Statements on the Meeting with the People of East Azerbaijan on the Anniversary of the 29th of Bahman Uprising of the People of Tabriz

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, chosen, infallible, and purified progeny, especially the Awaited One among the inhabitants of the earth.

Dear brothers and sisters, esteemed scholars, personalities, respected families of martyrs, and the passionate and unparalleled youth of Tabriz! Welcome. Truly, the people of Tabriz, especially the youth of Tabriz, are exemplary and unparalleled in the country. I am very pleased that, thanks be to God, this year we have the opportunity to visit you in this Hussainiyah on the Day of God, the 29th of Bahman - which is truly a Day of God, one of the divine days.

And I want to first mention that this Day of God was created by the people of Tabriz. "Days of God" are days of the special manifestation of the Almighty God; sometimes the intention of the people, their determination, and their will create such a day. The people of Tabriz created this day in 1978 on the 29th of Bahman with their determination and insight, which I will elaborate on later. Of course, this was not the first time, nor will it be the last; our recent history is full of the pioneering spirit of the people of Tabriz and Azerbaijan in important issues, in significant and fateful events. During this revolution, if you look at the early events of the revolution - you young people may not remember - the people of Tabriz literally split the moon; the plot that the enemy had prepared in Tabriz was thwarted by the people of Tabriz in the best way. At a time when everyone was worried about what would happen in Tabriz and the enemies and counter-revolutionaries were mobilizing from all sides to separate Tabriz from the revolution, Imam said - in this sense - do not worry; the people of Tabriz will respond themselves; and that is exactly what happened. On that day, later in the Sacred Defense, later in subsequent events, later in 2009, later on the 9th of Dey - when the whole country came out on the 9th of Dey, Tabriz came out on the 8th of Dey; one day earlier, sooner - they were pioneers everywhere, thanks be to God. My dear ones! In this second step, be pioneers, and God willing, you will be.

The people of Tabriz take pride in the Day of God, the 29th of Bahman. Look! This point is very important. Some are weak, unfortunate, and passive; one day they may have made a revolutionary movement [but] now, under the pressure of the enemy's plots and, of course, worldly temptations, they are ashamed of their past. The people of Tabriz, like most of the Iranian nation, take pride in their revolutionary past; they hold their heads high and say we were the ones who initiated this revolutionary movement of the fortieth, the Arbaeen; they are right. And your coming here and this massive and passionate gathering, especially you dear youth, is one of the pillars and signs of this great and meaningful pride.

Well, I want to say a sentence regarding the 29th of Bahman, which is the main point of my speech, but before saying that, I want to repeat two points; this is an opportunity for me.

The first point is that I thanked the people of Iran for the 22nd of Bahman march at the end of this statement, but that gratitude, by God, is much less and smaller than what the Iranian nation deserves. The Iranian nation did a great job on the 22nd of Bahman this year. Let me tell you that this massive presence of people in the streets - according to the report I received, in all the country or in 98% of the cities, or more, the crowd was larger than in previous years; in some places, it was fifty percent more, in some places, forty percent more, in some places, thirty percent more - the enemy sees this; of course, they conceal it in their propaganda. In their propaganda, they say thousands came to the streets of Iran; they do not say millions, and in all cities, tens of millions came to the streets; the enemy does not say this but understands it. And the world knows that a country whose people are united in the middle of the field like this cannot be harmed by the enemy's plots; everyone knows this. That is, your presence in the political scene of the country and the revolutionary scene and the commemoration of the 22nd of Bahman of 1979 in the whole country was an important political and security movement carried out by the Iranian nation. We must be grateful to God; hearts are in God's hands. To You, the steps are directed, and to You... the necks are extended; hands are stretched towards God, hearts are in God's hands, God brought the people; we thank God, and we thank the dear people with all our being. The people came and shouted the same slogans.

On that day, I mentioned that the slogan "Death to America" does not mean [death to] the American nation. I specified its instance on the 19th of Bahman, which I will now mention that "Death to America" means death to domination, death to aggression, death to encroachment on the rights of nations; that is its meaning. A clear, conscious, human, meaningful, and profound movement was carried out by the people with this slogan everywhere in the country, which is truly worthy of gratitude.

Some are weak themselves, they are passive, they say the revolution has weakened; they are weak themselves, they compare themselves to others. They have lost their hearts, they think the people are like that. They attribute their weaknesses to the people; no, the people are those [whom] you saw in the streets on the 22nd of Bahman. May God have mercy on you, the Iranian nation, the diligent group that defends its revolution, its system, its identity, and its country with such insight.

The second point is regarding these dear youths who sacrificed their lives for the security of the country. Well, the apparent matter is that twenty to thirty young people were martyred. We have lost many martyrs, but this point is worth pondering and must make us aware and alert us to what price security is obtained. Look! Those who benefit from the existing security of the country in their work, their art, their sports, their studies, in all their affairs, then some of these beneficiaries who have eaten salt break the salt container! This security in which we live is obtained at this price; at the price of the blood of our youth and our best youth. May God's blessings be upon these young people of Isfahan, may the angels of God bless them, may God bless the martyr-loving people of Isfahan who held that extraordinary funeral for these young people the day before yesterday. The people of Isfahan are also among the pioneers of this movement. This is a very important task.

