In a Saturday meeting with the families of martyrs of Tehran province including the martyrs of the incident of the 7th of Tir (June 28, 1981), Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Iran and the Iranian nation were indebted to martyrs and the families of martyrs.
Referring to the hope-inspiring, revealing, and full of spiritual exhilaration message, and firm resolve of martyrs at any period of time, the leader said, “Today, the country needs firm resolve and recognition of enemy and preparedness to face the enemy in the arena of soft war, including in the fields of culture, politics and social life, and those people who are trying to embellish the monstrous face of the evil enemy through media retouch are [working] against expediencies of the nation.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution mentioned reproduction of the basic Islamic knowledge and their objective materialization in the society as a blessing of the Islamic Revolution, adding, “Part of this knowledge is the set of the knowledge related to martyrdom, which was realized in our society in such a way that martyrs entered the arena with motivation and joviality, and their honest effort has been accompanied with the great divine reward of martyrdom, and they met their Lord without any sorrow and fear, and the spiritual effect of these martyrdoms has been reflected in the society.”
Ayatollah Khamenei mentioned creating a sense of dignity in families of martyrs and creation of spiritual exhilaration and joviality, and firm resolve among people as some of the blessings of martyrs for the society. The Leader then referred to the terrorist incident that took place on the 7th of Tir, 1360 (June 28, 1981), saying, “A great incident like [the incident of] the 7th of Tir in which Ayatollah Beheshti and a group of ministers and Majlis deputies as well as political and revolutionary activists were martyred, should have naturally led to the failure of the Islamic Revolution, but blessed by blood of those martyrs, quite the opposite of what was imagined happened and following this incident, the nation became united and the revolution was put on its real and correct path.”
The Leader emphasized that another blessing of the blood of the 7th of Tir martyrs was revelation of the true colors of the perpetrators of this crime, adding, “Following the 7th of Tir incident, the true face of direct culprits of this major crime, who had introduced themselves in another way for many years, was revealed for the people and the youth, and the same terrorists sought refuge with Saddam after a while and got united with him in order to counter the Iranian nation as well as the people of Iraq.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said revelation of the true face of foreign and domestic culprits of the 7th of Tir incident as well as some people who had opted for satisfied silence over this incident was another blessing of the blood of the martyrs of this incident. Ayatollah Khamenei added, “Following the incident of 7th of Tir, the Great Imam [Khomeini] took suitable advantage of this incident, [and] saved the Islamic Revolution which was being deviated from its main path, while exposing the genuine current of the revolution before the entire nation.”
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the spiritual exhilaration of the society after the 7th of Tir incident, adding, “This incident revealed to the enemies the power and the penetration of the revolution into the depths of the society and they realized that violent methods would not bear fruit against the Islamic Revolution.”
The Leader said revelation of the true face of the arrogant powers with a claim to human rights was one of the blessings of the blood of the 7th of Tir martyrs, reminding, “The same people who perpetrated the crime of the 7th of Tir are now acting freely in Europe and the United States and meet with officials of these countries and are even allowed to deliver speeches at meetings on human rights!”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution emphasized that such acts signify the climax of hypocrisy and two-facedness of those who claim to be advocating human rights, adding, “Our country has 17,000 martyrs of assassination most of whom are ordinary people including business people, farmers, civil servants, university teachers and even women and children, but the perpetrators of all these assassinations are freely present in countries with a claim to [being advocates of] human rights.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said instilling the spirit of resistance and steadfastness in the society and boosting people’s morale was another blessing of the blood of the martyrs. The Leader then pointed to the recent funeral held for 270 martyrs in Tehran and the enthusiasm and fervor that was inspired by that funeral, saying, “This huge incident, and the mobility, readiness and enthusiasm and love and idealism resulting from it, was the opposite point of dissuasion, disappointment and stagnation.”
The Leader then expressed regret for the weakness and inadequacy of measures taken to introduce martyrs, including the failure to introduce the great capacity of the martyrs of the 7th of Tir as symbol of grandeur and steadfastness of the Iranian nation, adding, “The youth in the faithful, revolutionary, popular and self-motivated front must depict an artistic image of these very prominent personalities by [using] the language of imagery and by taking advantage of new tools.”
Ayatollah Khamenei then pointed to the “great and indescribable right” of martyrs and their families with regard to the Iranian nation, adding, “The families of martyrs transfer their high morale and [strong] determination into the society and this morale and firm resolve is what our country needs today.”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution mentioned recognition of the enemy as another basic requirement of today, and while warning about certain efforts that are made through propaganda and media to embellish the criminal face of the enemy, pointed to some examples of terrorist acts of the United States and its stooges against the Iranian nation.
“The terrorist incident on June 28, 1981,” “chemical bombardment of the city of Sardasht on June 28, 1987,” “the assassination of Martyr Sadouqi on July 2, 1982,” and “shooting down of Iran's passenger plane on July 3, 1988,” were examples of terrorist acts perpetrated by the United States or its stooges, which were mentioned by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, who added, “Some believe that these days [in the Iranian month] of Tir must be designated as the ‘American human rights week’.”
Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated the necessity of recognizing the enemy, saying, “The nation must be ready for [any] encounter and confrontation in [all] the arenas of soft war, including cultural, political and social fields, by understanding the depth of the animosity of the enemy.”
Taking to task those people who are trying to justify the violent and horrendous and monstrous countenance of the United States, the Leader noted, “Those who want to cover the evil animosity of America and some of its followers through propaganda and media embellishment are, in fact, betraying the nation and the country.”
At the end of his remarks, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said the Iranian nation is in need of the inspiring, revealing and full of exhilaration message of martyrs, saying, “The Iranian nation is indebted to martyrs and families of martyrs and those who deny this reality are not familiar with expediencies of the nation and are, in fact, foreigners even if they have Iranian birth certificates.”
Before the Leader’s remarks, Hojjatoleslam Shahidi Mahallati, representative of the Leader and head of the Martyrs and War Veterans Foundation commemorated the memory of the 7th of Tir martyrs, saying, “Despite the will of the enemies of Islam and revolution, the memory of the 7th of Tir martyrs is always alive in the country.”
Mahallati, who is also an Iranian vice president, added, “The history of the Iranian Revolution has proven that the incident of the 7th of Tir and similar incidents and assassination of thousands of the best helpers of the revolution has not only failed to weaken [the nation] but has been also a factor for increasing steadfastness, endurance, resistance, and strength of the Iranian nation.”