Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has issued a message following the bitter and painful bomb attack, which led to the martyrdom of dozens of Imam Hossein (PBUH)’s pilgrims in Iraq, and also over a recent train crash in Iran, which left a large number of passengers and pilgrims of Imam Reza (PBUH) dead and wounded. In his message, Ayatollah Khamenei wished God’s mercy and forgiveness for the deceased and prayed for rapid recovery of the injured, adding, “Officials must not take such painful incidents lightly and the concern for addressing the root causes of such calamities and the likes of them, which create problems for people, must top their list of priorities.”

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
The bitter and sorrowful incident of the martyrdom of dozens of Iranian and non-Iranian pilgrims of Hadhrat Seyyed osh-Shohada [Imam Hossein] (PBUH) in Iraq and the painful incident of train crash [in Iran], which led to the death and injury of a group of passengers and pilgrims of Hadhrat Abil-Hassan al-Riza (PBUH), have left me grief-stricken like other fellow countrymen and the bereft families [of the deceased].

In the first incident, criminal and ruthless Takfiri groups whose eyes had been blinded and whose mischievous plots had been thwarted through the huge Arba’een march and the unique security of Imam Hossein (PBUH)’s pilgrims, embarked on taking a cowardly and heart-wrenching revenge and once again revealed their evil face and their filthy nature to everybody. From other parts of the world, like Nigeria and Pakistan and Afghanistan, bitter and shocking news are received about crimes committed by their comrades, which once more remind all Muslims and concerned people about the risk posed by the Takfiri current and governments that support it. In the second incident [train crash in Iran’s Semnan province], some families lost their loved ones due to oversight or fault and inefficiency of officials and [the incident] led to the death and injury of a number of our dear people.

I hereby demand divine mercy and forgiveness for the deceased and pray for the recovery of the injured and condole with their families, while asking officials and those in charge with regard to both domestic and foreign incidents not to take such painful incidents lightly and put the concern about addressing the root causes of such calamities and the likes of them, which create problems for people, on the top of the list of their priorities, and for the time being, do their utmost to have the injured treated and the deceased transferred and also to allay the pain of the bereft families.

Seyyed Ali Khamenei
Azar 6, 1395
November 26, 2016