Leader: Fear and weakness embolden enemies to attack

In his memorable speech on March 6, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said fear, lack of confidence, and display of weakness, embolden enemies to attack.

He made these remarks in his address to officials of Rahian-e Noor or Travellers towards Enlightenment, the name used for caravans of the faithful that regularly pay visits to the frontlines of the 8-year war which the US had imposed on Iran in the 1980s through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad, in order to recall memories of epics of the holy Defence and to preserve these heroic values in society, as part of readiness against any would-be aggressor.

The Leader, after expressing gratitude to Almighty Allah for His unlimited favours and after sending blessings upon the Prophet of Islam and his Infallible Household, said the people of Iran should appreciate the worth and value of the spirit of resistance displayed and the sacrifices offered, by Iranians of all sectors of society during the imposed war in order to safeguard the Islamic Revolution and protect the territorial integrity of their homeland in the face of a war that was waged almost by the whole world against the Islamic Republic of Iran. He said: “One point is that we should not let the memory of great days be consigned to oblivion. The great days of every country and every nation are days during which a divine event has occurred through and by the people. The holy Qur’an teaches us valuable lessons. It says in ayah 5 of Surah Ibrahim: “Teach them to remember the days of God”.

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the emphasis of the holy Qur’an on the exemplary accounts of the Prophets Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Jesus and others, as well as the chaste and virgin lady, Mary (peace upon them all). He then called for innovative methods on the part of the nation to meet the differing challenges of today. He said: A person who spends two days in a similar manner has suffered a great loss. In other words, if we carry out our present-day tasks in the same way that we did them yesterday, we have surely suffered a loss. Today, we must take a step further compared to yesterday and we should do this better than yesterday. This is the reason why I constantly and emphatically say to different managers in military, executive, judiciary and other areas that they should look at the whole of the human line – from the beginning to the end of it – that stands behind them so that they can watch and exercise supervision.

The Leader noted that often many tasks are launched in a satisfactory way, but they deviate somewhere in the process. He said: “In the beginning, when the deviation emerges, we do not feel it because it is small. But the more it continues, the wider the deviation becomes. And there are some tasks which do not deviate from the correct path, but they continue in a routine and monotonous manner. When we look at them today, we see that they are being carried out in the same way that they used to be carried out five, ten, twenty years ago. We witness no progress and improvement in them. And improvement and progress do not appear with words and with statistics. We should witness the results in the field. We should clearly see what is being done.”

He then elaborated: “Every country has a source of wealth. Some countries enjoy climatic resources of wealth, some enjoy geographical resources, some have underground resources, some have human resources – intelligent and outstanding individuals – some have oil, some have intelligence without money, and some have money without intelligence. We have such nations in the world. The strong point of every country should be dear and respectable to them and they should protect them. We have many strong points. We have many strong points in natural areas. We have lands, we have underground and above-ground resources, we have manpower, we have intelligence, and we have everything. But one of our most valuable sources of wealth is our cultural wealth. We have cultural wealth.”

The Leader went on to define cultural wealth by saying: “What is cultural wealth? For example, willingness for and belief in jihad is an example of cultural wealth. When you search among the people of Iran, you will see that except for a few, the majority of the people are motivated to move on the path of religion. Of course, there are different degrees: small and large. Some people are only motivated to chant slogans in favor of the country, the ideals of the Revolution and Islam when they are in front of the cameras. Very well, this is very good because this motivation exists. Some people are a little more motivated. And some individuals are so motivated that they are prepared to lay down their lives. This feeling of seeking, cherishing and believing in jihad is a source of cultural wealth. This exists in our country while it does not exist in many countries.” 

Ayatollah Khamenei recalled the struggle of the devoted people of Iran during the time of the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime, including his own imprisonment, saying: “Before the Revolution, whenever our revolutionary activists faced, for example, Marxist fighters – whether in collective or in individual discussions and whether inside or outside prison- I always said this to my close companions- I used to say to them that the difference between us and them was that we had God while they did not. In the corner of a prison cell, while being tortured, under excruciating circumstances, we had a refuge, we had God, we sought refuge in Him, and we sought help from Him. Even if He did not wish to help us there, at least we were happy with the thought that He was watching us and that He was witness to the fact that we were suffering for Him. However, those poor Marxists did not have this. I used to say that as long as those unbelievers are under the influence of emotions, excitement and hot feelings, they move forward. However, if that excitement, emotion and feelings are taken away from them for one moment and if they think about themselves for one moment, they will realize that they are doing a futile task. They say to themselves, “should I be killed so that others stay alive? Should I be killed so that such and such a person attains money and lives a comfortable life? Why?”

