Speech [The big powers' imperialistic designs in creating fear the breaking up of America's flimsy power; isolation from the powerful countries]

Among the things that the big countries, the superpowers and their satellite states, and also the less powerful governments practice, and the things they do to further their aims is to instill fear into the (various) nations. As for the small countries, they instill fear into their own people. You had seen throughout the period of Muhammad Rida's unlawful reign that, owing to SAVAK's propaganda, perhaps every family was under the impression that if the people uttered a word against the government or the Shah, SAVAK would hear of it and punish them. With their widespread propaganda, they had instilled this fear in all the strata of the people that SAVAK was such that among every few persons, one belonged to it, and that even in one's house, if things were said against the regime, SAVAK would be informed and would do, and had done, this and that. They used to create such a widespread impression in their own country and the ones under their control that during the time of the defunct Shah, there used to be such fear among the people that, perhaps, brother would be afraid of his brother, father of his son, son of his father and both would be afraid of their wives. Lest they said something that would lead them into trouble and cause them to be persecuted, imprisoned, executed and the like.

Because the powerful, satanic governments, the teachers of these Satans, wanted to extend their hegemony to all the countries, they used to propagate these matters among their governments and the other countries, spreading fear and terror among them. They would make it appear that if some country took a stand against this and that big power against America, the Soviet Union and formerly, Britain, they would do this and that to that particular government and take over the country and such things. This was a ruse they had been employing for many years in order to further their ambitions. The nations, too, had believed this. In relation to those big governments, the smaller ones had also believed that if they uttered a word against some stronger government, they would be overthrown, attacked, and destroyed. Accordingly, for several years in the past, they would issue ultimatums at times, to Iran, for instance, in the harsh tone they used to use, imposing their demands on the Majlis and the government. And these organs behaved with their own people in the same way as well. So that if there was any talk of martial law, the people would become nervous because of the fear they had of them.

The thought of removing this fear occurred to me at the very beginning. This is a dread, a fear to which there is not much reality. What is real is the propaganda which is a hundredfold more. They intensify it and thereby intimidate the people and governments. It appears that if a wants to progress or to confront a government or any big power, or accomplish something, it has to break these idols. This lies in targeting the ones at the top. By first talking to the people; they should remove the thought from their minds that one cannot speak out against such-and-such power. The people gradually come to realize that it is not as used to be thought in that a word spoken about the people at the helm (of affairs) will throw the world into disarray. So you saw that when we spoke against that man, nothing happened. If at all anything was to happen, it was nothing that could not be dealt with. So you saw for yourselves that when they proclaimed martial law even at daytime, the people poured out into the streets and so defied the law without anything happening. The main thing is that this dread instilled in the people's minds must be removed.

Among the things that they had made much of and by which they used to frighten everybody, was that it was impossible for any country to free itself at all of these two big powers existing in the world at present, and become independent. And, also, that they should definitely belong to either the Eastern or Western blocs. They had no other alternative. It was erroneous for one to think of oneself being something (important) or independent. It was fanciful thinking that could not have any reality to it. But when the nations gradually came to realize the truth, they understood that it was not so. When the Soviet Union intervened militarily in Afghanistan, we saw how the people, weak but lively, confronted it with the power of faith while the Afghan government; the usurper government of Afghanistan is in league with the Soviet Union, and, in spite of the parties, some of which are leftist and are together, the valiant Afghan youths stood up to them nonetheless.

They have been troubling the Soviet Union for a long time, so much so that we can say that they have politically defeated the Soviet Union. This was due to the understanding of the people that if the Soviet Union attacked a place it was not that nothing could be done. It was not that they should surrender hundred percent. Or, in the case of America it was not that if anything was done to it, a country, for example, Iran would be totally destroyed and ruined. Such a notion, such a fear of the diabolical Pahlavi regime vanished gradually, and you saw that they could not keep him (the ex-Shah) in the face of your cries and those of the youths and the men, and the uprising of the nation. Despite all the forces they actually had and the others who supported them, you, nonetheless, defeated them with your cries and unity of expression.

Therefore the notion that we will be destroyed if we say a word against this establishment turned out to be incorrect. With their propaganda, they had created fear and would do what they wanted by means of this fear. Because of this dread, the people chose to remain aloof and indifferent. They for their part were not so powerful as to wipe out a whole nation. So they took the advantage of this (fear). But the people of Iran overcame this dread and wiped out the regime.

