On the thirtieth anniversary of the passing away of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (r.a.), a commemorating ceremony was held at the shrine of the magnanimous Imam with the Supreme Leader—Ayatollah Khamenei—as well as government officials, political figures, foreign ambassadors and masses of the people in attendance.
In this ceremony, Ayatollah Khamenei—the Leader of the Islamic Revolution—delivered a speech broadcast live on his official website as well as the IRIB. His Eminence stressed, in his statements, that efforts to make his memory perish have failed, asserting: During the thirty years since the passing away of Imam Khomeini (r.a.), many efforts have been made to understate the name and reminiscences of our magnanimous Imam; yet, he received a longer lasting appeal.
Ayatollah Khamenei addressed massive gathering of people at the shrine as well as viewers of the live coverage by saying: Today exactly thirty years have passed since that bitter historical day; thirty years since our separation from our popular honored Imam; thirty years since that historic farewell and extraordinary and auspicious funeral, that the people held for their dear and unique Imam.
The Supreme Leader referred to the massive gathering as a sign of the lasting charismatic memory of Imam Khomeini and added: During these thirty years many efforts have been made to understate the name and reminiscences of Imam. Many vicious actions have been taken so that Imam’s principles, thoughts, and path be dismissed in the macro-level management of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Efforts have been made to trivialize the extraordinary popularity the honored Imam had received; nevertheless, the reality is that the Imam Khomeini’s popularity not only did not diminish but also lasted longer. One sign of it is the massive gathering that is present here today.
Ayatollah Khamenei praised the lofty characteristics of Imam Khomeini, highlighting his resistance as an outstanding virtue and said: Today we are going to focus on Imam Khomeini’s characteristic of resistance. So, one of the characteristics of Imam Khomeini, which I am going to elaborate today, is resistance and persistence. The feature that identified Imam as a school of thought and a new path in his time for history is his resistance.
His Eminence applauded Imam Khomeini’s unyielding resistance in face of tyranny and injustice and maintained: In face of hardships, obstacles, and tyrannical systems, Imam Khomeini (r.a.) manifested his power of resistance to the entire world. During the fights, many abandoned due to exhaustion and hopelessness, but Imam Khomeini resisted strongly without the slightest retreat.
Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say: After the victory of the revolution, pressures of another type and of greater scale and scope emerged, but Imam did not miss on the principle of resistance. Threats, temptations and seductions had no effect on Imam Khomeini. The enemy failed to disrupt the calculating capabilities of the magnanimous Imam, which were based on the statements of the true religion of Islam.
The Supreme Leader defined resistance for his audience and maintained: What is the meaning of resistance? Resistance means choosing the right path, the correct path, and starting to travel along that path with the obstacles unable to stop the travel. That is how Imam Khomeini was. He had chosen a path and was travelling along that path. `
The Leader of the Revolution posed the question, “What was the path that Imam Khomeini was persisting on?” and elaborated in response: Imam Khomeini’s discourse was the rule of God's religion and the divine ideology over the Muslim society and over the lives of the general public. After succeeding in defeating the obstacles and establishing the Islamic Republic, he announced that we would not oppress nor would we be oppressed.
Ayatollah Khamenei regarded Imam Khomeini’s discourse as derived from the Quran and stated: This discourse was extracted from the religious context and the Quran. Obviously, it has high profile enemies in imperialist regimes in the world, as a result, animosities started from the first day.
The Supreme Leader reminded his audience that whenever the Iranian nation adopted resistance in face of animosities, they gained victory and fortified other nations to take the same path. His Eminence articulated: Every time the Iranian people held on to resistance, they became victorious and advanced. The Front of Resistance is a strong front today. Whenever we, the Iranian nation, held onto resistance and advanced and succeeded, others were also encouraged to resist.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution mentioned an American analyst who described U.S.'s hostility against Iran as emerging from the Islamic Republic’s resistance and declared: A world-renowned American analyst argues that one of the most important reasons for the U.S.'s hostility against the Islamic Republic is that the Islamic Republic chose the path of resistance and succeeded to overcome the obstacles. They want to see us defeated. They want us to give up. They want us to raise our hands as a sign of surrendering. As we do not do so, they show hostility.
Ayatollah Khamenei regarded Imam Khomeini’s ideology of resistance as based on logic and wisdom and said: Imam [Khomeini] has chosen the path of resistance. This choice made by our great leader is backed by reason and logic. It is backed by knowledge and obviously by the faith. One part of it is that resistance is the natural reaction of every free and dignified nation in the face of intimidation and bullying. Every nation valuing its dignity, identity, and humanity would resist, make a stance and not accept something that is being forced upon it. This in itself is an independent and satisfying reason.
His Eminence further elaborated on the logic behind adopting a path of resistance and asserted: So I am going to explain the components of this logic. The second reason is that contrary to surrender, resistance makes the enemy retreat. When the enemy is bullying you, if you take one step back, the enemy will move forward without a doubt. The way to stop the enemy's advance is to stand your ground.
