(1431 A.H.) (2010/11/15)
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and may Allah’s
blessings be upon our Master, Muhammad al-Mustafa and his immaculate
Family and his elect Companions.
As a symbol of Islamic unity and honour and the emblem of monotheism
and spirituality, the Holy Ka’bah, during the Hajj season, is host to the
ardent and hopeful hearts, who come hurrying from all over the world to
the birthplace of Islam in response to the call of the Glorious Lord. At
this time, the Islamic Ummah can have a bird’s eye view of its own great
extent and diversity, seen through the eyes of its envoys who gather here
from all over the world, and be witness to the profound faith that rules
over the hearts of the followers of the True Religion, and appreciate its
great and peerless heritage.
This self-discovery of the Ummah enables us as Muslims to become aware
of the positi on which is worthy of them in the world, today and tomorrow,
and to keep moving towards it.
The expanding wave of Islamic awakening in the world today is a reality
that heralds a bright future for the Islamic Ummah. This powerful surge
started three decades ago with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and
establishment of the system of the Islamic Republic. Our great Ummah has
continued to march ahead non-stop, removing the obstacles from its way and
conquering new fronts. The sophisticated stratagems of the global
Arrogance and its costly maneuvers aimed at countering Islam are also a
consequence of these victories.
The extensive propaganda of the enemy to spread Islamophobia, its
offhand efforts to create discord among Muslim sects, to incite sectarian
prejudices, to bring about pseudo-confrontations between the Sunnis and
the Shi’ah, to create disunity between Islamic states and to aggravate
their differences, to change them into hostility and unsolvable conflicts,
its employment of intelligence and espionage outfits to propagate
corruption and immorality amongst the youth�all these are nervous and
bewildered responses to the steady and firm advances of the Islamic Ummah
towards awakening, honour and freedom.
Today the Zionist regime is no more the undefeatable monster of 30
years ago. The United States and the West are also no more the
unquestionable decision-makers of the Middle East that they were two
decades ago. Contrary to the situation that existed ten years ago, the
nuclear know-how and other complex technologies are no longer considered
inaccessible daydreams for Muslim nations of the region. Today the
Palestinian nation is an acknowledged paragon of resistance, the Lebanese
nation has single-handedly demolished the fake awesomeness of the Zionist
regime and emerged as the victor of the 33-day war, and the Iranian nation
is at the vanguard of the movement towards the looming peaks.
Today the arrogant United States, the self -styled commandant of the
Islamic region and the real sponsor of the Zionist regime, is bogged down
in the quagmire of its own making in Afghanistan. As a result of all its
crimes against the people of Iraq, it is in the course of becoming
isolated in that country. It is hated more than ever before in
disaster-stricken Pakistan. Today, the influence of the anti-Islamic front
which since the past two centuries has acted as a despotic overlord over
Islamic nations and states and plundered their resources, is receding
before the heroic resistance of the Muslim nations.
On the opposite side, the wave of Islamic awakening is steadily
advancing and growing in depth day by day.
On the one hand, this hopeful and promising situation should inspire us,
the Muslim nations, to keep marching ahead towards the desirable future
with ever greater confidence. On the other hand, the past lessons and
experience should make us more vigilant than ever before. This general
imperative undoubtedly cal ls for greater commitment from religious
scholars, political leaders, intellectuals and youth than the others and
requires them to be at the vanguard of the struggle.
The clear and living message of the Noble Qur’an is addressed to us:
You are the best nation ever brought forth for mankind: you bid what is
right and forbid what is wrong, and have faith in Allah. (3:110)
In this majestic address the Islamic Ummah is declared as one which has
been brought forth for the sake of humanity. The aim of its birth is the
good of mankind and its deliverance.
Its major duty is to urge what is good and to forbid evil while
maintaining unshakeable faith in God. There is no ‘right thing’ (ma’ruf)
more significant than rescuing nations from the satanic claws of the
global Arrogance, and there is no ‘wrong thing’ (munkar) uglier than
dependence on the Arrogant and servitude to them.
Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic Ummah is to provide
help to th e Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza, to
sympathize and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iraq and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the
aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime, to safeguard the
solidarity of Muslims and stop tainted hands and mercenary voices that try
to damage this unity, to spread awakening and the sense of responsibility
and commitment among Muslim youth throughout Islamic communities.
The glorious spectacle and stage of Hajj provides us with an
opportunity for the fulfillment of these duties and summons us to
intensify and redouble our resolution and efforts.
Peace and Allah’s mercy be upon you!
Sayyid Ali Hussaini Khamenei
1 Dhul Hijjah, 1431
(8 Nov., 2010)
Only US has committed
nuclear offence
(2010/04/17)
"Although several countries have produced and stockpiled nuclear
weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and have
seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed the
ultimate nuclear offence, the United States of America," Ayatollah
Khamenei said.
