Leader: US, Israel, Arab reactionary regimes destabilizing Iraq, Lebanon (1)

Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in his address to the graduation ceremony of army cadets at Khatam ol-Anbiya University on Wednesday, October 30, lauded the selfless efforts of the armed forces, and said the US, along with the Zionist entity and Arab reactionary regimes, was trying to destabilize the situation in Iraq and Lebanon.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution praised Allah Almighty for His Favours, and saluted the Master of the all Divine Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). He paid tributes to the Immortal Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), his martyred sons and companions, and then greeted the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS) – may God hasten his reappearance for establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice.

He then said: “First of all, I would like to congratulate all you dear youth, whether those who received their ranks today, finished their studies and joined the young officers of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army or those who received their epaulets today to begin their path towards their career in the Army. I hope that all of you will be successful, Insha Allah (God Willing).

“In the future too, you will turn into the commanders, officials and powerful managers of the Armed Forces by Allah’s favor and grace.  The arena was well-organized today. A beautiful performance was delivered. I thank the organizers of this performance and those who presented it.

“The main point is that presence in the Islamic Republic of Iran Army is not merely a job like other jobs that one pursues, rather it signifies undertaking a holy responsibility. What is that holy responsibility? Ensuring security. Security is one of the most important and influential elements that a society needs. If security does not exist in a society, no task will be carried out in that society in a correct and positive way. If security does not exist in a society and if a country is threatened by its enemies, then people cannot engage in scientific and research work, nor in economic, intellectual and cultural work.

“In an unsafe environment, everyone is preoccupied with saving their own lives. You Armed Forces and the Islamic Republic of Iran Army are the preservers of security in this country. This is an extraordinarily important, sensitive, holy and valuable responsibility. You should appreciate the value of this. Therefore, if you youth, who have pure and radiant hearts, try to get close to God with this course of action, you are actually doing an act of worship. In other words, your exercises, your participation in the classroom, the missions that you carry out and the great tasks that you accomplish are all considered acts of worship. When one’s work is holy and when one decides to get close to God, this is an act of worship. So, this is a fundamental difference with other occupations.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The issue of security, as I mentioned, is very important. The gravest harm that the enemies can inflict upon a country is to take its security away. You can see what the enemies are doing in some of the countries in our region. They are taking away security in those countries. And the agents behind these moves have been identified. Today’s arrogant powers – above all, the US – and western intelligence services are creating chaos in some of our neighboring regional countries with money from some reactionary countries in the region. This is the worst kind of enmity and the most dangerous form of showing a grudge against a nation.

“I wish to use this opportunity to say to the sympathizers of those countries – such as Iraq and Lebanon which face certain problems – their priority is to resolve insecurity. Their people too should know that although they have legitimate demands, those demands can only be met within the law. The enemy wants to upset legal structures. When there is no legal structure in a country and when there is a void in this regard, nothing can be done. No positive course of action can be adopted. They have devised such plans for our dear country as well. Fortunately, the nation entered the arena on time. It was vigilant and the Armed Forces were present as well and they helped to foil the plot. This cure exists for all the countries who face this problem. This is the first point. You should know that you are the preservers of security – in other words, the preservers of the most important asset that a nation has. Security is a key to other assets.

“The next point is a comparison between the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and the armies of arrogant powers. I do not want to discuss all armies in the world. My discussion is about arrogant armies. I want to compare our Army – which benefits from you youth and you newly grown seedlings and flowers – with the armies of arrogant powers. There is a deep difference in terms of identity and nature. As I defined it, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army considers itself to be the preserver of security in its country. This is its main function. However, the primary mission of the armies belonging to arrogant powers is to invade, to occupy and to deliver blows to the countries which can be harmed for certain reasons and certain interests. This is the difference!”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed out: “The Islamic Republic has never begun a war. When required, we have defended in a powerful and solid manner, but we have never attacked and shown transgression. Never! In the philosophy and logic of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there is no transgression. However, if you look at role of the armies of arrogant countries over the past 100 years – when I say “the past 100 years”, this is because this humble person himself is aware of the developments in the past century as I saw up close what happened in our own time – the traces of the crimes committed by the armies of arrogant powers can be witnessed almost everywhere in the world.

“In the Subcontinent – that is, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and even Myanmar – the British army committed such crimes in the twentieth century that one really feels disgusted at recounting them and at the manner in which they invaded nations. There are shocking writings about the massacres of people in that area carried out by Britain. That was only part of what they did.

