Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the assassination of a top Iranian commander disgraced the US as it had to own up to the “terrorist” action and see its image dealt a blow by Iran’s retaliation.
“The day the missiles of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps crushed the US base is one of the days of God. The Guards’ response was a major blow to America’s fearsome superpower image,” the Leader told a huge crowd in Tehran Friday.
For the first time in eight years, Ayatollah Khamenei led the Friday prayers in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque attended by a huge number of worshipers. It came after Iran pounded two US bases in Iraq with missiles in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
The Leader described the past two weeks as extraordinary marked by both bitter and sweet adventures and events containing lessons for the Iranian people.
“The day of God means seeing the hand of God in the events – the day when tens of millions in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Iraq and some other countries came to the streets to honor the blood the commander of the Quds Force,” he said.
“The day IRGC missiles pounded the American base is another day of God. We saw these two days of God before our eyes in the past few days. These days are a turning point which make history. They are not ordinary days,” he said.
“That a nation summons such a power and mental countenance to slap an arrogant and bullying force of the world in such a fashion is a sign that the hand of the divine power” is involved, Ayatollah Khamenei added.
The Leader said the recent events are about to leave an everlasting impact on the morale and disposition of the nations, where the Iranian people are seen as a “patient, resistant and very grateful nation”.
He also hit out at British, German and French leaders who admitted this week to have launched under pressure by US President Donald Trump a process that could lead to European sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei called them “footmen in the real sense of the word”, telling them “You are too small to bring the Iranian nation to its knees.”
The Leader said the European states “cannot be trusted”, adding their engagement in negotiations is always associated with “deceit and fraud”.
He also touched on the “bitter” tragedy of the loss of lives in the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran, saying necessary measures must be taken in order to avoid a repetition of the incident.
“The plane crash was a bitter accident, it burned through our heart,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “But some tried to… portray it in a way to forget the great martyrdom and sacrifice” of Major Soleimani, the Leader said.
Address ‘to Arab brothers’
In the final segment of his speech, the Leader said that he would like to also “have a few words with our Arab brothers,” and proceeded to continue the speech in Arabic.
The Leader described the assassination of Gen. Soleimani and Mahdi al-Muhandis – who was second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) – as being “cowardly”.
“The Americans, not risking to face Gen. Soleimani in the battlefield, opted to assassinate him along with those accompanying him in the airport in Baghdad,” he said.
“ّOnce again, Iraqi and Iranian blood was shed and mixed together in the fields,” he said, adding the martyrdom Gen. Soleimani had resulted in the failure of foreign-backed plans to sow division between the two countries.
“Much money was spent and irresponsible people were used to promote malicious sentiment against the Iraqi nation in Iran and against the Iranian nation in Iraq,” the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei also said Washington’s goal in Iraq is to incite a civil war and ultimately partition the country and eradicate its resistance forces.
Foreign-backed conflict and instability in countries such as Syria and Lebanon are also part of the “enemy’s sedition” which has targeted Iraq, he said.
Resisting the enemy and not fearing it, the Leader said, is “the sole path” that can lead to the liberation of these nations.