I wish to welcome the honourable guests that have gathered here for
this conference. It is a source of pleasure for the Islamic Republic of
Iran to be the host for this international disarmament conference. I hope
this occasion will be an opportunity to yield enduring and important
results from your dialogues and discussions for the whole humanity.
Atomic and nuclear sciences are among the greatest achievement of
humankind and must be at the service of welfare and advancement of all
human societies. The application fields of nuclear science cover a wide
spectrum of medical, energy and industrial uses, each being of essential
importance. For this reason, we can rightly say that nuclear technology
occupies a prominent position in our economic life and its importance will
only rise as we move forward. As the needs of industry, the health and
energy sectors grow, so do the efforts to make more use of nuclear energy.
The nations of the Middle East, like other nations of the world, are
thirsting for peace, security and progress. They have the right to ensure
the economic position and prosperity of the future generations. Most
likely, one of the reasons behind efforts to cast clouds of doubt on the
peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to hold
back the nations of the region from paying serious attention to this
natural and important right of theirs.
The deceptive ploy by the sole nuclear offender that falsely claims to
be advocating non-proliferation of nuclear arms, while doing nothing
substantive for this cause, will never succeed. If the campaign by the
United States were not fictitious, could the Zionist regime refrain from
accepting the rules of international law, especially the non-proliferation
regime, and turn the occupied land of Palestine into an arsenal with huge
stockpiles of nuclear weapons?
The word “atom” implies as much the advancement of human knowledge, a s
it does remind us of the most appalling event in history, the most
dreadful genocide, and the gravest exploitation of scientific achievements
of humankind. Although several countries have produced and stockpiled
nuclear weapons that could lead to commission of a major nuclear crime and
have seriously threatened world peace, only one government has committed
the ultimate nuclear offence, the United States of America. The innocent
people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked by atomic bombs in an
unequal and cruel war.
From the time of the first explosion of an atomic weapon by the
government of the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that caused
human catastrophe with colossal proportions, the security of the entire
humankind has been threatened and there has been a global consensus on the
need for complete elimination of these weapons. The use of nuclear weapon
not only caused massive loss of lives and destruction, but was also
totally indiscriminate toward milit ary and civilian population, young and
old, women and men. Its ruthless consequences crossed political and
geographical boundary lines and even wreaked irreparable losses on the
next generations. As a consequence of these devastating effects, any use
of or even threat to use nuclear weapons is a serious and material
violation of indisputable rules of humanitarian law and a cogent example
of a war crime. After a few countries acquired these weapons, it has been
proven beyond any doubt that there is no winner in a nuclear war and
entering such a war is irrational and inhuman. Nevertheless, despite these
simple moral, rational, humane and even military facts and justifications
and emphatic and repeated desire of the international community for the
total elimination of these weapons, a small number of governments that
have built their illusion of security on the insecurity of others continue
to ignore this global call.
The insistence of these governments on holding on and increasing the
destructive powers of these weapons will have no use but to serve as a
tool for collective intimidation and terror and to create a false sense of
security based on deterrence resulting from assured destruction and
perpetuation of the global nuclear nightmare. Colossal amounts of
resources have been spent in this irrational arms race, so each superpower
could have this illusion and power to imagine that it is able to destroy
its rivals and other inhabitants of the planet Earth, even their own
population, many times over. It is for good reason that the deterrent
strategy based on “mutually assured destruction” is referred to as MAD.
Over the recent years some government have gone beyond the “mutually
assured destruction” deterrence doctrine in facing other nuclear powers.
They have gone so far that their nuclear strategy emphasizes on
maintaining nuclear choice in countering conventional threats by violators
of NPT, while the greatest viol ators of NPT are those powers that, in
addition to violating their commitments under article 6 of NPT on nuclear
disarmament have even taken over others in the race for vertical and
horizontal proliferation. They have played a direct role in proliferating
these weapons by helping to arm the Zionist regime with nuclear weapons
and supporting the policies of this regime. This is contrary to their
undertaking under article 1 of NPT, and poses a serious threat to the
Middle East region and beyond. The bullying and aggressor regime of the
United States is leading these efforts.
It behooves this international conference on disarmament to review and
examine the perils resulting from production and stockpiling of nuclear
weapons in the world, and to present sensible and practical ways and
solutions to counter this threat against humanity so, serious steps could
be taken toward protecting world peace and security.
We believe that other weapons of mass destruction, in addition to
nuclear weapons, such as chemical and biological weapons, also pose a
serious threat to humanity. The people of Iran were themselves victims of
the use of chemical weapons and are better aware of the dangers of
production and stockpiling of these weapons. We are prepared to make
resources available to us to counter this threat.
We regard the use of these weapons to be illegal and haram, and it is
incumbent on all to protect humankind from this grave disaster.
Seyyed Ali Khamenwi
27 Farvardin 1389
1 Jammadi al-awal 1431