Let us not forget how security is maintained; the security of our borders, the security inside the country, the security of the roads, the security of the cities, the extraordinary security of this massive crowd on the 22nd of Bahman. With this massive crowd on the 22nd of Bahman, for these ceremonies to end with security, is that a small thing? Is that a trivial matter? Who are those who maintain security for us? Do we appreciate them? Do we know them? May God's blessings be upon the Revolutionary Guards and the other elements that protect security; upon the police force, upon the army, and others who sacrifice and dedicate themselves in this way. This revolution, this national dignity, this security, has been achieved through these sacrifices.

But regarding the Tabriz uprising. The important point about the uprising of the 29th of Bahman in Tabriz - which was truly an uprising; a real uprising in the true sense of the word; of course, it was in one city, but it had an impact on the entire country; it drew everyone into the field and culminated in that great and popular revolution - which God blessed, is that the people of Tabriz were able to recognize the time, this is one, and act in a timely manner, this is two. These two elements are very important. In all personal and social events, these two elements are very important that [if] we recognize the time, the occasion, and then when we understand that it is time to act, we must carry out that action in a timely manner, success will come. If there is no recognition of the time, if one becomes heedless of the demands of the time or if the necessary action is not taken in a timely manner, then any action taken will be futile. An example of this is in the history of the Tawabeen; the Tawabeen were those who, after the incident of Karbala occurred and the dear Imam Hussein was martyred in that way and that incident took place, they rose up in a rush, saying, "What, are we sitting?" They stood up and revolted - many of them were there - they went, and the government confronted them, and all of them were killed, martyred, but did the effect of the work of a hundred of them equal the effect of the work of that black slave who was martyred in Karbala? Did the effect of a hundred of them equal the effect of one Habib ibn Mazahir who was martyred in Karbala? No, [because] they did not act at the right time. If you wanted to defend Imam Hussein, the Prophet, the sanctity of the Guardianship, the movement of truth against the falsehood of Yazid, you should have acted on Ashura; you missed the time! This is history; in history, we have many examples of this kind.

I do not forget, at the beginning of the revolution, Imam on the twelfth of Bahman when he entered Tehran, said at Behesht Zahra that I will form a government, he promised that I will form a government; the ground was completely ready. I think it was on the fourteenth or fifteenth, Imam sent for us - because we were responsible for preparing the grounds for the formation of the government, the Revolutionary Council, which we were part of, I was a member of the Revolutionary Council and a few others - we went to see him at the Alavi School. He said, "Sir! What happened? What about the formation of the government?" I mean, why did you not prepare the grounds? You see, this is correct; this is time recognition and taking advantage of the opportunity. Then the next day or the day after, they appointed the provisional government, issued the decree, and that matter continued in that way. This is time recognition. The people of Tabriz - whom God blessed for their work, because of this time recognition - understood that now is the time to strike. The ruling system, with the mistake it made, stirred the people, the incident of Qom occurred, there it made another mistake, martyring some of the people of Qom, the ground was ready; how should this prepared ground manifest? The best occasion was the fortieth. The people of Tabriz understood this; "the fortieth" became the symbol of movement and uprising and revolution. They recognized the time, and they made the best use of the time; therefore, God blessed it. This is a lesson.

My dear ones! Today, the Islamic Republic system is in the best opportunities; today is the opportunity for work, today is the opportunity for movement; the movement of the government, the movement of the nation, the movement of the officials, each in their own place and their own work. The youth must move today, take advantage of the opportunity. Today, the situation is appropriate; a large population, a big country, all this capacity that I referred to in the statement to a few of them. The capacities of the country are much more than what is mentioned in our papers, in our writings, in our speeches. Everywhere in the country, [including] this Azerbaijan of yours and this Tabriz of yours - which the esteemed Friday prayer leader just mentioned and he was right - is a sea of various economic, scientific, social, artistic, and other aspects of life; it is a sea of capacity; these capacities must be recognized and utilized; who should do this work? It is our responsibility as officials; it is upon us as officials. Of course, when I say we officials, it does not mean that the duty is lifted from the shoulders of the youth. The meaning of the fire in the heart that we mentioned is this: that all the youth, all the believing groups in various fields, whatever work is possible for them, and in accordance with the laws of the country and the interests of the country [is] must be done, and no one should be left idle.