The Leader of the Revolution regarded resistance as more beneficial than compromise and reasoned: Resisting and persisting against the enemy's avarice and blackmail is the way to stop the enemy's advance. So resisting is actually more beneficial. Our experience in the Islamic Republic confirms this. Wherever we persevered and resisted we could move forward. Wherever we surrendered and gave in to the wishes of the adversary, we received a blow.
As a third reason for choosing the path of resistance, His Eminence stated: The third part of the logic of resistance is what I said earlier here: that resistance is obviously not without cost, but the cost of surrender to the enemy is far greater. The Pahlavi regime was submissive toward the United States. They gave away the oil, paid toll, and had given in entirely. The Saudi regime today is the same. They pay, give away dollars, while acting upon the wishes of the U.S. and yet they are scorned.
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that Resistance has become a term in international politics and held: In the international political literature the term ‘resistance in the manner of Imam Khomeini’ has become part of the vocabulary. What has been extensively used in the West, and became very common following the liberation of Khorramshahr, is the doctrine of Imam Khomeini’s resistance.
The Supreme Leader further articulated that the era of monopolar world and superpowers is coming to an end, adding that: One of the world famous political figures has written on this topic that the era of a sole country exercising military and economic manoeuvre is expiring: the world has changed. In the not-so-distant future, we will witness powers that go beyond their frontiers which are not highly advanced in terms of the machinery of industry and war but will challenge the West’s military and economic dominance by the power of influencing millions of people.
His Eminence further referred to an American political expert who described Imam Khomeini’s doctrine as targeting Western domineering power and asserted: This is said by an American politician and political thought-leader. He then adds that Imam Khomeini’s doctrine has targeted the main arteries of the dominance of the West and the U.S. with full power. The key to the sustainability of the Islamic Republic represents these examples. This is the guiding line that this honored person, this pious servant of God, left for us.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the Front of Resistance as being at a climax of integrity and stated: Today the Front of Resistance is at its peak of integrity during the past 40 years. This is a reality in the region and even beyond the region in certain places. It is the focal point against the imperialistic powers: the United States’ imperialistic power, and the Zionist regime's wickedness and power of sedition. Since 40 years ago, they have significantly degraded and decayed. We need to take this into account.
Ayatollah Khamenei assured his audience that there is no dead-end to Iran’s economic problems and held: We have of course shortcoming in our country. We have economic problems. We have reiterated this many times. The officials are doing what is in their power to solve these problems. We have problems, but we are not in an impasse. This is what is important. There are no deadlocks in the country. Not in the economy, nor in social-political affairs. We have problems that have different root causes. But there is no deadlock in the country. On the contrary, we are advancing.
His Eminence dubbed the Iranian nation as the source of strength for the country and maintained: At the top of our country's strong points is the beloved Iranian nation.
The Supreme Leader described building deterrence as the main goal, adding: The point of resistance is to achieve deterrence. In the economy, the country's politics, social, and military issues, we need to reach a point where we are deterrent. That is, we appear in a state where the enemy is discouraged from aggression towards the Iranian nation, in every field, and the enemy is convinced that there is no point, and they cannot do the Iranian nation any harm.
Ayatollah Khamenei praised the nation’s deterrence capability in the realm of defence and added: In the defence sector, we have achieved deterrence to a great extent. Their insistence on the missile program and the likes is precisely because of this. They know that we have achieved deterrence, that we have achieved stability. They want to take this away from the country, and of course, the can never do that.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution spoke about the prerequisite to Iran’s victory being identifying enemy’s conspiracies, saying that: One condition for our success is to understand the enemy’s plot for weakening the spirit of resistance.
Dubbing the spirit of Resistance as the foremost weapon of a nation, His Eminence asserted: The spirit of resistance is the most powerful weapon of a nation. The spirit of resistance should be safeguarded against the enemy’s plots, so it will not be weakened by the enemy’s plots.
Ayatollah Khamenei slammed recent furtive shift of rhetoric by the U.S. president and articulated: The enemy’s plots appear in many forms and kinds. At times, they threaten. At times, they entice. An example is the recent sly remark made by the president of the United States, who recently declared that Iran can make great advances even with the current leadership. This means: ‘current leaders of Iran! We don’t want to overthrow you.’ This is a sly political game.
The Supreme Leader then added: This is of course correct. If the current leaders and officials of Iran, set to work day and night, employing their best efforts, and staying united, we will certainly make more achievements. But on the condition that the Americans do not meddle.
Finally, Ayatollah Khamenei condemned U.S. interventionist policies as leading to war and aggression and said: Wherever the Americans meddle in, it leads to war, fratricide, sedition, exploitation, colonization, or mortification. The United States’ meddling is ominous. They should not meddle, we know how to carry on. We know what we have to do.