The case is the same with regard to the big powers; and it was the same in that dread was more than its reality. If small countries did something contrary to the wishes of suppose, the Soviet Union or America, it was enough for the latter ones to intimidate them, because of which the matter would end. Or for example, in those days when England was more powerful than the other countries, it was enough for it to send a ship into the waters near Iran. When their ship came here, neither the parliament nor the government could say anything. They would impose whatever they wanted( on Iran ). Such a practice was put to an end in Iran as well. In the past; in the time of the former regime, going in to the American Embassy and creating trouble there was viewed as fanciful thinking and nonsense. How was it possible as for a nation that had nothing and for the youths who were empty-handed to attack the American Embassy, or even throwing a stone at it?! If such a thing happens, the government and people of Iran will be wiped out! These were the things which they, by their craftiness and propaganda, had instilled into the minds of the people, thus rendering them oblivious to the national, Human and Islamic power, which they possessed.

We saw how our youths reacted to the troubles that our people suffered at the hands of this corrupt power. They went to the embassy and, storming the place, captured the staff and did such things without the sky coming down. The distinctive feature of this operation was the disappearance of the America's power that had been fixed in the people's minds as to what would happen if even a wall of the embassy was breached or a line drawn on it. You, the youths, went there and took over the embassy. It, later became known to all that the persons you took into captivity there, were not ordinary ones that work in an embassy. They constituted a center of intrigues that was interfering not only in all the affairs of our country, but rather, in the region itself. The previous governments, knowingly or unknowingly, had to obey them and consult them in whatever they wanted to do, just as Muhammad Rida himself say that the list of the deputies would come from the embassy and had to be acted on exactly as they had mentioned. The service that the youths rendered by storming and taking over the embassy and detaining those corrupt individuals was one that dispelled the fear was in the minds of people, nations and governments, and erased their portrayal of the big powers as monsters.

It should be mentioned that, following the takeover, if our people underwent hardships and faced various kinds of troubles and difficulties, it would be worthy, the merit of this action does not lie in our stomachs being empty at some time, or, for instance, our not being able to go by car to some place that we want, because we do not have anything. The merit of the matter does not lie in all this. The worth of this in the world lies in your having broken an idol that they had made; a big idol that had covered all the countries. Your action had a political aspect; it was a politically worthy act in the face of which all other values pale into insignificance.

Those who think that we have been placed in a tight situation because of the actions of these youths are making a mistake though they have no evil intentions. No doubt there are some groups that consider even you to be Americans! They say that even our Pasdars are reactionaries and Americans. These people; these groups are wretched and unfortunate. But there are some people who are, well, sympathetic to our country and also to their own. They are against all the foreign organs and aliens. But they, too, have been influenced by the same propaganda. They were under the impression of undesirable things happening to us if we did not surrender these spies immediately to America together with an apology. The worth of this operation lies in its having eliminated these mistakes. Now one year since you have been holding these spies, these conspirators, these criminals there- and nothing has happened. Neither did our commercial activities come to a standstill, nor did our economy collapse. Such things did not happen. Moreover, they would do whatever they frightened us and kept on making futile efforts. But we see that our bazaars are functioning and our agriculture, too. And so are our other activities. Nothing came to a standstill. Nothing untoward occurred. Its worth is this; the merit of this action lies in that big idol that they had sculpted for the nations being smashed. The worth of the Afghan guerrillas lies in their having broken those big idols that they had created in that if anybody said a word against the Soviet Union, he would be destroyed. They (the Afghan guerillas) shattered this notion. It is now several months that they have been fighting all the faces which that big power has employed against them, while their own government is against them and, also, against its own people. The Afghan guerrillas have smashed that monster and that notion they had instilled in the minds of the various peoples (of the world). The worth of your action here or that of their action there is not the type that can be put on a scale. Even if half of our nation had been killed, it would have been worth of it. The issue is not that of hunger that we should lament lest a time might come when we have no wheat. I well remember that, around fifty to sixty years ago, we would use horses and donkeys to go from this town to that. There was no electricity and no facilities which we presently have. It was in such a way that the people use to live.

The thing that is, first and foremost, of value to us is Islam which incorporates everything. We did not campaign for the sake of our stomachs so that if at any time they disrupted our food supplies, we would just sit in our places. We campaigned for Islam just like the Noble Prophet did in the early period of Islam. We have not experienced the pain and trouble to the extent that he did. Our markets are active, and it is said that this year the fruits are more than usual. We also have our food supplies. We have no difficulty on this score at all.

