In a meeting with the chairman and members of the Assembly of Experts this morning (Thursday), Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pointed to the unique and exceptional position of the assembly in the Islamic establishment and demanded that the Assembly of Experts fulfil an important responsibility, saying, “Through the formation of a scholarly committee which enjoys a grand, strategic, and deep outlook, this assembly must study the process of the movement of the Islamic Revolution over the past 38 years toward its main goals, advances, [instances of] stagnation and perhaps regression and demand [answers] from different apparatuses according to its conclusions.”
The Leader of the Islamic Republic also pointed to the cheap, odious, foolish, confused and totally unreal remarks of the US president at the United Nations General Assembly, stressing, “These remarks did not emanate [from a position of] strength, but stemmed from fury, frustration and idiocy, because the Americans are extremely upset and angry over their years-long plots falling flat in West Asia with the effective presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Ayatollah Khamenei described the Assembly of Experts as a unique and exceptional assembly in terms of its composition, function and responsibilities and added, “Alongside its present responsibilities, the Assembly must possess a grand and strategic view and assessment of the course and movement of the Islamic Revolution.”
Explaining this responsibility and the mechanism for its implementation, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated, “The three branches of the government are responsible for running the country and they must govern the country in a revolutionary manner; meanwhile, through the establishment of a scholarly committee, the Assembly of Experts must assess the level of progress or regression in the path toward revolutionary goals and accordingly make demands from the relevant apparatuses.”
Citing some examples, he then elucidated the responsibility of making demands and said, “One of the tags of our revolution was ‘neither East, nor West’ and although there is no Eastern bloc today, the West, namely the US and European states, are strongly and powerfully present.”
Ayatollah Khamenei added, “‘No West’ means that we should not be absorbed by, affiliated with, obedient to and under the sway of the West, we should not move toward meeting their demands, and we should cleanse the country and its culture of the mix of deviant Western culture.”
He cited “economic might” as one of the pillars of the country’s power and said, “One of the main elements of economic might is ‘currency strength and people’s purchasing power;’ therefore, if national currency depreciates daily because of carelessness and wrong policies and we experience regression and reversion, the Experts must demand [explanation] from the administration, parliament and responsible apparatuses.”
The issue of “justice, combating poverty and the correct distribution of wealth” was the third issue that the Leader of the Islamic Revolution cited as among the main issues of the Revolution which requires the Experts to appraise and demand explanation on it, adding, “Justice and the proper distribution of wealth in the country has been stressed by Islam and is different from the incorrect Marxist statements, and the country must be governed in such a way that the gap between the rich and the poor or what is known in the world today as the Gini coefficient is reduced.”
Ayatollah Khamenei described “maintaining and safeguarding revolutionary spirits and motivations” as crucial to the endurance of the Islamic Revolution, saying, “Without a revolutionary spirit, the struggles, sacrifices and blood that the people offered for the revival of Islam will be squandered and even if a government rules, that government is not the Islamic Republic; therefore, the Experts must have an estimate of the level of revolutionary spirit in the society and the factors countering it and make demands accordingly.”
He described his own emphasis on helping and supporting revolutionary and faithful forces as one of the demands which should be met based on watching the revolutionary movement of the country and added, “Of course, it is obvious that the country has been advancing and not going backward in this regard.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the issue of “the religiosity of the people” as an important issue and pointed to some individuals repeating the phrase “We do not want to take people to Paradise by force,” adding, “This interpretation is wrong and fallacious, because no one wants to take people to Paradise by force, but the road to paradise must be rightly and properly opened to the people and we must encourage them to move along that path.”
He added, “The philosophy behind sending prophets has been to guide people to Paradise and distancing them from Hell; of course the claim that there is no compulsion in Islam is not a correct statement and there are religious restrictions in some cases.”
Concluding this part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated, “The scholarly committee of the Assembly of Experts must assess the abovementioned cases and their like and make demands from apparatuses according to progress or regression with regard to any of them and transform these important issues into public discourse and demand because addressing these matters befits the Assembly of Experts.”
Continuing, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to some of the issues and problems such as economic woes and said, “People from all walks of life and the country’s officials must know that resolving the problems, whether economic or cultural, is only possible by the people themselves and reliance upon the internal capabilities and capacities and not depending on foreigners.”
He reiterated, “This issue must be repeated so often in the society so that it turns into common and definitive discourse because the country has motivated youths and capable, intelligent, innovative and creative individuals in various production, scientific and educational sectors that should be used.”