In contrast to the emptiness and vacuum of those who neither believe in God nor is their struggle based on spiritual values, the Leader remarked: “The characteristic of faith is that it keeps alive the feeling of jihad and the desire for it in individuals. This is a cultural value in itself. It is a great cultural value. Another cultural value is belief in resistance in the face of bullies. Believing that we will surely achieve victory in the end if we show resistance is a cultural value and a source of cultural wealth. If we want to count our sources of cultural wealth, we can prepare a long list of these values and cultural treasures that belong to us and that give us power.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: “You youth did not see the pre-revolutionary and ungodly era. We saw it. In those days, if someone had said that it would be possible to launch a movement in order to help religion become dominant in the country and that someone like Imam Khomeini (RA) would be in charge of the affairs, every average, ordinary and sensible individual would certainly have said that such a thing would be improbable and completely impossible.”

He then said: The imposed war and the holy Defence Era is an example of these events. Let me say something in parenthesis here: the imposed war broke out because the enemy felt weakness in us. If the Ba’athist enemy and its provokers had not been confident that they would arrive in Tehran in a few days – they were thinking like this – this war would not have broken out. They felt weakness in us. Your weakness encourages the enemy to attack you. This is a general rule. If you want to dissuade the enemy from attacking you, you should try not to speak about your weaknesses. I am not saying that we should lie by saying that we are strong, rather I am saying that we should display our strong points. We have many strong points. Therefore, we should display them. The same is true of the area of the economy. The same is true of the area of culture.”

Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to an important fact in the field of economy, saying: The grave mistake that some of us made in the great economic challenge that the country is faced with today – today, we are faced with an economic challenge – was that we spoke about our weakness in the area of the economy. The enemy saw that this is the area through which he could pressure us. And that is why they intensified their pressure in a way that they asked someone in an interview, “The Iranians might become upset at the military maneuver that you are carrying out in such and such a place because they are negotiating with you and this might damage your economic negotiations with them.” They wanted to prompt him to say without any feeling of shame, “These things will not affect the situation and that the Iranians need these negotiations so desperately that such maneuvers will not damage our economic negotiations with them.” This feeling of weakness should not be expressed in the face of the enemy.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution remarked: “Well, during the time of war, the enemy felt weakness in us and therefore, he attacked. But were we really weak or not? In the arena of action, yes, we were weak. Our Armed forces were dispersed and in a chaotic condition. They did not have organized management, much of our equipment was useless and we did not know how to use them. One, two years after the war, we discovered some of the things that were kept in our warehouses. It was only then that we discovered that we could use them. We did not have experience of war either. In the taghuti or ungodly era, only a few theatrical maneuvers had been launched through which the troops entered Iraq from one part of the border and left it a few kilometers away from the borderline. We did not have experience of war. Our only experience of war was limited to World War II during which time, the Godless ruler of those days asked his chief commander, “How long can our armed forces resist the enemy?” and the commander answered, “Sir, they can resist for two hours, sir.” Then, the Shah became unhappy. He was Reza Khan anyway. He became unhappy. Later on, when they departed, someone said to the commander, “You should have said it in a way that he would not become unhappy. You should have said it better. You should have used sweeter words.” The commander answered, “I used sweet words. When I said, ‘two hours’ it was sweet because they can only resist for ten minutes. However, I said, ‘two hours.’”

Recalling the trend of the imposed war in its initial stages, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “In his first steps, the enemy advanced up to 10, 12 kilometers away from Ahwaz. The enemy’s 60 mortars could strike the suburbs of Ahwaz. Things were like this. They easily passed through Naderi Bridge in Dezful and entered the other side of the Dezful River. Dezful, Ahwaz and other important cities of Khuzestan were in danger of being captured. In his first attack, the enemy entered the arena like this. We were in such conditions. Later on, our Muslim and revolutionary forces collected themselves with the warning of our magnanimous Imam Khomeini – who was a great divine sign: he was the real “Grand Ayatollah”! The Islamic Republic of Iran Army, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Basij did so in different ways. Our forces collected themselves and utilized their resources. They began to use the power that was hidden in them and that had not been discovered before that. This power was not only related to fighting, showing courage and entering the arena. This was only one of their powers. They also displayed the power to manage, to innovate, to take the initiative in their hands and other such powers. That was how they changed the scene of the war. The war began in the year 1980 – with the same losses that I mentioned – but in April 1982, our forces captured several thousand Iraqis during Operation Fath-ul-Mobin. Notice the difference! In the course of one and a half years, the progress of our pious and revolutionary forces developed in a way that retreat to areas close to Ahwaz and Dezful turned into an operation like Operation Fath-ul-Mubin during which about 10, 12 thousand individuals from the enemy were taken captive! One example of the days of God is really the days of the imposed war and the holy Defense Era. We should keep this alive because it is a source of wealth.”

