Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the start of the Sacred Defense (Saddam's imposed war on Iran), the speech of Imam Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a video conference with the participants of a ceremony honoring the veterans of the Holy Defense, was broadcast live on national TV channels.
In his speech, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution reiterated, “Despite the whole-hearted support that many countries in the world offered to the Ba’athist regime of Iraq, Iran was able to be victorious in the war.”
In a videoconference held this Monday with the purpose of paying homage to the veterans of the Sacred Defense Era, coinciding with the anniversary of Saddam’s attack on Iran, His Eminence stated, “The US and other powers started a war with the purpose of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, but they were defeated. Iran’s victory in this war is as clear as the existence of the sun. The whole world did whatever it could, but they failed to achieve their goal in the end. Is there any victory better than this?”
He went on to state that in the past one or two centuries Iran always suffered defeat in the wars that it was involved in and lost part of its territories. He said, “However, in the war that Saddam waged against Iran (1980-1988), he failed to separate even one inch of Iran’s land even though the US, the Soviet Union and NATO were supporting him.”
Imam Khamenei stressed, “Since the beginning, our late Imam knew that the war between Iraq and Iran was not an ordinary war between two neighboring countries. He knew who the main enemy in the war was and realized that Saddam was a mere instrument. He always said that the US was worse than the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union worse than the US, and England worse than both of them. In other words, he had understood that these powers were the main elements working behind the scenes of the war.”
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution emphasized that the Sacred Defense enriched Iran’s human resources and added, “Countless people who were involved in the Sacred Defense continued to render services in different areas of the country in those days, are continuing to do so at the present time, and will continue to do so in the future with God’s grace. Martyr Soleimani was one example. No one has yet understood the extent of his activities. Perhaps in the future, we will gradually come to know what he did.”
