After Oct 7, Zionist regime will no longer be what it used to be: Imam Khamenei

Islamic world must not remain silent in the face of Zionists’ crimes

Oct 10, 2023

The following is the full text of the speech delivered by the Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Armed Forces, Imam Khamenei, on October 10, 2023, during the joint graduation ceremony for the cadets studying in the academies of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces.

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad, and his pure, immaculate Progeny, particularly the Remnant of God on earth.

I would like to extend my greetings and congratulations to the dear youth who are treasured by the Iranian nation. Today is their graduation day. I would also like to congratulate the young people who are entering the nation’s officer training universities and receiving their epaulets today. I would like to thank our dear brothers and respected commanders for the reports they presented. I would also like to thank you for the beautiful anthem that you sang.

The first thing that I want to tell you dear young people today is that you have been instated into the Armed Forces and you have chosen this. This is one of the most vital jobs in the administration of the country and in the management of this dear land. This is a great honor for you.

Military jobs — whether in the various forces of the Army, the various forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or the country’s law enforcement organization — are some of the occupations that rank at the top of the list of the country and nation’s most important duties and responsibilities. You have accepted these responsibilities. You have gained this honor for yourselves and for your families by agreeing to work in the various parts of the Armed Forces.

The Armed Forces are considered to be an iron shield for national security — an iron shield for national security — and national security is the foundation for all the other important areas that play a role in the country’s progress. If there is no security, there is nothing else. If a country lacks the ability to protect its own security, it has no choice but to define itself under this power or that power. It has no choice but to attach itself to others.

What does this mean? It means this country has to put its national honor on the line. If it fails to do this, if it fails to use its national honor, its political words will naturally have no credibility in the world. Even if it makes progress in the field of economics, this progress will not necessarily be permanent. There is no guarantee that it will continue. See how important security is! And you are the ones who are guarding this security. The Armed Forces are a fortress for security, honor, and national identity. This is the field that you have entered today. Therefore, you should truly be congratulated, in the real sense of the word.

Thank God, our Armed Forces have passed their test well. There is a time when the Armed Forces are merely a display of clothes, insignia, and military formations, but not our Armed Forces. They have passed important tests in the field and come out with honor. They have passed important tests and come out with honor. The most important of these tests was the 8-Year Imposed War. They imposed a war — a kind of war that was truly a world war — on our country. And the last test, of course up until today, was fighting the fītna [sedition] of DAESH, which was also very important.

In the Imposed War, our Armed Forces defended every inch of their country as well as the sovereignty of their beloved Islam. They thwarted the collective conspiracy of the East and the West at that time. Our Armed Forces did this. Back then, the world’s political and military might in the East and the West supported the invader, Saddam. Each of them supported him in a different way. Our Armed Forces were able to defend the land of this country and the sovereignty of our dear, holy Islam.

The fītna of DAESH was an evil plot devised by the US. DAESH was created by the US in order to disrupt the stability of our region. Their ultimate goal was, of course, Islamic Iran. Once again, our Armed Forces, together with the armed forces of the targeted countries, succeeded in overcoming this fītna. They were able to thwart this plot. This is something to be proud of. These are the golden medals on the powerful chests of the Islamic Republic’s Armed Forces.

My dear ones, appreciate yourselves! Appreciate this mission. Be proud of the history of the Armed Forces and think as much as you can about the future that is in your hands and in your possession. Prepare for it.

Military universities are a valuable center for training a knowledgeable, courageous, and skilled workforce — knowledgeable, courageous and skilled. This workforce with such important characteristics are trained and advanced in the universities of our Armed Forces. I have previously made many recommendations to universities. And I will also give some recommendations today, some of which are reprises of previous recommendations.

The first thing is to increase your knowledge and research efforts. Enrich the universities as much as you can with knowledge and research. This should be followed by an increase of morale, religiosity, and ethics. This is the next recommendation that I would like to emphasize. It has been reported that you have made improvements in these fields. I will accept that, but I would also like to emphasize that this needs to continue. Our cadets who are training in each one of the organizations of the Armed Forces must improve their morale, religiosity, and ethics every day.

My next recommendation is to upgrade the educational and living environment of the students. Our dear officials in the Armed Forces should pay attention to this. The workshops and classes need to be improved and the student residences should be improved every day in terms of the living facilities. Also pay attention to the educational level of those entering the university. Sometimes it is reported that in some universities, the entrants lack adequate academic and intellectual skills. And there are the other usual recommendations. These were about issues related to the universities.

In recent days, an important political and military issue has drawn the attention of the world to itself, and that is the unprecedented events that have taken place in our dear Palestine. We cannot be indifferent to these matters and to this important event. Fortunately, the stances taken by our officials were correct and good. I would like to share some points in this regard with you, with the Iranian nation, and with all our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries.

The first point is the same thing that we have seen in the various analyses over the past couple of days. That is, in the events of October 7 and onward, the usurping Zionist regime has suffered an irreparable defeat, both in terms of military and intelligence. Everyone has called this “a defeat,” but I emphasize that it’s “irreparable.” I say that this devastating earthquake [Al-Aqsa Storm Operation] has managed to destroy some of the main structures of the usurping regime’s rule, which cannot be rebuilt so easily.

