In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Compassionate.

All Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds,

And blessings and peace be upon our master Muḥammad and his pure progeny, especially the remaining presence of the link to Allah upon the earthly worlds.

A very warm welcome to you all. I am delighted to be present at this gathering, which is a manifestation of the national growth and power of the youth. The medal-winners, whether in sports or scientific fields, have brought joy to the people. Through your determination and effort, you have brought happiness to the Iranian nation and have inspired the youth; this is an immensely valuable achievement. In my view, the medals that you have earned in these recent months this year with your hard work carry a significance beyond that of ordinary medals. And why is that? Because we are in the middle of a soft war. In this soft war, the enemy’s endeavour is to depress the nation, to make it feel hopeless, to make it lose faith in its own abilities. Yet through your achievement by winning these medals, you have managed to directly counteract the enemy's efforts. In action, you have demonstrated and embodied the abilities of Iranian youth and the power of the Iranian nation reflected in its young generation. Therefore, it can be said that these medals hold double the value. This response is the strongest answer that could be given to the enemy, and you have given it.

Our beloved Iran is the embodiment of hope, indeed, the very manifestation of hope. Those insinuations some make about the hopelessness of the youth and similar notions about the younger generation are unfounded and lack proper study. Iran is the embodiment of hope. Iranian youth are talented and have skills. This is an important point: we must recognise and understand the abilities, skills, and strengths of Iranian youth. Iranian youth possess the qualities that enable them to reach the pinnacle, just as you have reached those heights, be it as a world champion in a certain sport or in a particular scientific field. You have reached the heights. Iranian youth have within them the power to attain great heights, provided that they possess the resolve. The talent is within them; what is needed is determination, effort, and action.

In our country, certain sectors have experienced leapfrog progress after the Revolution. Their progress has been in leaps and bounds; one such example is the remarkable achievements of our youth in sports. In wrestling, volleyball, and several other sports, they succeeded in demonstrating their presence to the world. We did not have this situation before; we did not possess such capabilities. What has been displayed collectively this year may well be without precedent in the history of the nation’s sports. It is the same in the Olympiads. Our young students have managed to reach the summit, to triumph over their competitors in valid international competitions. This means that Iran stood out in these international competitions. Whatever you do is, in reality, counted in the name of Iran; whatever you do is credited to the nation. That flag that our athletes raised is of great value. That prostration they perform, that prayer our athletes recite after victory, these are deeply meaningful. They are the very symbols of the Iranian nation.

These Olympiad youth are today bright stars and in ten years’ time, if they continue their work, they will become radiant suns. This is my insistence; I urge officials not to neglect these young people. They should not be content with what they have achieved so far; they must advance. If this star progresses, in ten years it will be a sun. Great things can be achieved. Indeed, from the very beginning of the Revolution, we witnessed this spirit and role among our youth. As you know, and as some of our youth may have read in books, in the early years of the Revolution, just two years after its victory, [the enemies] imposed a war on the country that lasted eight years. That eight-year war was the beginning of countless shortages; it was with bare hands that it ended in a victory for Iran. That is, Iran managed to defeat its enemy, Saddam, who had the support and backing of every side. Who accomplished this? The youth. The innovations, the initiatives, they were all from them. We witnessed this firsthand. Back then, these young people were able to devise military initiatives in such a way that they overcame the seemingly limitless capabilities of the enemy. That was the condition on the battlefield. And it is the same in the battlefield of knowledge. Today, after many years, our youth occupy leading positions in numerous research centres across the world. They rank among the foremost in global research, at least within the top ten. Our young people have accomplished great achievements in the fields of nanotechnology, laser science, nuclear industry, diverse military industries, and important medical research. Just a few days ago, I was informed that one of our major research centres had found a treatment for a previously incurable disease; this is a highly significant finding, as until now, it had been regarded as incurable. This is truly significant. The youth are working hard, the country is advancing, the nation is striving, and you are the very embodiment of this effort. This is the state of our youth.

The enemy does not wish to see this kind of development taking place. Indeed, he cannot bear to see it. He seeks, wherever possible, to obstruct it. The enemy cannot bear to see scientific progress, technical progress, progress in the service industry, or progress in the arena of sports. And to the extent that this progress is happening and that he cannot prevent, he tries, using truth and falsehood alike, to distort and obscure it. This is the enemy’s work: he magnifies certain flaws, conceals clear realities, and presents matters opposite to what they are in reality. You, who have stood upon the pinnacles of sport or science! You, who have in fact demonstrated that the atmosphere of Iran is a bright and radiant one, contrary to the propaganda of the enemy, who seeks to portray it as dark and stifling, you have gone out and shown that Iran's environment is indeed bright. Their effort is to make the Iranian youth lose faith in themselves. That is the very thing the enemy seeks to accomplish.

Of course, the youth must intensify their efforts. Young people possess an inexhaustible energy. Youth itself is an extraordinary power, one that cannot be depleted. Whatever you do, however much effort you expend, the more you draw upon this energy, the stronger it becomes. The energy of youth is a power that grows greater the more it is used. They should increase their striving and devote their talents to serving their own nation; this is what truly matters. Now, some may want to go and live in another country, but they must realise that there, they are foreigners. Whoever goes to some foreign country, no matter what you achieve or how far you advance, you will always remain a foreigner there. [But] here is your home, here is your soil, here belongs to you, here is your own, it belongs to your children and your generation. The Iranian youth must be mindful of this truth: a stranger in another country can never live with peace of mind. You see how they treat immigrants, as they call them, in America and elsewhere; that’s how they behave. It's because they are foreigners. It is precisely because they are foreigners that they are treated this way: with hardship, with bitterness, with indifference, and with utter cruelty.

