dear brothers and sisters; you have revived the memory of the significant events of the thirteenth of Aban, which are impactful and decisive in our history, with your spirit. We are very pleased and happy to meet you, dear youth.

Secondly, there is a point in our country that deserves attention. That point is that youth in all countries, in all nations, are considered a driving force; like the engine of a car, they propel the great movement of their society. This is the case in all countries; of course, if the youth have not gone astray, become corrupt, or fallen into addiction. The nature of youth is movement, leadership, and advancement, but in our country, this spirit has not remained limited to the conventional and ordinary level of youth. For example, a youth means an eighteen or twenty-year-old boy or girl; this is youth. In our country, the age of movement and youthful enthusiasm has decreased; that is, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen-year-olds are doing the same things, seeing the same things, pursuing the same goals, and expending the same spirit and energy that one would expect from a twenty, twenty-two, or twenty-five-year-old in other places. In our country, the level of movement, the level of enthusiasm, the level of leadership has reached the adolescents. This is a characteristic of our country.

Where do we derive this statement from? Both before the revolution, during the significant events of the revolution, during the Sacred Defense, and in the current era, these are things we observe. Before the revolution, I was in Mashhad, I saw Mashhad, and sometimes when we came to Tehran, I saw Tehran; in many places, there was no youthful engagement to receive the fundamental concepts of the revolution, especially for university students and young people in that sense. I myself had a meeting in Tehran for a limited number of high school students—sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old—during that difficult period of oppression; later, all or most of them entered the fields of struggle; some of them are now among our renowned martyrs—those same individuals, those same children—some also experienced significant and sensitive stories during their revolutionary activities. The same was true in Mashhad; high school adolescents and those who had not yet experienced youth in that sense were in the field of struggle; this was before the revolution.

During the beginning of the public events of the revolution, our student youth did something that the thirteenth of Aban is named after them; it is Student Day, a day of struggle and [a day of] the martyrdom of students. On the thirteenth of Aban, three significant events occurred; one relates to the massacre of students. If they had not been in the field, if they had not fought, if their existence had not had an impact, they would not have faced the brutality and wickedness of the agents of the tyrannical regime and would not have been martyred. During the imposed war, which was tumultuous! Fourteen and fifteen-year-olds went into the battlefield and fought like capable young men; some were martyred, like Hossein Fahmideh; some were captured, like the few adolescent prisoners whose stories and books have been published, whose memories have been published, and when one reads them, one feels that these adolescents are moving in a realm beyond this material world. A sixteen, fifteen, or seventeen-year-old boy stands like a mountain during captivity against that wicked and strict Ba'athist officer; where in the world do such things exist? Which generation of youth in the world includes such individuals?

After the war until today, it has been the same. I tell you that my information about various issues in the country is extensive, and I am aware of many things; I know that our student youth, our adolescents in various sectors, both perform well and understand well; they grasp subtle and precise issues. Today's adolescent, who is sixteen or seventeen years old and goes to high school, understands many issues better than the time of youth of people like myself until the age of twenty-five or twenty-six, and perhaps even beyond that; this is a characteristic of our country.

My dear ones, dear youth, dear adolescents, my dear children! Appreciate this opportunity and this possibility. You and your generation are the ones who will, God willing, elevate this country to great heights. We have many aspirations, great ideals. The enmities of the enemies have had no effect until now; they have not been able to do anything. It is not that they have not been hostile, it is not that they have not acted; yes, they have acted with all their might. The same actions they have taken to divert the youth in various countries, they have also taken in our country; from promoting drugs to promoting vice, to misleading computer games and similar things; they have done all these things. In some areas, they have succeeded; in some places, they may have been able to mislead a few individuals, but the youth, the adolescent generation, with the same insight that existed at the beginning of the revolution and is expected of them, still exists today. The reason is that you observe; the youth of the eighties, who have not seen the war, nor the Imam, nor the revolution, but pursue the same concepts with the same insight, with the same authority that an informed youth pursued back then, today our adolescent is pursuing. You can; you can overcome the enemy's tricks; you can pass through difficulties and obstacles and bring this country to the point that meets the Islamic ideals and the ideals of the Islamic revolution; you can. And this, God willing, will happen, this will happen, to the chagrin of the enemy.

