In a meeting with scholars, pundits and invitees to the 8th summit of the General Assembly of the Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and the 6th General Assembly of the Ahlul-Bayt World Assembly in Tehran on Monday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described the struggle against the plots hatched by the arrogant powers in the Middle East region as an evident manifestation of the “jihad on the path of God.”
Underscoring the need for taking firm action against “US efforts to exploit the outcome of the nuclear talks to boost its economic, political and cultural infiltration into Iran,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The hegemonic system’s plan for the region is based on the two pillars of division and infiltration, which should be fought against vigilantly and incessantly through correct aggressive and defensive plans.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, referring to the 6th General Assembly of the Ahlul-Bayt World Assembly, said the requisite for following the Household of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him and His Household) is to spread Islamic teachings, executing divine commands, wholehearted struggle on the path of God, and fighting oppression and oppressors. Ayatollah Khamenei added, “Struggling on the path of God is not limited to military war, but it also includes cultural, economic and political struggle.”
“Today, [the most] objective manifestation of struggling on the path of God is to know the plots [hatched] by the arrogant powers in the Islamic region and particularly in the strategic and sensitive West Asia region, and also to make plans to fight them. This fight should include both defensive and invasive aspects,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Referring to the plots hatched by the arrogant powers in the region over the past century, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “Although the arrogant powers’ plots in the Islamic region have a long record, pressures and conspiracies intensified in the wake of the [1979] Islamic Revolution in Iran so that this experience would not be repeated in other countries.”
Ayatollah Khamenei noted, “Since 35 years ago, the Islamic Republic’s Establishment has always been targeted by threats, sanctions, security pressures and a variety of political conspiracies and the Iranian nation is accustomed to these pressures.”
The Leader added, “Of course, the enemies’ conspiracies in West Asia region have been intensified due to the enemy’s panic in the aftermath of the Islamic Awakening movement which started in North Africa a few years ago.”
“They believe that they have managed to quell the Islamic Awakening movement, but this movement is not suppressible and is racing ahead and it will show its reality sooner or later,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader stated that the arrogant system, with the US at its top, is the most objective instance and complete manifestation of “the concept of the enemy,” stressing, “The US is fully devoid of human ethics and embarks on wickedness and crime with no bridle and under the guise of attractive words and smiles.”
Ayatollah Khamenei went on to expound the enemy’s plot under the present circumstances, saying, “This plot is based on two pillars of ‘causing division’ and ‘infiltration’.”
Regarding the enemy’s plot to sow discord among nations, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Causing discord among governments and more dangerously, among nations, is on the agenda of the [global] arrogance.”
Pointing to the fact that such titles as Shia and Sunni are currently used to sow discord among nations, the Leader said the Britons are experts in creating division and the Americans are their disciples.
“Creating killer, insolent and tyrant Takfiri groups, which Americans have admitted to their role in creating them, is the most important tool for stoking seemingly religious divisions among nations, which unfortunately, some naïve Muslims have been fooled by this conspiracy and plot due to their lack of insight and they have been embroiled in the enemy’s plot.”
To that effect, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to the issue of Syria as a clear example of this fact, saying, “When the despotic regimes were toppled in Tunisia and Egypt by Islamic slogans, the Americans and Zionists decided to use this formula to devastate resistant countries and that is why they turned to Syria.”
“After the beginning of the issue of Syria, a group of Muslims who lacked insight were dragged into the aforesaid plot and by completing the enemy’s puzzle, drove Syria into its present conditions,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.
“What is happening today in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other regions, and efforts are underway to describe it as sectarian war, does by no means constitute a sectarian war, but is a political war,” the Leader said, adding, “Today, the most important task is to make efforts to do away with these differences.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said, “We have said clearly and openly that the Islamic Republic of Iran extends its hand of friendship toward all Muslim governments in the region and has no problem with Muslim governments.”
The Leader added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran maintains friendly relations with most of its neighbors. Of course, some countries are at loggerheads with us and show obstinacy and wickedness. However, Iran has set its base on good relations with neighbors and Islamic governments and particularly regional nations.”
Ayatollah Khamenei then stated, “The basis of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s behavior is the principles which helped the late imam [Khomeini] drive the Islamic Revolution to victory and stabilize it.”
