Translated by Al-Ahed News, Hezbollah Media Relations

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech on the memorial of the righteous martyrs President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions at the Sayyed Al-Shuhada [AS] Complex in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, May 24, 2024.

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Master and Prophet, the Seal of Prophets, Abi al-Qassem Muhammad Bin Abdullah, and his good and pure household and his good and chosen companions and all the prophets and messengers.

Peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you all. ‏

Allah Almighty says in His glorious book:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. {Those who say, when struck by a disaster, “Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will ‘all’ return.” They are the ones who will receive Allah’s blessings and mercy. And it is they who are ‘rightly’ guided.} Allah the Most High, the Greatest has spoken the truth.

At the beginning, before delving into the memorial and honoring ceremony, I would like to shed light on two points:

1- This painful incident happened a few days before the Resistance and Liberation Day. As such, the atmosphere that prevails is sadness and loss. Therefore, we decided to call off celebrations and festivities marking Liberation Day as is customary because they show joy and cheerfulness. Hence, we will only deliver speeches today, tomorrow, and the next few days and talk about the occasion, Liberation Day, the resistance’s achievements, as well as the sacrifices made by the resistance, the people, and the resistance factions.

Even though we are at the heart of the occasion, I will suffice by congratulating you, all the Lebanese people, and all the resistors, honorable people, and free people in the region and the world, on this solemn occasion, which is the Resistance and Liberation Day on May 25, 2000. It was a great victory over the enemy and a terrible and historic defeat that forced the enemy to withdraw unconditionally.

2- In the past few days, His Eminence, the scholar, the Mujahid, the investigator, Sheikh Ali Kourani, has also departed from us and from this mortal world. On behalf of my brothers, I offer my condolences to his honorable family. He has given so much to the Islamic work and movement and played a role in the beginnings of the founding of Hezbollah. In any case, God willing, next week we will hold a memorial and honoring ceremony for His Eminence. Then, we will talk about him and give him some of his due rights.

I wanted to shed light on these two points before delving into the occasion. The accident, the President’s helicopter collided with the mountain, which led to the martyrdom of this group of dear, good, loyal, and honest leaders, is very painful and very sad in Iran and outside of Iran.

We are among those who felt great sadness. We were saddened and pained. This incident is a significant blow to the resistance because we lost great, loving, and dear leaders and Mujahideen at a very sensitive time in the ongoing conflict with the forces of arrogance, the Zionist aggression, and the Zionist project in the region.

Today, through our celebration, we share feelings of loss with the Islamic Republic of Iran, our leader and the leader of the nation, its people, its government, its officials, and the honorable families of those great men whom we lost in this accident. We understand what it means to lose these people, and we express our loyalty to those who have always stood with us and never abandoned us.

Once again, we extend our deepest condolences on the passing of these dear people: His Eminence Ayatollah Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, representative of the Supreme Leader in Azerbaijan Province and Imam of Friday Prayer in Tabriz, Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic in Iran, Sayyed Malek Rahmati, Governor of East Azerbaijan, Brigadier General Mehdi Mousavi, head of the President’s security team, the pilots Brigadier Sayyed Taher Mostafawi and Brigadier Mohsen Daryanoush, and Brigadier General Behrouz Qadimi. May God have mercy on them all.

We offer our condolences first and foremost to Imam Saheb Al-Zaman, to His Eminence the Leader, Sayyed Khamenei, to our great religious authorities, to the dear, Mujahid, and patient Iranian people, to the honorable officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to their honorable families.

As a result of my personal knowledge of and the basic role His Eminence the martyred President and the martyred Minister of Foreign Affairs played in the region, some of my talk will focus on them. From what we heard about His Eminence Hashem Ale-Hashem and know about him, he was a diligent jurist, scholar, and Mujahid. He was sincerity and humble. He was very well loved in Tabriz and Azerbaijan. The rest of the brothers also made sacrifices and were among the Mujahideen. But of course, the talk will focus on these two figures and what is related to our region, including the current events and the horizon.

Therefore, my speech will be divided into several parts. One part about the martyred President. One about the martyred Foreign Minister. Another part about Iran during the accident and after it, for the friends and foes. The final part is about Al-Aqsa Flood and the developments. In conclusion, I will talk about our Lebanese front.

1- The martyred President:

Naturally, as in all previous occasions when we talk about martyred leaders, we emphasized that we need to know them and to introduce them to our youth, future generations, and our peoples because we need role models.

