Speech [Importance of unity among the armed forces and the peoples; duties of the armed forces]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I return the greetings extended by you gentlemen and am hopeful that this year proves to be the year of unity, victory, and divine mercy! It is of topmost importance that we ensure unity among all the armed forces and the nation. As you may also be aware, and from what I have heard, one of the strategies of Muhammad Rida was to create rifts between the commanders of the armed forces by carrying tales between them. He did this because he feared that if there was unity between them, they could some day join hands to eliminate him from the scenes. Gone are those times by the will of God! Today, you need to keep in mind that we are left with a country that is facing all kinds of media and military conspiracies from all sides, even though some countries are overtly claiming friendship. However, the Muslim countries and those nations that have been suppressed by their own governments look toward our movement with hope. I hope that all the other countries and the governments, by the will of God, realize that it will be better for them to work in the interests of their nations rather than working against their own peoples only to favor the superpowers. The earlier trend was that they would bring to power certain individuals who would suppress their own nations and would hand over the affairs of their country into the hands of the big powers. They would turn their backs upon the peoples and would look favorably toward those who were the enemies of the nations, and the Muslim nations, in particular. This has been a grave mistake on the part of governments who were under the false impression that it would be better for them to win the support of the big powers rather than that of their own nations. Not only did such acts prove to be treacherous toward their nations but they also resulted in depriving them of the dignity and success worthy of man. Human value depends upon the extent to which a man shows sincerity and steadfastness toward the school of thought that he claims to follow and protects and supports the nation that he intends to govern rather than in joining hands with some criminals only to lose one's power over the nation that he hopes to govern.

Just draw a comparison for yourselves between Iran today and what it was in the earlier days. What was Muhammad Rida's contribution to Iran except intimidation?! Almost the entire nation, with the exception of those who reaped undue advantages through his presence were against him, including his own men. Even though he should have, he held no respect among the people. And that is why, whenever he desired to implement any changes on his own strength, even those who were his so-called" loyalists" did not extend their consent and instead foiled his plans.(But today) you should know that in this war that we have been forced to face, and as you can all see, the entire nation- women, men, the young and the old, the clergy as well as the non-clergy- has joined hands and are all supporting the army. This is completely unprecedented. Such a situation was impossible to imagine during the times of Muhammad Rida. I wonder if you can recall- although some of you would surely remember- that when the allied forces had occupied Iran during the last war (World War II), despite facing the real threat of losing everything, our nation was rejoicing and was willing to tolerate all kinds of adversities simply because it had been freed from Rida Khan. The first time I heard the news of Rida Khan's ouster, it was through someone who had just been given what he called the" good news" about Rida Khan's plight! Why was this considered as" good news" by the people? This was because Rida Khan had never come to power with the intention of serving the nation; he had only come to suppress and enslave the nation. And the same was the situation during the times of Muhammad Rida. All of you saw what happened on the streets on the day that Muhammad Rida fled this country. For someone who seeks human dignity- and of course for people like Muhammad Rida such things were irrelevant- it would be of utmost importance to gain the good-will of the nation that one wishes to rule over and it would be natural that the nation should regret losing him. However, if a ruler has dealt with his own people in such a manner, all the streets are filled with joyous celebrations when he is ousted. Now compare this with today's situation and the situation in which you all share brotherly relations with the nation and are all standing together in unity. This means that you have accepted the people as your own brothers and they, too, in return have done the same. All the people stand up in support whenever the nation is faced with any problems. Everyone cooperates as and when the army is faced with any problems. It is virtuous for a group of people to intend to protect their country. Words like" paseban"(constable) or" gendarme" unfortunately held no real meaning in the earlier times. The constables in those days were anything but constables; they were in fact elements who simply intimidated the people. Neither were the gendarmes anything like what they should be. They used to rob people of everything they had, just like dacoits on the highways. They even worked in unison with the highway robbers. Just today I read that one of the foreign news agencies had reported that rents were actually charged from the gendarmerie stations since they were in a position to recover money from the public. The same was also the condition of the offices of the provincial governors. The governorship of every province was actually" rented" out. If someone were to be appointed, for instance, as the governor of the Khorasan province, calculations were made to examine how much could be looted and pillaged from that province since a certain percentage of that amount would need to be paid to the prime minister of the time, to gain appointment as the governor. That province would then become his own fiefdom, after which no matter what oppressions he committed and regardless of the volume of the people's grievances, the high officials of the country turned a deaf ear to everything. These cases are only a fraction of what actually transpired in those times. Such things took place in those times that I find it impossible to even mention what all I had personally witnessed. But what about today's times? The conditions today are different. Neither do the gendarmes operate like dacoits and nor do the revolutionary guards and the police terrorize people when they approach the police stations for any work. The same applies to the army and the government. Today when the cabinet had come here I noticed that some ministers were seated ahead of Prime Minister Raja'i who was himself seated inconspicuously in a corner. I asked them if they could recall the prime ministers of the pre-revolutionary era and when life would come to a total standstill if a government official only had to come into town. If a farmanfarma (ruler) moved out, he had several people escorting him while a number of guards protected his house. And let me tell you that these are among the few things that I had witnessed personally.