The main thing is we have a nation that has now woken up. They have shattered that fear; that fear of a policeman coming and shutting a bazaar without anybody saying anything. The people shouted, raised cries. And, by their cries, they broke that power that was here; and also the other powers. So we have such a nation of thirty-odd million and twenty million youths, most of whom desire martyrdom. An old man came to me yesterday. He was close to eighty; between seventy and eighty years in age. He shook hands with me and stepped to one side. I saw him again standing there and then he started coming towards me. The second time he came here, he was crying. I saw his tears flowing. He said:" I want to go and fight." I told him that he and I should pray to God and that the youths should fight. Thank God that a transformation has occurred in our old ones, our youths women, girls, boys and children, every body in that we do not want to be under the yoke of the superpowers again. Of course, when a nation is like this it should prepare itself for everything. This is the biggest power in the world.

You stood up to the world's big powers. You must not be afraid of their intimidatory acts. But be prepared to face all this confusion that is being created. We must mobilize ourselves to face these things that are taking place. You have done something worthy. The whole world is looking at you in amazement over the great work that you have accomplished. Those who have undertaken such a big task should not think that now that they have driven this person (the ex-Shah) out today, another one will come tomorrow. No, nobody will come. You and we are prepared and ought to be so. We have to make sacrifices for the sake of our campaign to the extent of its worthiness.

Still, we have not been subjected to the economic difficulties which the Noble Messenger had faced for some years in that cave. They did not even have bread to eat. With great difficulty they would smuggle something in to eat. They used to live like that. But the merit of their mission was such that it was worth living so. The Prophet used to endure these difficulties. Nothing has happened to us. Well, a war has broken out in a corner of the country and our fighters are in the process of crushing them (the enemy). We must be prepared so that in case another devil appears in future in another corner of the country, we will be able to crush him. We want to live and to protect our honor. We wish to safeguard the Holy Qur'an and our dear religion of Islam that has everything: independence, freedom and honor. We want to safeguard these. It is worth if even if all of us are killed. Are we more important than the Prophet? Are we more important than Imam Husayn ibn `Ali? They, too, sacrificed everything for the sake of their own aim. But we have power now. They did not have such power at that time. Hadrat Rasoul (s) did not have anybody in that cave in which he had taken refuge. There were a few people who used to live in fear. We are not as yet in that situation. Well, when he came to Medina, he underwent many difficulties and endured much trouble none of which have we suffered so far.

We should not be afraid of war. The Noble Messenger had warred for the sake of Islam. Hadrat Amir had warred for Islam. In the early stages of Islam during those few years, eighty battles took place. We must be prepared for wars. And we have the power. We have youths. We are a nation which can succeed in everything because of our trust in God the Blessed and Exalted, and our unity of expression. We have no fear of any of these issues. The ones who want to create fear in you are the same ones who had created fear in the days of the deposed Shah. It was by this very creation of fear that he was sitting in his place and, in his imagination, ruling over the country. We saw the hollowness of it when that fear was shattered. It had no reality as they had made it out to have. It is the same in the case of the other powers as well. Don't think they are so great. They are also the same.

The important thing is that we should have coordination among ourselves. The important thing is for our armed forces- may they are victorious, God willing- to have coherence, our pasdars and the other security forces should consider themselves to be one. All of you are working towards one purpose which is to keep the country free and independent. You should not be anybody's servant. You should protect your honor.

All the armed forces- whoever there is among them- and whoever from among the people joins them on the fronts, should all have rapport and coordination among themselves. If you are coordinated and work together in accordance with one policy, and if there in one commander for you who acts according to a plan, then be sure that you will triumph and that no power will be able to confront you because your power is (derived from) the nation's power. When the army leans on this great wall; this vast dam that is the nation, it develops a power against which nothing can stand. Our army, our armed forces, our pasdars and all of these (forces) are supported by the whole nation. You now see that the whole country is in a state of war; even the girls in their houses who are working for the fighters. In such a country whose army is one with the people and whose leaders are like brothers to the others, all of them are in the service of their nation which( in turn )supports them. What does such a nation fear? Be assured (about this).

It is some time now that they have imposed economic restrictions upon us. What happened for example? What problems have the economic sanctions caused us? Economic sanctions? (Some) people think that if we, for instance, do not buy a certain thing from America, we will not be able to function? No, we have a lot. America has stored these things here for us! You ought to know that these things are acts of God. It was an act of God by which that person for fifty years or a bit less, and this one- this second one (Muhammad Rida Pahlavi) - for twenty-odd years, made efforts. And America, too, in the thought that this country, and whatever there, was belonged to it- no doubt they plundered and took away our oil- brought in a lot of weapons for us. There are weapons and ammunition stored under many of these mountains that are there in Iran. And these are the same weapons which our enemy- our present and permanent enemy- had brought for it and which is now ours. What is important is for us to know our own selves, and for our armed forces and people to become unified. If they do become unified and also support one another, no power will be able to break them up.