When they leave for the next world, they do not need all our speeches, poems, praise, and compliments. We are the ones who need to know them because we need role models. Role models are not only prophets, imams, and supreme leaders. We need presidents, prime ministers, ministers, directors, mayors, schoolteachers, university professors, fathers and mothers, husbands and workers as role models. Without role models at every time, in every generation, and at every level, what we believe in remains merely ideas, theories, words, ink on paper, and nothing more. A role model is one who embodies and manifests all these values, teachings, concepts, ideas, and theories.

When someone is called a walking in the Quran, what does that mean? This means that this person embodies behavior, morals, spirituality, humility, submission to God Almighty, love for people, severity in the face of tyrants and oppressors that the Qur’an calls for.

Today, we must look to Mr. President Ebrahim Raisi, the martyr, as a role model in all the positions in which you assumed responsibility. Of course, His Eminence the Sayyed has a long history since his youth in this revolution, and the reports you saw show that. However, we got to know him better, especially in recent years, in three positions.

The first is when he took charge of the Holy Shrine of Imam Rida in Mashhad. The second is when he was Iran’s Chief Justice, and the third is when he was elected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran three years ago.

During his first position, he acquired the title, ‘the servant of Imam Rida’, that we have heard so often over the past few days. This is because he was the custodian of the Imam Rida [AS] Shrine. Managing this large and spacious place and managing all its affiliated institutions – educational, health, economic, investment, services – is a big and huge responsibility. The endowments affiliated with this shrine are very large, among the largest endowments in Iran, and perhaps even among the largest endowments in the world.

All of the capabilities are at the disposal of the chairman and head of the Imam Rida [AS] Shrine. When His Eminence Sayyed Raisi assumed responsibility, there was no doubt that he brought about a major transformation in the management and development of this shrine. The most important thing are the great services that the deprived and the poor benefited from. He was known for his intense love for the deprived and the poor.

In the second position as Chief Justice, he brought about a major transformation in the administration of the judicial authority in the few years of assuming this post. One of the most important things he did was getting rid of a lot of bureaucracy and delays in addressing files. He created a mechanism for direct intervention to address pending files that were taking long periods of time and very sensitive files, some of which were related to pressing economic issues, including factories, financial companies, etc.

In the third position which is the presidency, we witnessed him working diligently as a servant of his people and present in all the governorates, cities, and especially in the countryside, in the neighborhoods of the poor, and in the deprived, vulnerable, and remote villages. He walked among them in the mud, in the dust, climbing the mountains, walking in the water and places of floods. He exposed himself to dangers and provided a very sophisticated and important experience during his presidency in the past three years.

A few days before his martyrdom, many Iranian websites [I rarely saw anything in Arabic websites] published reports on the 1000 days of Sayyed Raisi's presidency and what he accomplished during his presidency? We knew him and introduced him to the world as the jurist President. This president was a diligent jurist and scholar. He was a jurist and a hardworking scholar. He was a doctor, a believer, religious, the pious, dedicated, ethical, very humble, and very loving. He was always smiling and very helpful. He was close to the people, especially the deprived, poor and vulnerable groups. He was very brave in confronting the oppressors, the arrogant, the tyrants, and the hypocrites. He was a believer in the resistance, its cause, its project, and its battle. He was a tireless worker.

They told us that he never had a day off for the past three years. On his day off, he went to the governorates and other areas. In addition to all of this, he was obedient to his leader and his Imam, His Eminence the Leader. This is one of the very important characteristics of this president-elect.

 During a private conversation, a person was mentioned and was said that one of his characteristics was that he considered himself a soldier of His Eminence Imam Khamenei. Sayyed Raisi, who was the President of the Republic, said that “I also consider myself and am proud to be a soldier of His Eminence Imam Khamenei.”

This is an important trait – the manner, spirit, and mentality in which the President of the Republic deals with the guardian and the supreme leader. This is one of the most important elements and characteristics. In Iran, when any person becomes president of the republic, he will face many, major challenges, but there are two of the most important challenges.

The first is the economic and livelihood challenge. The second is international and regional relations and foreign policy challenge. Both challenges date back to the victory of the revolution in 1979. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been facing many dangers, threats, and challenges and has so far withstood them.

This is a reminder, especially for the young generations who were not present in the Islamic Revolution in 1979 or after it. The Islamic Republic of Iran, from the first days, has been subjected to a siege, an economic blockade, and sanctions. These sanctions are not new; they are increasing. The sanctions have been imposed since the beginning of the victory of the revolution. There was an eight-year- war imposed on it. The global war was not Saddam Hussein’s war or an Iraqi-Iranian war. Rather, it was a global war in which all the tyrants of the world participated. It was financed by many tyrants and oppressors.