“In the past century, they – the British armed forces – did the same things in West Asia as well. They did the same things in parts of North Africa. They have committed such crimes that nations will never forget. Of course, politicians – whether the politicians in those weak countries or the politicians in England itself – wanted to cover it up. They wish to consign it to oblivion somehow, but it cannot be consigned to oblivion. It has been recorded in all histories and it will remain there forever.

“The same things have been committed by the French Army. The French, who claim human rights and democracy, have committed so many crimes in North Africa, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In East Asia – in Vietnam – the before the Americans entered Vietnam, the French committed crimes there. They committed many crimes. They committed crimes in East Asia. The French Army committed shocking crimes in present-day Syria and Lebanon. They exerted many pressures on the people. These incidents occurred over the past 100 years. Arrogant armies are like this by nature.”

Ayatollah Khamenei took note: “And when it was the Americans’ turn, it is clear what happened. In August 1945, the Americans killed in one moment, hundreds of thousand people with one atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. When the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, a hundred thousand people were killed in the first hour. Of course, later on, other people – tens of thousands – gradually died or were handicapped as a result of poisoning caused by nuclear radiation. Three days later, the Americans dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Fifty thousand people were killed there as well.

“They were asked if you wanted to end the war – they would say that they wanted to end the World War by doing that – the first bomb was enough, why did you drop the second bomb on Nagasaki? The answer was that the first bomb was made with uranium, but the second one was made with plutonium and they wanted to test both! Notice that in order to test a bomb, the lives of 150,000 people were lost at once. This is the nature of arrogant, impious, Godless and immoral armies. This is how armies are different from one another. Of course, these are a few examples that I am citing. If someone decides to speak about the crimes of armies belonging to arrogant powers and if they wish to go beyond the past century and to reflect the past two, three hundred years, they could and should write several books.

“Well, what do such armies rely on? How do they get their resources? They rely on arrogant regimes. In other words, the problem is not with the armies themselves, rather their source of reliance – arrogant systems – is the problem. Notice that the secret behind our insistence on and persistence in the Holy Qur’an and our desire to establish an Islamic government is this. When humanity falls into the hands of immoral and impious systems which do not have a correct orientation, this is the outcome and this is what their armies look like.

“The armies which committed so many crimes relied on the political powers dominating those countries. It was they who supported those armies. And the armies preserved those systems in their own right. This is nature of their work. Of course, on this side too – the side of the Islamic government – the Islamic government respects and attaches value to its Army, its Armed Forces, its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), its Basij and its Police Force. It attaches significance to them. The Armed Forces are one of the most important and efficient elements in the amazing and beautiful system of the Islamic Republic which has been formed by various elements from top to bottom and from its length to its width.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said in his speech to the cadets: “The third point is about the characteristics of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. Over the past 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army has been at the service of the Islamic Revolution with its heart and soul. It brought all its power to the arena. All forces inside the country faced a historic test. Each one of them emerged out of it in a particular way. The Islamic Republic of Iran Army emerged honorable out of it. This is my judgment about the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. Since the first hour of the victory of the Revolution – and even a little before it when revolutionary forces of the army showed their presence – until today, this has lasted 41 years, I have been aware of Army affairs. The Army has shown its presence very well in this arena.

“First of all, many elements in the army of the former despotic system, who had preserved their religion and their faith, managed to enter the arena and to actually form the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. Martyr Sayyad Shirazi, Martyr Sattari, Martyr Babai and looking further back, Martyr Fallahi, Martyr Fakouri, the late Zahir-Nejad and the late Salimi were active in the army of the former evil regime. However, you see that those brilliant figures managed to welcome the Islamic Republic and to make a large section of the Army follow them.

“When Babai was the commander of the Isfahan Air Force base, I went and visited the base. The entirety of the base which had Babai as its commander – he was a colonel then: a pious and revolutionary man – used to be run like a Basiji organization. I went and visited different places in the base.

Martyre Sayyad Shirazi was the manifestation of revolutionary dynamism and religious faith and belief. This was one of the things that happened in the Army: former elements – many of them – welcomed the Islamic Republic. I mentioned only a few of them. A large number of them attained the lofty position of martyrdom and some of them were active in public services. They rendered services, worked and endeavored hard and we were witness to their efforts.”

That was the first part of the Leader’s speech.

AS/MG