It is very unlikely that the usurping Zionist regime will be able to restore those structures even with all the commotion that they are making and with all the support that it currently receives from the West. I would like to say that after Saturday, October 7, the Zionist regime will no longer be the regime it used to be, and they cannot easily compensate for the blow that has struck them.

The second point, which I believe is very important is that this calamity was brought on by the actions of the Zionists themselves. When oppression and criminality exceed all limits, and when brutality comes to a peak, one should expect a storm. What have you done to the Palestinian people? The courageous, self-sacrificing move of the Palestinians was a response to the crimes of the usurping enemy, which have continued for many years and increased in intensity in recent months. The culprit to blame for this situation is the current administration ruling the Zionist usurping regime.

No Muslim nation in the recent history of the world — as far as we know in this recent period in the world, that is, in the last century or more — no Muslim nation has ever faced an enemy like the enemy the Palestinians are facing today. The Muslim nations and the Muslim countries have never faced an enemy that was this evil, this malicious, this brutal, and this bloodthirsty. Nations have been oppressed on many occasions, but their enemies have never been this shameless, this evil, and this brutal. No Muslim nation has been under or is under such pressure, been besieged, or faced shortages like the Palestinian nation has. You don’t see this in the world, nor in the era that we are living in.

Western governments, especially the US and England, have never supported and helped any government as much as this fake, oppressive, bloodthirsty government. First England, then the US, and various other governments along with them — when there was an Eastern Bloc in the world, the former Soviet Union and others — they all helped this ruthless regime. This ruthless regime has behaved in a way such that they have shown no mercy to women or men. They have shown no mercy to the Palestinian children or the elderly. They have not respected the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have thrown these settlers like rabid dogs at the Palestinians and trampled on the worshipers.

So what should a nation do, a fervent, a deep-rooted nation, in the face of all these atrocities and crimes? The Palestinian nation is not a new nation. It is a nation that has existed for thousands of years. How should it respond to all this oppression? Well, such people will obviously create a storm. They will create a storm whenever they find an opportunity to do so. O Zionist oppressors! You yourselves are the culprits to blame for this storm. You yourselves brought this calamity upon yourselves. A nation has no other way than to show a fervent, courageous response in the face of such hostility.

The third point is that now that this evil, ruthless enemy has been slapped in the face, it has adopted the policy of playing the victim. Others are also helping them.  The media that is owned by Global Arrogance helps it show that it is oppressed. Of course, this too is a miscalculation, which I will speak about later. This show of innocence is one hundred percent false. It is a lie! Just because the Palestinian mujahideen [resistance fighters] have been able to escape the siege on Gaza and reach the military and non-military Zionist centers, does that mean the Zionists are innocent?  No matter what this usurping regime is, it is not innocent. It is oppressive, aggressive, ignorant, and talking nonsense. It is all these things, but it is not the oppressed. It is the oppressor. No one can make an innocent image out of this demonic monster.

The fourth point is that the occupying regime attempting to show itself as the victim is a pretext for them to be able to continue with even more ferocity. They attack Gaza, they attack people’s homes, they attack civilians, they commit massacres and the mass murder of the people of Gaza. Their pretending to be the victim is a ploy for them to increase their crimes several times over. They want to justify their crimes by pretending to be the victim. As I said, this too is a miscalculation. The heads and decision makers of the usurping regime and their supporters should know that this will cause a larger calamity to come upon them. They should know that the response to these atrocities will be a heavier slap to their hideous faces. The determination of the brave Palestinian youth and the determination of the self-sacrificing Palestinians becomes stronger due to these crimes. That’s how it is today.

Gone are the days when people would come and with their words and meetings and discussions with the oppressor try to gain a position for themselves. Those days are over. Today the Palestinians are awake. The youth are awake. The skillful, Palestinian designers are at work. Therefore, the enemy’s calculation is wrong when it thinks that by pretending to be the victim it can continue its criminal attacks. Of course, the Islamic world must not remain silent in the face of these crimes. It must respond.

My final point is that the supporters of the Zionist regime and some of those in the usurping regime have been talking nonsense the last two to three days and this is still continuing. For example, they say that Islamic Iran is behind this move [Al-Aqsa Storm Operation]. They are mistaken. Of course, we support Palestine. We support their fight. We praise the minds and efforts of the resourceful, intelligent designers and the brave youth of Palestine. We are proud of them. This is true. But those who say that non-Palestinians are behind what the Palestinians have done do not know the Palestinian nation. They underestimate the Palestinian nation.

They have made miscalculations in this case as well. Of course, the entire Islamic world is obliged to support the Palestinians and, God willing, they will support them. But this action was carried out by the Palestinians themselves. Intelligent designers, the brave youth, and active, self-sacrificing Palestinians have been able to create this epic. God willing, this epic will be a big step toward the salvation of Palestine.

May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.