These big powers have so many difficulties that they cannot attend to these matters properly. Each one of them is confronting the others. It is said that when these wolves want to sleep in the night around one another, all of them face each other in the fear that if one of them falls asleep, it will be devoured by the others. At present the situation is such that you should not imagine that America can do something if it wants to. There is another wolf facing it and watching intently! And, likewise, there is another wolf facing this one." O God! Keep these tyrants busy with one another.

Things are not like what is being whispered in our ears as to what America will do if it is provoked. A full year has passed since the time that our dear youths had gone there. They have, of course, undergone hardships. They have taken trouble and will be rewarded for their action by the Blessed and Exalted Lord. I need not thank them. Their action is highly valued by the Lord. They (Americans) only kept on talking. They stood on that side and talked and did such-and-such. Well, they imposed economic sanctions and did such things. But the nation is standing firm and sees no shortcoming on its part. The situation will remain the same even after ten years. The main value of these actions lies in their dispelling these fears from the minds of the meek masses the world over; the deprived ones of the world. They come into their own. The opponents keep on saying now that we have become isolated. What were we at that time when we were not isolated?! A weak, helpless and subject people! A single policeman would hold sway in Tehran's big bazaar! Such was the case when we were not isolated. That is, our relations with America, the Soviet Union and the like were normal.

Now that we are isolated, what are we? Now that we are isolated, our youths have taken over the American Embassy and are standing firm. They have taken and detained fifty-odd spies. But they are treating them humanely, of course. As it is being regularly reported to me, they are treating them very well. In fact, Islamic morality calls for this very thing. Now that we are isolated, our bazaar is functioning honorably and respectably as usual. No one can oppress us. Nobody can order us to shut the bazaar. Nobody can tell us that it is the fourth of Aban and that we must hoist flags everywhere; no. Now that we are isolated, we are on our own. We are independent. Human beings discover themselves better in a state of isolation.

Two or three young men came to visit me yesterday. They had a rifle with them. Now, I do not know what a rifle is. The showed it to me saying that they had made it by themselves. We showed it to the military authorities and they approved of it. They said that they would provide the means necessary (for its manufacture). Had we not been isolated, we would have never thought of these things. Now that you are isolated- according to what they think- you are thinking about accomplishing your tasks by yourselves. Not being isolated is tantamount to being dependent on others; being captives in other words. We are isolated. It means that our ties to others have been severed.(It means that) we are not the slaves of others.

They keep on coming here saying that we should restore our links. They say that they are prepared for it in every way. But we know that it is a satanic design. All the countries, of course, should respect one another. The whole world should enjoy brotherly ties. But this is not the issue. We do not fear this isolation. We rather welcome it as it compels us to think about ourselves. In the absence of such isolation, we will become dependent upon other countries. We will have to stretch out our hands to others for whatever we need. We have to get even the wheat we need, from others, and, likewise, our foodstuffs. And they have to come and set up our industries for us, ours should be in their hands. Until the country is like this, it will not be able to possess anything. It cannot be independent in its economic needs, and neither in war, nor in society. When you become isolated, you can achieve these things. Your isolation can enable you to think about managing your agriculture by yourselves. Because we are isolated, others will not give anything to us. So we should not depend upon others.

When a nation sees that its food is not being supplied by others, it will think of providing it for itself. The very idea that others will bring us our needs will not allow us to act. These who have ten to fifteen servants at their command become lazy. They do not do anything. One, if imprisoned, performs all his work because he is isolated. Therefore, an isolated nation can progress; it becomes progressive. But a nation that is not isolated cannot make any progress. It is dependent upon others for its food, its vehicles and its electricity. Such a nation is a captive one up to the very end. You cannot be independent unless you are isolated. What fear have we of our isolated state? We had all those difficulties when we were not isolated. Now that we are isolated, we are also independent. Now each person is the master of himself and is not under anybody's yoke. Can an embassy, of whatever country it be, impose anything on our government now? As such, we are not isolated.