Yes, Saddam Hussein was the spearhead of this war. During the eight years of war, there were large numbers of martyrs and wounded, destroyed cities, and economic disruption. The siege intensified during wartime to the point that the Islamic Republic could not import pins, ordinary pin or barbed wires for the battlefront. Nowadays, anyone can buy barbed wires from the store to put around his garden or house, but Iran was banned from importing them. There were sanctions, siege, and internal assassinations, including the assassination of Iran’s president and prime minister. In one day, two martyrs, Rajai and Bahonar, were assassinated. In one moment, the head of the judiciary force, Ayatollah Beheshti, the martyr and 72 senior officials, ministers, representatives, etc. were assassinated. There are also other assassinations, including that of martyr Motahhari and martyr Mofatteh. There are many internal events and terrorist acts committed by hypocrites, including massive killings and the spread of armed chaos and violence. There are events that took place in a number of provinces in Kurdistan. All these events had a major and dangerous impact on the reality of the Islamic Republic. Then, sanctions over allegations concerning the nuclear issue and the nuclear file were tightened.

Hence, when any president comes to bear responsibility, he will find before him this very large file – the economic and livelihood file that include the pressures that the Iranian people are experiencing regarding their national currency, the issue of the toman, the dollar, and hard currency. There are also other issues, including the issue of job opportunities and high prices. All these are largely the results of the sanctions and blockade. Therefore, the president and his government are required to address these challenges. There is also the foreign policy file.

There are many things to say, but the time of the occasion is not enough. A few days ago, I requested information about the achievements of Sayyed Raisi and his government during the past three and I found detailed reports. We hope that some brothers and some friendly media outlets benefit from the existing reports and prepare something about the accomplishment of President Raisi during his1000 days in office.

I will give examples from each file briefly.

Reviving economic projects, the revival and restoration of thousands of factories that were idle or semi-idle and suffering from financial or legal problems: I read in some reports that the figure was approximately 7,000 factories. Of course, this provided many job opportunities in Iran. Building housing and converting 240,000 homes to be delivered to people. In the coming years, 400,000 housing units will be reconstructed.

He came up with a very creative idea – the lands owned by the state in all the governorates were divided into parts. Housing units will be built on each piece of land and given to the homeless. Also, under certain conditions, a piece of land was given to individuals and families. People were also given loans from banks and funds for them to build. So far, 1,785,000 pieces of land have been distributed to families in need to build housing units. This is a very big number.

There was an increase in oil production in Iran during these three years. Three million 500 thousand barrels were produced. Sales also increased. In the past period due to the tightening of sanctions, it was some 100 thousand. It reached 1,500,000.

Electricity and water networks and their delivery, especially to deprived areas, during the term of Sayyed Raisi’s government. The decision was adopted to provide free electricity and water to poor families of a certain level. In other words, they get water and electricity for free, without paying fees.

The government also worked doubling employee salaries, economic growth from 1 to 6% on average in three years, adding 15,000 hospital beds, and establishing large service and health centers in governorates and deprived areas. Confronting the coronavirus pandemic was in itself a huge battle and a great challenge. The government also retrieved large amounts of money to Iran that were confiscated abroad, for example, from Britain, and so on. This is a brief overview of the government’s achievements. There are many more details.

Over the course of three years, he made great efforts and visited the provinces, cities, rural areas, and distant places. He sat with the people, listened to them, and followed up on their problems. That is why they call him the servant president who served his people. These martyrs are called the martyrs of duty and the martyrs of service. Sayyed Raisi was called the master of the martyrs of duty and the master of the martyrs of service.

In foreign policy, he was joined by martyr Dr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian. During the past three years, there has been a very significant development in Iranian diplomacy and movement abroad. His Eminence Sayyed Raisi adopted this approach, which His Eminence the Leader always emphasized when it came to public policies. Priority must be given to the neighboring countries, the countries neighboring Iran, the Arab neighborhood, the Islamic neighborhood, and all neighboring countries. Priority was also given to the East, including Russia, China, and the countries of the East, without severing ties with the West or turning your back on the West.

The relationship with Western countries remains if there is a possibility to improve and develop it. However, the priority was for the neighboring countries and the East while preserving sovereignty, independence, freedom, and the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran and adhering to the basic constants of this republic.

