Iran’s leaders blasted the United States in defiant speeches commemorating the anniversary of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death in 1989. In a televised speech on June 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Khomeini’s successor – warned that Western powers were trying to infiltrate the country and undermine the Islamic Republic. He alleged that the nationwide protests that that erupted in September 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini were planned in “think tanks of Western countries.” Khamenei also blamed “traitors and mercenaries” for the “riots.”
The supreme leader warned against making concessions to the United States. “Some people are mistaken to think if we back down from our stances in certain cases that will cause the enmity of the U.S, the global arrogance, or Israel toward us to diminish,” Khamenei said. Their “main goal is to force Iran to return to the era before the revolution… when the nation was dependent on others and had no identity.”
Khamenei implied that outreach to Washington by the reformist administration of President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2003) was not reciprocated. During Khatami’s presidency, “which unfortunately helped the United States, the Americans ended up labeling Iran as an axis of evil,” Khamenei said about President George W. Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address.
President Ebrahim Raisi also warned about the shortcomings of diplomacy with “arrogant” powers and their allies, namely Israel. The Palestinians “waited for negotiation tables and liberation organizations and agreements such as Camp David, Oslo and Sharm el-Sheikh… and today the initiative is in the hands of warriors in the field,” he told a crowd of hundreds at Khomeini’s mausoleum on June 3.
Raisi also declared that U.S. influence were waning. “Today, we see that the indicators of America's power and unilateralism are declining, and new and emerging powers such as regional organizations, especially in Asia, are forming.” He claimed that U.S. economic sanctions had failed to isolate Iran or damage its economy. “Fifty-two billion dollars in trade [from 2022 to 2023] of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a unique record achieved by the people. They thought they could stop us, but they saw that production was established and hundreds of factories were opened, and the country was creating jobs.” The following are excerpted remarks by Khamenei and Raisi.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
June 4, 2023: “This revolution shattered a political structure consisting of a monarchy and replaced it with a democracy. This revolution removed a puppet system of governance that bowed to world powers replacing it with an independent system that relied on national dignity. This system of governance removed an anti-Islamic government from the picture, and it established and built an Islamic government in its place.”
“With a deep understanding of the divine verses, the Imam had deep trust and faith in the motives and actions of the people, including their votes.”
“The Imam (Khomeini) breathed life into the depressed body of the Palestinian nation.”
“Of course, the fronts have not changed and today, like yesterday, the front of arrogance, the front of the Zionists and the front of aggressive powers are lined up in front of the Iranian nation.”
“The honorable Imam’s transformations have stubborn, spiteful enemies who are criminals and aggressors. In order to deal with them, the Iranian nation must be equipped with the same soft skills that the magnanimous Imam possessed. They need to have faith and hope.”
“The global arrogance and Zionism’s enmity with the Iranian nation will not fade or disappear because of local retreats.”
“In many cases, our retreats caused them to come forward and become more aggressive. That is because their main goal is to force Iran to return to the era before the revolution, that is, the period when the nation was dependent on others and had no identity.”
“During the last few decades, in some administrations, there were individuals who believed in retreating and giving concessions. In one of these administrations, the same country we had retreated before, issued an indictment for our president. Or in another administration, which unfortunately helped the U.S., the Americans ended up labeling Iran as an axis of evil.”
“During the past few decades, stubborn and arrogant institutions did everything they could to weaken people’s faith and hope, and they made progress in a few cases, but in most cases, by the grace of God, they were overcome and defeated by the Iranian nation.”
“The comprehensive planning of these riots [in 2022] was carried out in the think tanks of Western countries. Its implementation was accompanied by extensive financial, arms and media support of Western security institutions, traitors and mercenaries who turned their backs on their country and agents of hostile policies against Iran.”
“They thought that the Islamic Republic was finished and that they could use the Iranian nation to achieve their goals, but once again, these fools made a mistake and failed to recognize the Iranian nation.”
“They try to create despair in young Iranians by pointing out the high costs of living and inflation.”
“This year's elections are very important. The enemy has already activated its [propaganda] artillery to destroy them, even though we are nine months away from the elections.”
President Ebrahim Raisi
June 3, 2023: “Today, we see that the indicators of America's power and unilateralism are declining, and new and emerging powers such as regional organizations, especially in Asia, are forming.”
“Today we clearly see the status of the Zionist regime [Israel] as the blessed child of America in the region, in the past 70 years since the formation of this movement. The regime has never been as bad as it is today, and these are significant indicators and manifestations of the formation of the new world order.”
“The spirit of the eight-year resistance of the resistant and oppressed people of Yemen against the arrogant in their most difficult conditions is one of the teachings of the Islamic Revolution, and the Palestinian people who, before this, waited for negotiation tables and liberation organizations and agreements such as Camp David, Oslo and Sharm el-Sheikh, changed with resistance and standing, and today the initiative is in the hands of warriors in the field.”
“In those days, no one believed that great powers would collapse, but the former Soviet Union collapsed, and the power of the United States is also declining. On the other hand, those who claim power today acknowledge the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and our power in the region is inevitable and undeniable, and no equation can be formed except with the role of Islamic Iran.”
“We have stated many times that we are ready to interact and cooperate with any country that wants to have relations with Iran, but we will stand against any country that wants to stand up against the Iranian people.”
“Today, resistance has become a prominent political word in the world, and the secret of resistance is that the way is not to surrender to the enemy, but to become strong against it, and a strong society resists conspiracies and seditions.”
“Sanctions are imposed to create slowness in the country, and the response to sanctions is the round-the-clock effort and activity of all servants in the Islamic system.”
“When the enemy saw that we are progressing despite all the sanctions and threats and admitted that the maximum pressure on the Iranian nation had failed shamefully, they hatched a new conspiracy [the 2022 protests].”
“Fifty-two billion dollars in trade of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a unique record achieved by the people. They thought they could stop us, but they saw that production was established and hundreds of factories were opened, and the country was creating jobs.”
Photo Credits: Khamenei.ir; Tasnim News Agency (CC BY 4.0)