The Leader said: “Some people think that the war should not be mentioned or if it is mentioned, it should be condemned. These people are wrong! They hold meetings on the subject of war achievements and war literature, but they recite anti-war poems in those meetings. They are making a mistake. They are like individuals who burn and destroy the precious manuscripts of a nation - unique hand-written texts which have remained from the past. They are like individuals who extract a country’s oil and pour it into the sea in order to destroy it. They are like individuals who destroy national sources of wealth - sources that can build history and the future- whose remembrance is like the remembrance of the emphasis of the holy Qur’an “Teach them to remember the days of God” because they can build the country in the present time and in the future. These individuals produce anti-war films and books. We should be careful about this. They are confusing two separate issues. One issue is whether war in itself is a good thing or a bad thing. Well, it is clear that war is a cruel phenomenon. War involves killing, destroying and injuring. This is clear. This is one issue. Another issue is about the things that will happen if a people who are being attacked from all sides do not bring their strength and power to the arena, and do not stand up against the enemy. They confuse this issue with that. The holy Defence was a vital movement. It was like breathing for the people. If we had not breathed, we would have died! This should be kept alive. Therefore, the memories of the eight-year holy Defence Era are a great source of national wealth. These memories are so large in number and so diverse, meaningful and expressive that no eloquent tongue – let alone for mine which is flawed – can appreciate all of them. The reason is this: although 30 years have passed since the end of the imposed war, they are still writing books about it. When I myself – who was present there, and who was witness to and aware of many of those events – read those books, I learn a great number of new things! We can know about various personalities, issues and lessons by reading these books.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution told the audience: “Well, if you want to use your wealth, you should have the technology for it. I say that Rahian-e Noor is a technology. This is a technology for using this great source of wealth. The large gold mine that is available to us can either be abandoned or be sold to others cheaply. Thankfully, it has been carried out properly until today, but this is not enough. As I mentioned before, the continuation of the path is not enough. The continuation of the path should be accompanied by increasing progress. Every time and every year, there should be more advantages and more achievements. Today, we are faced with enemies who are using the most advanced equipment and a great deal of money against us. We might not have that amount of money or that number of weapons – they have atomic bombs while we do not – but we have something that they do not. That is our culture. That is our faith. That is our efficient and skilled manpower. We have these things and therefore, they should be used. Who should use them? All bases and foundations of the country should use them… Also, we should include matters related to holy Defence in university curricula. Every disabled war veteran is a sign. We should commemorate these reminders of the holy Defence Era.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said “If we do cultural work and manufacture cultural products in the area of holy Defence, this production will enrich the country. It will enrich and strengthen our human resources with the result that they will become strong in the face of the enemies’ plots. If we wish to have forces for the economy, these forces should be strong. If we wish to have forces for culture, these forces should be strong. If we wish to have good forces for the managerial issues of the country, they should be strong. It is culture that strengthens humans and that builds strong individuals. Cultural strength originates from the generous wellspring of holy Defense forces. If we manage to benefit from this, the country’s culture will become strong.”

The Leader likened cultural issues to economic matters, saying: “This is like the economy. If you do not have domestic production, imported products will replace domestic products. When importation replaces domestic production, the result will be that domestic production will not be able to survive in the future. This is one of our problems today: excessive – and perhaps – uncalculated importation in different areas and in return, incomplete and flawed production. The same is true of culture. If you do not have cultural production, cultural imports will enter the country whether officially or in the form of smuggling. In the present time, cultural imports are too many. I have ample information in this regard and I sometimes warn officials in this regard. I hope that they pay attention, God willing. Of course, some of them pay attention. The enemies are thinking. In the chambers that they refer to as “think tanks”, they are busy thinking about how they can infiltrate the culture of the people of Iran and how they can convert the youth. Their desire is to make you youth – who breathe today with the love of Imam Khomeini, with the love of the Revolution, and with the love of lofty religious, Islamic and revolutionary values – become empty of all these values and turn into elements which are dependent on western culture and philosophy. They want you to become elements which are useless for yourselves, for the country and for its future. This is their desire. And they are planning for this. They are working on this. This is different from security plans. This is different from security plots. This is different from threatening to launch a military attack. In my opinion, this is more dangerous than those actions. If the enemy makes a military move, it will make the people more motivated and it will make them clench their fists against them more firmly. This is what a military move does. A cultural attack, however, works in the opposite way. If the enemy manages to launch a cultural attack, it will sap individuals’ energy, it will make them indecisive, it will weaken their willpower, it will take away the youth from the country and it will render valuable forces useless.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution referring to the resistance of the border provinces during the holy Defence Era, said “Each of these five provinces – Khuzestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan and West Azarbaijan: the border strip in the western part of the country – has a specific value and status. The people in those provinces should receive our attention and kindness. All those provinces should be supported. If you look at all those regions, you will see that if it had not been for the people’s support, the task would not have moved forward. It was with the support of those people that our soldiers managed to perform their duties. In the short periods of time that I was present in those arenas, I saw with my own eyes the people’s help, support and special attention to the soldiers. This encouraged our soldiers to fulfill great tasks and to make those moves. I hope that Allah the Exalted will make you successful. I hope that He will make this task a blessed task so that the country will benefit from its achievements in the present time and in the future, God willing.”

AS/ME