This morning, on the anniversary of the historical 9th of January 1978 uprising of the people of Qom, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution had a public meeting with the people of this city. He called the transformative events of history a container of great learning experiences and the guarantor of divine traditions. He referred to the salvation of Iran from the bloody and plundering claws of America with the victory of the Islamic Revolution. He said: After Carter's order 43 years ago to overthrow the Islamic Republic, the Americans have used every means, especially advertising and propaganda, to achieve this goal. However, as it has become clear in these riots, they have failed. The great nation of Iran, alongside the country's officials, by God's grace, will continue to strive for great and transformative works to eliminate weaknesses and accelerate towards realising goals and desires.
The grand Ayatollah Khamenei considered keeping alive the great 9th of January 1978 uprising and learning from it necessary and said: the great movement that started by ensign of the faithful and revolutionary people of Qom throughout the country overthrew the dictatorial regime, pulling Iran out of the West's digestion and restored its historical identity. During the Pahlavi era, Iran was crushed under the hands and feet of the Americans' wrong culture and politico-military dominance.
He considered denying or downplaying these great days and historical events as a strategy for the false movement. He added: contrary to the Qur'an, which calls everyone to remember and reminisce the days of God and great events, the wrong movement wants to prevent and illuminate the guidance of such days by attempting to deny or wipe away days like the 19th of January, the 9th of January, the funeral of martyr Soleimani and the funeral of martyr Hujaji.
Referring to the quick and sincere reaction of the faithful people of Qom on the 7th of January 1978, that is, the day a ridiculous and insulting article against Imam Khomeini (r.a) was published by order of the Pahlavi court, the Leader of the Revolution said: This movement continued on the 8th and the 9th of January and turned into an all-encompassing uprising. The great people of Qom were the pioneers of the revolution and built a bright path in the country.
He listed the promptitude in feeling obliged, taking risks in front of the hard-hearted and bloodthirsty tyrant regime, and timely and unhesitating movement among the characteristics of the 9th of January Qom uprising and emphasised: any movement that has these characteristics will definitely reach the intended goals.
The Leader of the revolution considered the holy defence as a shining example of the nation's sense of duty, timely action and taking risks and said: The attack of Crazy Saddam was with many facilities and the support of America, Soviet Union, NATO and reactionary countries with the aim of dividing Iran, but Iran won this war, and they could not do a damn. Not even one part of the country was separated from the country.
The grand Ayatollah Khamenei called the tyrant regime's support for America the reason for the foolishness and boldness in publishing a defamatory article against Imam Khomeini (r.a) and said: A few days before the 9th of January, Carter called Iran the island of stability while he was drunk in Tehran, but this support did not yield results because according to the Qur'an, the result of relying on the power of disbelief is nothing but failure.
He considered another essential point of the 9th January incident to prevent the influence of pretentious and rootless people in the path of the Islamic movement and noted: In the constitution, the influence of unscrupulous people caused the movement to move towards the British embassy, but in the Islamic revolution, due to the colourful presence of religious figures in the field and the ensign of scholars in different cities and bringing people's hearts with the movement, all, even the opposition and different groups like the communists were affected by the great popular movement and the greatness of the great Imam who shook the world from Najaf during his teachings. We still have not realised the Imam and his outstanding character properly.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution cited the victory of the revolution and saving Iran from the heavy domination of America as the main cause of enmity with the Islamic system. He referred to the publication of a classified document from a reputable American centre regarding the order of then President Carter to overthrow the Islamic Republic just ten months after the victory of the revolution, and said: According to this document, Carter orders the CIA to overthrow the Islamic Republic, and the first strategy he mentions is the use of propaganda.
Ayatollah Khamenei called the attempt to hit the Islamic system through a series of measures, including threats, sanctions, espionage, infiltration, maximum pressure, creating anti-Iranian unions, Iran phobia, anti-Islamic and anti-Shia alliances as the continuous effort of the Americans during the past 43 years and added: At the top of all these, the attack on the Islamic Republic has been through propaganda.
He added: Of course, it is clear that the enemy did not succeed in carrying out his evil intentions, and today's Islamic Republic, with its strong roots inside and even in the region, is not comparable to the first day, but those attempts hit the country, and we could have been ahead of the current point. The Leader of the Islamic revolution considered focusing the country's power on dealing with the eight-year imposed war and also dealing with pressures and sanctions that caused the country's progress to slow down and noted: that power could have been fully spent on building, progressing and eradicating poverty.
He called it possible to compensate and eliminate the slowness caused by hostilities and added: with more work, faith and belief, and tireless and round-the-clock effort, we can eliminate the weaknesses in all sectors, as in the fields of science, defence, and parts of production, works and compensations have been some good jobs.
In another part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei analysed the aims of the plotters of the recent riots and said: The hand of the foreign enemy in these events was undeniable, and it is not true that some people deny the involvement of the foreign enemy and say that these events are your fault. Pointing to the obvious and unmistakable role played by Americans and Europeans in the recent incidents, he pointed out that the enemy's most important tool in these disturbances was propaganda and temptation through cyberspace and Western, Arabic and Hebrew media.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added: Some people pretended that the people present in the riots were against the administrative and economic weaknesses of the country, while on the contrary, their goal was not to eliminate the weaknesses but to destroy the country's strengths.
In explaining this issue, he pointed to targeting strong points such as the country's security, stopping scientific progress by closing educational and scientific centres, stopping the growth of domestic production, and also stopping booming issues such as tourism, and added: undoubtedly, there is an economic and livelihood problem, but can this problem be solved by burning trash cans and rioting in the streets? Indeed, these actions are treason, and the responsible institutions deal with treason seriously and fairly.
In the final part of his speech, he also mentioned two other issues. The first issue was the re-emphasis on "explanatory jihad" (Reclaiming the Narrative) in this context: At the top of the plans of the ill-wishers is propaganda, the remedy for which is the correct explanation of the facts in different languages and with creativity and innovation because the way to overcome the propaganda temptation that affects the young minds is not the baton, but explanation and enlightenment.
The final point of the Leader of the revolution was to emphasise the accomplishment of great and transformative works. Grand Ayatollah Khamenei called the principle of the Islamic Revolution a significant transformation and passing the country through difficult passes and added: In the future, we need tremendous and transformative works in various fields such as economy, culture, security and science, and this innovative transformation are possible and doable with the hardworking authorities and young people in universities and other departments.