Well, there is capacity in the country. Our enemy is also weak today. Look, we do not want to be naive; I have repeatedly said and stated that "the enemy cannot be considered weak and miserable"; that is, it is not that we neglect the enemy's strengths, but when we look closely, we see the enemy is in trouble; the main enemy of the Islamic Republic is global arrogance, its manifestation is the aggressive regime of America, which is currently in trouble; it is troubled by its internal issues, it is troubled by its external issues; it is troubled by conflicts among the leaders of the country; they have disagreements over various issues that you see in the news; it is troubled by the extraordinary debt of the American government to its own people and to foreign countries; that is, they are one and a half trillion dollars in debt and loans; they are troubled by social problems inside. The people of America and their youth, according to documents they themselves say - these are not our internal information; this is information taken from their own sources; in their press, in some of their documents, this is available to us - are suffering from depression, suffering from suicide; murders there are more than anywhere else in the world; daily a large number of murders occur in America; murders of people by each other, murders of people by the police. Addiction and drugs; a hundred billion dollars is spent on drugs in America annually; America spends fifty billion dollars - these are from their own statistics - to fight drugs in the country and it is ineffective; it has no effect. Day by day, drug use there is on the rise; they are in trouble.

Look at their situation in Syria, look at their situation in Afghanistan, look at their situation in Iraq; these troubles make them angry, and then you see those weak-minded or truly - as we said - foolish leaders become angry and start cursing the Iranian nation; they hit their heads against the wall, they hold the Warsaw conference, it leads nowhere; they invite their cooperating countries, their mercenaries, weak and intimidated governments to Warsaw to make decisions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it leads to no result. All of these are signs of the enemy's weakness. So the enemy is weak. When the enemy is weak, it makes a lot of noise, it creates a lot of commotion; this commotion should not empty the heart of a certain official or cause a certain youth to make mistakes and think that something is happening; no. The day when this revolution was a weak sapling, all of them united to uproot this weak sapling, they could not; today that weak sapling has turned into this towering tree, this great and pure tree, they cannot do anything; the same sentence that Lady Zainab said to Yazid: "Do your plotting and strive... by God, you will not erase our memory"; do whatever you can, [but] know that you cannot do anything. Of course, the dignity of many of the leaders of the seemingly Muslim countries was lost in these events, their dignity was thrown to the ground; those who sat with the Zionist regime in Warsaw and the like against Islam and Muslims and the Islamic Republic, have no dignity among their own people; whether some of these Arabs of the Persian Gulf region or others, they have no dignity among their own people. This is how they are.

My point is: I say now we are in the vitality of the fortieth year and the necessary readiness and power to move forward, we have the means, we have the capacity, all these problems that exist can be resolved; inflation can be resolved, the depreciation of the rial can be resolved, the problems of domestic production can be resolved, all of these can be resolved; it requires a little patience, a little planning, a little unity and agreement, a little seriousness in movement and similar things. Our capabilities are very good, and the enemy is also in a state of weakness and, God willing, will become even weaker. We must take advantage of this opportunity, just as you people of Tabriz took advantage of the opportunity on the 29th of Bahman in 1978, you struck your blow, you did your work, you took your action.

I tell you young people - because tomorrow belongs to you young people, this country belongs to you young people - that the youth should cultivate themselves, prepare themselves spiritually, physically, academically, and in managerial capabilities. The country must be run by the youth. They should benefit from the advice of the elders, from the experiences of the elders, but the youth are the driving force of the country. The youth should prepare themselves - as I mentioned, both spiritually and morally, academically, in studying, physically, and in managerial and organizational capabilities, associations - the future of this country belongs to you, you must be able to manage it. You can bring this country to the peak. God willing, may He protect you all, grant you success so that this readiness, God willing, is shown in practice with steadfastness - which is very important. This is my advice to you young people.

And the advice to the officials of the country is to recognize the enemy correctly, do not fall for the enemy's deception. The enemy enters through various means; sometimes it shows its teeth, sometimes it shows its fist, sometimes it shows its smile; all of these mean the same thing. The enemy's smile is just like showing its teeth, there is no difference, it is enmity: "Indeed, enmity has appeared from their mouths, and what their hearts conceal is greater"; what exists in their impure hearts, filled with malice and hatred towards Islam and Muslims, especially the Islamic Republic, is much more than what appears in their words. Do not fall for the enemy's deception, do not accept the enemy's trickery. Today you observe that the Westerners are truly deceiving. Now, the actions of America have gone beyond deception and are completely open and straightforward, but the Europeans are also acting in the same way with deception. I do not say what they should do; the government officials should sit and think, [but] they should be careful not to be deceived, be careful not to be misled, not to let themselves and the nation fall into trouble; they should neither be deceived nor be afraid of the enemy; they should know that God's hand is above all hands and that the Almighty God is the supporter and helper of a nation that supports and aids His religion, and this nation, thanks be to God, will carry out this task.

Our dear martyrs have a great right over us; keep the memory of the martyrs alive. The fact that the esteemed Friday prayer leader referred to the connection with the families of the martyrs and the survivors of the martyrs and the honoring and respecting the great name of the martyrs, this is among the good and essential works. The name of the martyrs, the families of the martyrs, and the dignity of the martyrs must be increased day by day; these are the indicators of this path, and fortunately, our youth are always ready, have always been ready, and will always be ready; and may God's mercy be upon the great Imam and the great martyrs.

And I tell you, God willing, you dear young people will see the day when all that I have said today and have repeatedly reiterated will manifest in your lives by the grace and power of God. May God, God willing, protect you all.