Stressing that foreigners cannot resolve the issues of the country, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, “I’m not calling for the severance of ties with the world and have always called for widespread contacts with the world since the beginning of the Revolution until now; but what I’m saying is: ‘Do not trade your powerful leg for a foreign walking stick’.”
On the issue of reliance on foreigners, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the nuclear negotiations and said, “The issue that we had and have with the nuclear talks and have repeatedly raised in meetings with the officials is that there was nothing wrong with negotiations, but necessary care and caution should have been exercised so that it wasn’t the case that whatever the other parties did would not be seen as a violation of the JCPOA, but any action by Iran would be considered a breach of the deal.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “We should work with the world and accept the obligations associated with it, but we should not set our eyes on foreigners.”
Stressing that there is an enemy front before the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated, “The Islamic establishment has dealt blows to the enemy front and pushed them back and the same will hold true in the future, but we have to know that there is no one single ‘spot’ as the enemy before us, but we are facing a ‘front’.”
He described the growing progress of the Islamic establishment in regional and global issues as one of the main reasons behind the fury of the ill-wishers of the Iranian nation and pointed to the remarks of the US president at the US General Assembly, saying, “The reason for the foolish, very odious and cheap remarks of the US president with his gangsterish and cowboyish language that was confused and sheer lies throughout is their [US officials’] wrath, frustration and idiocy.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed, “The remarks of the US president were not a cause for pride for the American nation and the US elites must be ashamed of such statements and having such a president and they have declared this feeling of shame.”
On the indignation of US officials, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The Americans have had plots for the West Asian region since years ago and named it as the ‘New Middle East’ or the ‘Greater Middle East’ and the three main axes of this design were Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, but they faced defeat in all three countries.”
He stressed, “Based on that conspiracy, Iraq, with its ancient history and civilization, Syria, as the pivot of resistance, and Lebanon, with its special status, were supposed to fall under the rule and influence of the US and Zionist regime.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “However, the realities of the region are something else now, because they could not make any headway in Lebanon, in Iraq, precisely the opposite of their demands have materialized, and in Syria, despite the countless crimes by the US and its allies and the massacre of the people in this country and the widespread support for Takfiri terrorist groups, Daesh has reached the end of the line and Takfiri groups such as al-Nusrah Front have been isolated.”
He added, “The presence and effectiveness of the Islamic Republic of Iran has prevented the US and Zionist regime’s machinations and demands from being realized in the region and this is the reason for their indignation.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated, “There should not be a mistake in some people’s analyses, because the stances adopted by the US are not a result of its power and strength vis-à-vis Iran; rather, those stances emanate from Washington’s frailty, failure and fury.”
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the successful and proud presence of the Islamic Republic in regional and global issues, stressing, “This honor must be safeguarded with wisdom, prudence and correct thinking and not making mistakes in interactions, making decisions and taking stances.”
He pointed to fact that this honor has been achieved though the struggles of the people and the youth and the blood of martyrs being shed, saying, “Beloved martyr Mohsen Hojaji was one example and we have many of these examples among the youth and God Almighty highlighted this example before [public] eyes for some reasons so that everyone would submit to the noble truth that revolutionary motivations are on the rise among the youth by the grace of God.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed to the countless requests of the youth through letters and messages to take part in defending holy shrines [in Syria and Iraq] and fighting the enemy, reiterating, “This is the very same increasing revolutionary motivations among the youth and the existence of such motivations in circumstances where deterrent and tempting factors such as the cyberspace are present signify God’s favour and miracle.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also described the lunar calendar month of Muharram as the month of Imam Hussain (Peace be Upon Him) and all the values manifested in His Holiness such as Jihad, martyrdom, sincerity, loyalty, forgiveness, endeavoring to safeguard the religion of God and standing up against all powers hostile to religion.
He reiterated, “This event grew more lively over time and the commemoration of this great epic [feat] grows more vigorous and widespread every year and this issue bears a special message and meaning and by God’s grace this movement will advance with the leadership of Imam Hussain (PBUH).”
Prior to the remarks of the Leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Assembly of Experts, described the revolutionary stances of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution as a cause for hope among people and added, “Being revolutionary is a condition for success and if we are not revolutionary, no success will be achieved.”
The head of the Assembly of Experts pointed to the scientific and research activities of the assembly, announced the holding of conferences for seminary and university students across the country and stressed the need for organizing and responding to concerns which have emerged over the cyberspace.”
Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroodi, the deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, also presented a report on the most important discussions in the meetings of the assembly and the speeches delivered by its members.