Of course, this has conditions; one of the conditions is that you recognize the enemy; do not be deceived. Of course, our nation has enemies, both small and large, but the one I emphasize as the true enemy, who acts as an enemy and does wickedness, is America. This is not out of bias, this is not out of a pessimistic view; this arises from experience, from a correct understanding of reality, from seeing the field; we see the field. It is not that they are only enemies with me or with the government of the Islamic Republic; no, they are against the very essence of this nation that stands firm, this nation that does not tire of facing the enemy; they are against this, they are enemies of this. You saw; just recently, the President of the United States said that the Iranian nation is a terrorist nation. You see how foolish this view is! They say a nation is a terrorist? They do not say the leader is a terrorist, they do not say the government is a terrorist; they say the Iranian nation is terrorists! Is this not enmity? A few years ago, another American statesman said we must uproot the Iranian nation. Fool! Can one uproot a nation, especially such a nation with this historical background, with this towering cultural tree? Look! This is enmity; when they are enemies, their eyes are closed; like a person who cannot see, cannot calculate correctly, cannot evaluate correctly; this very inability to calculate leads them to defeat. Because they cannot calculate correctly, because they do not know the scene well, they are defeated, and they have been defeated! Now, nearly forty years have passed since the victory of the revolution; from the very first day when this revolution was a thin sapling, they fought against it and attacked it; today, to the chagrin of these, the revolution has become a towering, leafy tree. So this indicates that they cannot and have not been able to; but they act with enmity; this is not just today.

Look; some say that now we should somehow come to terms with America, perhaps their enmity will lessen; no, even those who trusted America, who hoped for America, who went to America for help, they showed no mercy; like who? Dr. Mossadegh. Dr. Mossadegh, in order to fight against the English, thought he could stand against the English by going to the Americans; he met with them, negotiated with them, and requested; he trusted them. The coup of the twenty-eighth of Mordad was carried out not by the English but by the Americans in Iran, against Mossadegh. This means that even they are not satisfied with people like Mossadegh; they want a servant, they want a submissive, they want someone who will be beaten; like who? Like Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; they want such a person; to govern over this blessed, rich, and sensitive country, which is sensitive in terms of geographical location and various capabilities; they want someone who is handcuffed and submissive to them; the Americans want this; if this does not happen, they become enemies. In the case of Tabas, they acted with enmity and were defeated; in the case of downing our passenger plane, they acted with enmity; in the case of sanctions, they have acted with enmity from the very beginning; today they continue to act with enmity. In the matter of sabotaging the nuclear negotiations and the results of the nuclear negotiations—so-called JCPOA—they are acting with utmost wickedness; they are enemies.

Dear children, dear youth! Do not forget that in this very important and promising path you are moving towards your ideals—and you can and have the power to do so—the main enemy is America; do not forget this. Well, therefore, do not forget what we have said. Some imagine that we should yield to America; while the more we yield, the more emboldened they become. The way is to confront, the way is to stand firm; the way is that this movement that the revolution has started must continue. Therefore, this is the essential condition.

And I also tell you one of the other conditions; study well, work well. Knowledge and learning are among the most essential tools and means for confronting enmities and withstanding storms and hard waves and the like. Our good youth should study, pursue knowledge. Those who are talented should work for their country, not serve the enemy; studying should become a high value. The talents of our youth, thanks be to God, are good, and if they study well and work, undoubtedly the level of knowledge in the country will rise. The very fact that the level of knowledge in the country rises strengthens the internal foundation of the Iranian nation; it becomes solid. Thanks to knowledge, one can achieve great aspirations. God willing, keep this in mind as well.

And my dear ones! Strengthen your relationship with God the Almighty. Your hearts are pure, your spirits are untainted, unpolluted. Gaining divine grace and favor and divine illumination is much easier for you than for people like me; you can easily do it. Through supplication, through good prayer, through attention, through reading the Quran, through helping God's servants—which is one of the important acts of worship, helping God's servants—by avoiding sin, you can secure this for yourselves. I am confident and have no doubt that, God willing, this current generation of you dear youth will be able to realize all the aspirations that existed in the revolution.

We hope that God the Almighty will make the path before you a smooth one, that your way will be an easy one, and that your successes will increase day by day.

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