Indeed, during the past three years, we all saw the movement of the President and the Foreign Minister, the regional issues that were addressed, the relations that were developed with many Arab and neighboring countries. They visited neighboring countries in general, perhaps all of them, with the exception of one or two countries at most. They developed relations with Russia and China, with the East while maintaining relations with the West within a certain level. They entered international organizations, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Bilateral relations at the political, diplomatic, and economic level were developed. But the most important issue in foreign policy, is Palestine, the Palestinian cause, and the resistance movements.

In addition to his commitment the Islamic Republic’s foundations and origins, he had great faith in the Palestinian cause at the personal level. He had a strong hostility with these brutal, criminal, murderous Zionists. He expressed this in all his speeches. He greatly believed in the resistance, the resistance movements, and the resistance strategy. Resistance was the only way to liberate the land and the holy sites and get rid of this injustice that looms over our region, the heart of our region, and Palestine.

He had great convictions, and this was part of his religion, his faith, and his commitment. Therefore, throughout his entire career, this was his position and speech. When he assumed the presidency, he worked through to support this cause.

He provided any kind of moral, diplomatic, political, financial, or military assistance and support. At some point, this was hidden. But a few years ago, it became clear and a source of pride – the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the resistance movements, in addition to moral, political, and diplomatic support, with money, weapons, expertise, training, and the development of enormous capabilities at every level.

2- The martyred FM:

Sayyed Raisi was very committed to this issue. Fortunately for us in the resistance, the minister who was elected and chosen to head the Foreign Affairs ministry was Dr. Hossein Amir Abdullahian, who also, on a personal level, was a great believer in the resistance and who loved the resistance and resistance movements for a long time. As Lebanese, we knew Dr. Amir Abdullahian mainly in three positions.

The first position was the Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs years ago. Then, he was the political advisor or political assistant to the President of the Islamic Shura Council directly concerned with the Palestine file and the Palestine Support Conference. The third position was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. During his tenure, he visited Lebanon many times. He visited every three months. He was supposed honor us with a visit this week.

He had great love for Lebanon, great love for Palestine, and great love for the resistance movements. This is an important personality trait. It’s one thing when he was doing his job based on Iran's strategy. It’s another when he was a supporter and a believer. At the personal level, he believed in this cause and thinks about it day and night.

Therefore, during these three years, we have seen nothing but goodness from the Iranian President or from Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Abdollahian. Both provided help, support, love, and embrace. We thank them very much for that, and we ask God Almighty to reward them on our behalf with the best reward in that other world. Of course, one of the most important qualities of these two figures is extreme humility.

When it comes to foreign policy, a foreign minister needs to establish relations with heads of state, foreign ministries of states, governments, kings, princes, and sultans as well as resistance movements, resistors, and popular forces. This is not simple. This is a complex matter, and it requires breadth of mind, intelligence, tact, vitality, energy, culture, and great effort. Dr. Amir Abdollahian possessed all of these.

Among the most important qualities of these two men are humility and the love of people, and love of the poor, the deprived, the mujahideen, and the resistance fighters. Allow me to stop at this point at the conclusion of this part. Some people, some officials, and some people love the rich and hate the poor. They rush to the palaces of the rich and flee from the slums and huts. If a poor person invites him to his table, he apologizes, but if a rich person invites him to his table, he rushes to it. This expresses a certain nature.

These honorable people were passionate, loved, and respected the poor, the deprived and the oppressed. This is the school of Islam, the school of the greatest Messenger of God [PBUH]. This is the school of Imam Khomeini, who always spoke about the poor, those who lived in huts and slums. For example, in Lebanon, Imam Musa al-Sadr used to call it the belts of misery. This is an essential quality. At the beginning, when I spoke about role models, we need role models in all of this, in management, in wisdom, in the courage of decision, in assuming responsibility, in working tirelessly, in exerting efforts in creativity, and in humility, love, and adoration.

3- Iran:

I would like to highlight two points:

1- It is sufficient for me to point out and remind you of the address of His Eminence Sayyed Raisi at the Arab-Islamic summit that was held in Saudi Arabia weeks after the Al-Aqsa Flood. I read the whole speech again.

Sayyed Raisi’s address was the clearest and most decisive speech when it came to the Palestinian people, the position towards “Israel”, and America’s partnership and responsibility for the crime. He provided a program of 10 or 11 items. Of course, it all remained an echo in the valley. You know, the Arab Islamic Summit did not produce anything, unfortunately.