You think that we are isolated. Being isolated in the sense that you do not want us to be means that we should be dependent forever; that we be slaves with rings in our ears. God knows that the bitterness of seeing a picture that day, of Muhammad Rida perhaps still lingers in my mind. It was a magazine which showed him, while in America, standing like a child in front of one of its presidents who had removed his spectacles and was not even looking at him. He was standing like that, with him (the president) looking away like that! It is not pleasant to know that we are like this in that a person who says he is everything and wants to take his country to such-and-such a position, overtaking even Japan, and also accomplish certain things, is so weak and despicable that on proceeding to America, and following all the formalities for obtaining permission for certain matters, stands beside him- it was Johnson «1» apparently- with that man not even looking at him. He had removed his spectacles and was looking away like that while he (Muhammad Rida) stood in such a manner! God knows that for a nation, this non-isolation is far worse than every kind of isolation. Yes, he was not isolated. The gentlemen want us also to be like this. With open arms, we welcome such isolation which these gentlemen think there is.

Thoughts cannot develop unless there is isolation. Your brains are not smaller than American ones. But they brought you out of your isolated state and made you dependent. You ought to be isolated until the Day of Judgment. Dependence does not let your thoughts develop. Your minds will become sterile and you will not be able to accomplish anything. The state of our country would have been different had our brains worked. But they did not let our brains work. They imported everything; they gave away our underground resources and brought in every thing. They provided every thing so that you did not think of setting up any industry. Unless you sever your dependence this dependence that drags you towards real isolation- you will not be able to have industries and your country will not become industrialized. You will not become free and independent. This isolation (of ours) is one of God's great blessings.

You compare your country in which you are isolated today, with that of ten years ago, when you were not isolated. You just compare and ponder to this effect that we have nothing. We have men. We have human beings. We have youths. We have youths who have been standing up with all their might against all the powerful countries. Have we nothing? We have everything. We have these vast lands. We have so many underground resources. In what way do we have nothing? We have everything. It is only this non-isolation that has led us to this situation that we have to extend our hand to others for everything. We must endure hardship for a few years. The hardship is not much. We must put up with it until we are able to stand on our own feet and become something.

These powers are now defeated ones. The sign of it is that it is now one year that our youths have done this job. The value of their action is also great. The world did not collapse. Now, consider this wretched slave, this wretched Saddam, who is ruining his own nation and imposing so many hardships upon it. He has mounted a futile attack on us. We have patience and endurance. Our people- and our youths since the time they opened their eyes- have been plagued by these problems and misfortunes for fifty, sixty years. We are used to enduring difficulties. Likewise, our youths are used to these hardships. Now that they have discovered themselves and see themselves independent, we will face this war with all our might even if it lasts for twenty years, while he will have faded out by then. Do not think that this is something big. The fact that you see him firing missiles is because he cannot come here and confront us. He is firing missiles from a far. As he lacks the power to confront our youths, he is committing these crimes and, in his own imagination, wants to frighten our people. He is constantly suffering human and material losses everywhere. But his bad nature and faulty thinking together with his shattered nerves, that have become worse now, do not let him come to his senses and understand what he should do. He has lost his standing even there; in Iraq itself. The Baghdad radio and the newspapers there are, no doubt, making a lot of noise. The hubbub there is great. But it ought to be seen as to what the world's outlook is. They (the Ba`athists) have lost their political prestige- if they had any- in all the world's countries. Even the people of Iraq are against him. They are gradually becoming restless; the signs of which have appeared already.

The difference between our people, and our security forces, and them is that these (the former) are from, and with, the nation. And the nation, too, is with them. Their fighting serves to bear this out. May God protect everybody. People are giving assistance all over Iran. Can you find even a village in Iraq that has helped (its armed farces) like this? Of course, they take what they want by force. They rob and take things by force. You will not find a single village in Iraq where the youths and the womenfolk bake bread, or even pack things, for them (their soldiers)! They do not have them. Who does such a nation fear?! Why should it?! We have God; we have Islam. We are fighting for God. Why should one who is fighting for God, fear?! Whom should he fear? The ones that ought to be afraid are those that will go to hell for their actions when they depart this world. It is our youths who are fighting for God. He will reward them. Is it possible for one to strive in the way of God without the Blessed and Exalted Lord bestowing His favor upon him?! The nation's martyrs, too, will be united with those of early Islam, God willing. You are powerful.

May God protect all of you. Just as that gentleman stated, I, first of all, wish to thank you for the trouble that you have taken. But I should not do so as the country is yours and you have acted on your own behalf. Your act is of great worth. Now that the Majlis has carried out its task, your desiring to entrust the matter to the government is the right thing to do. May you all be safe wherever you are and also on the battlefronts, God willing. I hope that you will mightily overcome all the satans.

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.