Anyway, praise to God, these problems exist no more. Today, there is no discrimination between the nation, the army, the gendarmerie, the revolutionary guards, the police, and the president. They all stand united. Safeguard this unity. The revolutionary guards should refrain from standing in confrontation against you. Similarly, you should not confront them either. You are all brothers. Why shouldn't brothers maintain unity among themselves and confront each other instead? You as well as the government are the members of one family and should, thus, protect this big family. Even if the heads of a family are disunited they are unable to manage the family while here we are talking about a large country of this magnitude, which is constantly facing opposition from outside as well as their corrupt internal agents. We should not fall prey to the groups that are up to making mischief in this country. They are affiliated either to the Soviet Union or to America. We should not allow them to achieve their aim of deceiving us.

While our men are busy making sacrifices at the warfronts not even one of these so-called people's groups who have armed themselves are present there. They have all gathered in the cities, creating turmoil. As soon as they learn that an official is to deliver a speech somewhere they get busy planning turmoil. They know how to provoke the various groups and to cause clashes among them. They have mastered their lessons of hypocrisy. We should take utmost care lest we fall prey to them or get influenced by them. They work for the superpowers and we should stay alert not to allow them to provoke us into opposing each other. The ultimate desire of all your enemies is to turn you into adversaries.

By the grace of God Almighty you are all closely aligned with each other. There may be some younger people who are not as alert as they should be. But there are others who understand things better. If you continue to support one another and stay united, nothing will ever succeed in threatening this country. You should all keep in mind that you are to serve this nation. No one should think that now that he is in power, he can suppress his subordinates. This was the culture of the erstwhile regime and the bygone governments. This same attitude also exists in many other countries. If we intend to have an Islamic government and to honor our self-esteem, we all need to have a common goal which is to serve this country that is currently involved in an imposed war and that has been plundered and has suffered suppression for a long time under various monarchial regimes. And all those so-called" Paradise-bound" kings were no less criminal than the rest of the monarchs. If you studied their histories, you would discover that even the best of them who were famously known as" just" were equally criminal in spite of holding titles like" The Just"!

Another point to keep in mind is that we are still left with memories of a bitter experience from the past. If our people ever had to visit a police station, they would have to undergo all kinds of problems and instead of proving to be a refuge for the people and protecting them from force and oppression, those police stations were such that if one ever had to go to them, they would start mourning their plight. This experience has left bitter memories in the minds of the people. It is for you now to endeavor to turn this bitter experience into a sweet one. It is now up to you to take on this task. People are ready; our people are extremely good and are ready to cooperate. If the authorities hold out their hands for support, the people are prepared to welcome them. Do not turn your backs on these people. Turn toward the people and ignore the superpowers. You should gain your strength from our people; the superpowers cannot give you any power. You should rely on your own power. If the superpowers could do anything they would have protected Muhammad Rida. But even though they wished to protect him they failed to do so.

In any case, today, all the armed forces should get together and they should strive to wipe off memories of the bitter experiences that the people had with the previous regime through their behavior and their actions so that our people can feel that they are protected by the revolutionary guards and the police instead of being afraid of getting plundered by them. This was the image that our people had of the previous regime but now things should be such that they build up faith in the existing forces. They should and they do feel that they are being protected by those who are engaged defending the country at the warfronts. Of course, there are some elements in the armed forces that are corrupting the atmosphere, but we should, nevertheless, strive to gain the confidence of the people, such that when they leave their homes in the mornings, they feel ensured that every aspect of their lives- their religion, their worldly affairs, their businesses, etcetera- are all being protected. They should not be afraid to get out of their houses. You know and I know what the situation was like in the previous regime and since we were clerics, things were even worse for us. Even if we ever needed to go out to visit anyone or to spend some time with friends, we would have to do so secretly, in order to avoid being arrested. There were times when we would go somewhere and had to spend an entire day there. There was a time when I held sessions of discussion for a certain group of people and (I recall how) I once attended the session and to my surprise, found only one person present, who informed me that since the school was being searched the rest of the people had fled into the nearby gardens. The predominant atmosphere was that of fear and terror. But now, you should endeavor to change the situation from that of fear and terror to that of peace and harmony. When a nation is sure that its army, the gendarmerie, the revolutionary guards, and the police are engaged in protecting it, it experiences peace and this peace is the greatest of blessings. One may possess a lot of property and yet not experience peace. Do you think that the American President is at peace and is free from all anxiety? He cannot tolerate to see another superpower and all his efforts are focused on overpowering it. He is full of fear and anxiety. Your anxiety is much less than his. Similarly, let me tell you that those who have chosen a life of austerity have less anxiety than you do. You should make all efforts to free people from fear and anxiety. They should never need to worry about what will happen to them at the hands of the revolutionary guards or the police when they went out of their homes; or what would happen to them in their own homes even in their very own presence. Ensure people of their safety and security. If and when you mange to provide them this surety, you will have guaranteed both the world and the hereafter for yourselves.

I do hope that this year is going to be a year of unity, a year of ensuring public security, and a year of victory! May you all be triumphant!