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that “being harsh on apostates and merciful among them” is a strong principle of the Islamic Establishment, adding, “Following the instructions of the late venerable Imam and the inviolable line of the Islamic Republic, we have no decision to reconcile with the [global] arrogance, but we seek friendship and amity with our Muslim brethren.”
“In our support of the oppressed, we do not look at [their] religious denomination and we have offered the same support that we provided to our Shia brethren in Lebanon to our Sunni brethren in Gaza, and we consider the issue of Palestine as the top issue of the Muslim world,” the Leader emphasized.
Concluding his remarks on the issue of “causing division” as the foremost pillar of the enemy’s plot in the Islamic region of West Asia, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Intensification of differences is banned in the Muslim world and we oppose any behavior and move, even by some Shia groups, which could cause division, and we condemn insults to the Sunnis’ sanctities.”
Ayatollah Khamenei mentioned “infiltration” in regional countries as the second wicked plot of the United States, noting, “The United States is seeking [long-term] infiltration in the region for tens of years in order to regain its lost credit.”
Ayatollah Khamenei referred to Washington’s effort to exploit the outcome of Iran’s nuclear talks with six world powers, stressing, “Americans intend to use an agreement, whose fate is still decided neither in Iran nor in America and whose approval or rejection is still unclear, as an instrument for infiltration in Iran, but we have firmly blocked this way and use all our high power to deny Americans any economic, political, [and] cultural infiltration or political presence in Iran.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic’s regional policies stand opposite to the US regional policies, adding, “They seek to partition the regional countries and create smaller and subordinate countries, but through the God’s power and grace, this will never happen.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated his previous warnings about the United States’ effort to partition Iraq, saying, “Some people were surprised at those remarks, but today, Americans are openly talking about the disintegration of Iraq.”
“Disintegration of Iraq, and if they could, Syria, is the clear goal of Americans, but territorial integrity of the regional countries and Iraq and Syria is very important to us,” Ayatollah Khamenei stressed.
Elaborating on the Islamic Republic’s regional policies being at odds with the policies of the US regime, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “Iran fully supports resistance in the region, including the Palestinian resistance, and will support anyone fighting Israel and pounding the Zionist regime.”
Ayatollah Khamenei mentioned countering divisive policies of the United States and discord-oriented centers as another major policy of Iran, emphasizing, “We do not recognize a Shiism whose base and center of propaganda is in London and is paving the way for the [global] arrogance basically as Shiism.”
Reiterating the Islamic Republic of Iran’s support for all the oppressed, including people in Bahrain and Yemen, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Despite baseless allegations, we do not interfere in these countries, but we continue to support the oppressed people.”
Ayatollah Khamenei strongly criticized the massacre of the oppressed people in Yemen and the destruction of this country, adding, “Following up on certain political goals through idiotic methods, has resulted in the persistence of crimes against the people in Yemen.”
Concluding this part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “In other parts of the Muslim world, including in Pakistan and Afghanistan, painful events are also taking place, which Muslims ought to find remedies to these problems through insight and awareness.”
Elsewhere in his speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said the Islamic Radio and Television Union is a very important center for countering the dangerous empire and sophisticated mafia of American-Zionist media, adding, “This movement should be totally bolstered and expanded.”
Ayatollah Khamenei then pointed out the wide distance between media in most Muslim countries and Muslim people’s demands, and their following suit with dangerous policies of the arrogant powers, saying, “‘The oppressors’ media empire’, while claiming neutrality, is serving the goals of global bullies through distortion and lie and all kinds of complicated methods.”
In conclusion, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “Despite ranting by the [global] arrogance and its followers, the dignity and power of Islam is clear and guaranteed thanks to the presence of combatant men and youths and women, and the future of the region belongs to the Muslim nations.”
At the end of the meeting, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution received a group of the invitees and talked with them.
Prior to Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, secretary general of the Ahlul-Bayt World Assembly, presented a report on the 6th General Assembly, saying, “The General Assembly of the Ahlul-Bayt World Assembly has been attended by scholars and renowned figures from more than 30 countries.
Hojjatoleslam Ali Karimian, secretary general of the Islamic Radio and Television Union, also presented a report, saying, “Efforts made to develop a new literature in the media sphere in conformity with Islamic criteria, winning the public trust, focusing on training human resources, working out a mechanism for production, distribution and publication of news, and efforts made for content management have been among the most important measures taken by the Islamic Radio and Television Union.”