Well, that much in regard to you, my dear Olympiad students and youngsters, who have also carried out excellent programmes.

These adorable teenagers truly and deservedly gave a memorable performance in the arena. In fact, had never, except once before, right here, seen such a display of traditional athletic movements as performed by these youngsters. Of course, young adolescents should not engage in heavy exercise; they should focus on flexibility and light training like the activities they performed today and leave the more strenuous sports for a few years later. Of course, adolescents should not engage in strenuous exercise; they should do light callisthenics and mild sports as much as possible, they should stick to such activities and reserve the heavy training for several years later. Well, this pertains to sports and the Olympiad.

In these past days, some absurd remarks have also been made concerning our beloved Iran; it would not be right for me to remain silent about them. The President of the United States,[i] while in occupied Palestine, attempted to give hope and boost the morale of the desperate Zionists with a bunch of empty words and foolish actions. This is my analysis of the U.S. President’s trip to occupied Palestine; of the actions he took and the statements he made. They are in despair, utterly despondent. In the Twelve-Day War, they were dealt such a blow that they could not believe it; they had never expected it, and so they lost hope. He went there to boost their morale, to pull them out of despair. The words he uttered were the sort of things said to console defeated and demoralised officials. They had never imagined that an Iranian missile, crafted by the hands of Iran’s own youth, could, with its flames and fire, penetrate deep into some of their sensitive research centres and reduce them to ashes. They did not anticipate this, yet it happened. They were able to penetrate deep into some of the important centres of the Zionist regime, destroying and annihilating them. These missiles were built by Iranian youth. We did not buy them from anywhere, nor did we lease them from anyone; this is the product of Iranian youth, this is their hallmark. When Iranian youth enter a field and strive, exert themselves, work hard, and establish their own scientific infrastructure, they accomplish such feats, and they achieve great things. Our armed forces and military industries readied these missiles, deployed and used them, and they still possess them. If necessary, they will be used again at another time. As I said earlier, my conclusion is this: those absurd remarks, those empty words and foolish actions that this man exhibited there were all intended to encourage the other side, to uplift their morale, for they have lost heart. However, there are a few points that must be noted.

My first point is that, without a doubt. The United States is the principal partner in the war in Gaza. He himself admitted as much in his remarks when he said, “We worked with them in Gaza.” Even if he had not said it, it was obvious: they extensively provided their weapons and their equipment to the Zionist regime to be used against the defenceless people of Gaza. The United States is complicit in this crime. He claims, “We are fighting terrorism,” yet over twenty thousand children, infants, and toddlers were martyred in these attacks. Were they terrorists? Four- or five-year-old kids, newborns, twenty thousand of them you killed! Were these terrorists? They are the terrorists! You are the terrorists who created ISIS and unleashed it upon the region, and then kept it so that one day you can use it again, which is what is happening now. A number of ISIS elements are under American control, kept somewhere to be deployed wherever and whenever needed. You are the terrorists! America is the terrorist! In the two-year Gaza war, according to official statistics, they killed seventy thousand people.

During the Twelve-Day War in Iran, in addition to the indiscriminate killings and the bombs they dropped on the heads of over a thousand people, martyring them. They assassinated our scientists. He boasted of having killed an Iranian scientist; yes, you assassinated scientists, people like Ṭahrānchī[ii], ʿAbbāsī[iii] and others, but you cannot assassinate their knowledge. He boasts that they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear industry. Very well, keep on dreaming! But who are you to decide that if a country has a nuclear industry, you can dictate what it must or must not do? Who do you think you are in the world? What business is it of America whether Iran has nuclear capabilities and a nuclear industry or not? These interferences are improper, inappropriate, wrong, and bullying.

I have heard that people across the United States are now chanting slogans against him in the streets[iv]; according to the reports we received and you've heard, seven million people in various cities and states of America are demonstrating against this man. If you are so capable, go and pacify them! Go silence them and send them back to their homes. You meddle in other countries’ affairs and build military bases. America is the terrorist. In fact, America is the very embodiment of terrorism.

He says, “I am a supporter of the Iranian people”. He’s lying. The secondary sanctions that the United States has been imposing for years compel many countries to comply with them out of fear. Who are these sanctions directed against? Against the Iranian nation. You are an enemy of the Iranian people, not a friend.

He says, “I am a deal-maker; I want to make a deal with Iran.” A deal whose outcome is decided in advance by coercion is not a deal; it is coercion, and the Iranian nation will not submit to coercion. That is not called a deal. He says, “Let us sit and talk, and the result will be this!” He determines the outcome in advance; this is bullying. Iran cannot be influenced by such coercion as some other countries have been.

He says that in this region, what they call the ‘Middle East’ and we call West Asia, there is ‘death, annihilation, and war.’ Well, you are the ones who start the wars. America is a warmonger; America instigates wars and creates wars. In addition to assassination, it is a warmonger. These wars are their doing, these deaths are their doing, this is what America does in the region. What are those military bases for?

Why has America set up so many military bases in the different countries of this region? What are you doing here? What concern of yours is this region? This region belongs to its own people. Therefore, what this man presented as a position is entirely wrong; many of his statements are lies and reveal nothing but bullying. Such bullying may influence some nations, but by God’s grace, it will never have any effect on the Iranian nation.”

By The Grace of Allah

And May the Peace, Mercy, and Blessings of Allah be Upon You.