However, he presented very strong proposals, including supporting the Palestinian people, forming a rapid fund to support the Palestinian people, relief and reconstruction, providing weapons to the Palestinian people to defend themselves and liberate their land, severing relations with the Zionist entity, etc.

When some of the attendees at the Arab Islamic Summit issued statements condemning Hamas by name and the Palestinians in Gaza for what they did on October 7 – I do not want to mention the names of the rulers, the governments, or the countries that issued condemning statements – Sayyed Raisi concluded his speech by wishing peace for the children of Gaza, the women of Gaza, the men of Gaza, and the Palestinians. He then said, “I kiss the hands and forearms of the Hamas fighters [naming Hamas] and the Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza.”

This was the president of the most important or one of the most important Islamic countries in our Islamic world. From here, we understand where this martyr and president was coming from.

I will talk about the helicopter incident from two angles. The first is the popular angle. I said this point is addressed to our friends and enemies; to reassure our friends and increase their faith increased and for the enemy to despair.

2- The popular positions

In the past years, there has been a very major campaign against Sayyed Raisi, His Eminence the Leader, and the Islamic Republic regime throughout the world. Billions of dollars, hundreds of satellite channels in various languages, including Persian, and hundreds and thousands of electronic armies were used to distort, mislead, lie, and slander. There was an attempt to depict that the Iranian people on the one hand and the regime, leadership, state, and presidency in the other are not on the same page.

They also wanted to portray that the popularity of Iran and this regime have weakened. So, they sat and waited. As they say here in Lebanon, waiting by the river for the body of the dead person to arrive. In any case, they have been waiting for more than 40 years, sitting and waiting. When the Islamic Revolution was victorious, they said after six months the regime would fall, then they said after a year, then after two years. They launched the war and were planning for Saddam to arrive in Tehran within weeks.

When they despaired of the war, they waited for Imam Khomeini to died. They thought that after the death of the Imam and his departure, this regime will fall and end. We were experiencing the same thing before the [helicopter] accident.

Therefore, when the accident was reported and before the outcome was decided, which is the martyrdom of the dear leaders, many analysis pieces said that now you will see that the Iranian people will turn their backs, there will be a low turnout in the funeral procession, and that this is an opportunity for the Iranians. Unfortunately, I watched some Arabic satellite channels and the spiteful, ignorant, and stupid analyses they broadcasted were doing what Blinken and other foreign media outlets are trying to do – sitting and waiting.

The funeral processions took place in the cities of Tabriz, Qom, Tehran, Birjand, and Mashhad. The procession was broadcast to the whole world. Even later, the funerals of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tehran in the city of Rey, Ayatollah Ale-Hashem in Tabriz, and these honorable mayors in their provinces and cities as well saw huge turnout. What message do these millions send? A very strong and important message. We can say that the funeral procession is the third largest in the history of humanity, without exaggeration. We are ready to bring the figures. The largest is the funeral of Imam Khomeini. The second largest is that of the great martyred Commander Qassem Soleimani. The third largest funeral was for the martyred President Raisi and his honorable companions.

Where in the history of humanity, since God created Adam until today, has there been a funeral of this size, with millions of people taking part in marches from early in the morning until noon? Fathers, mothers, and children took part in the procession for long hours from morning until evening. All dressed in black, sad, and crying. Did the IRG force them to take part like some countries would?

Rather, these people, with all enthusiasm, with all love, with all passion, with all loyalty to their leader and their servant, and the servant of their Imam Rida [AS] filled the streets and squares for long hours. Where can you find such people? Which human history?

The funeral procession sent a message of loyalty, a message of belonging, a message of allegiance, a message of firm commitment to the line of Imam Khomeini, to the Islamic Revolution in Iran, to the regime of the Islamic Republic in Iran, to the Islamic leadership in Iran, and to this approach and path. This is a strong message.

This should reassure all friends and lovers outside Iran who quickly worry and are affected by what is said in the media, in which there is a lot of bad, deception, and evil. It is also a message to the enemy, the enemy that imposed wars on Iran, sanctions, blockades, deception, strife, and assassinations. Despite all this, Iran remained strong and steadfast. It even grew, developed, strengthened, and rose in status in the world at every political, diplomatic, scientific, artistic, technical, health, medical, and creative levels.

There are statistics. For many years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been among the top-ranking countries – first, second, fourth, sixth. This enemy must despair. One of the reasons for the failure of American policies is detachment from reality or denial of reality. That is why they made mistakes in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the region, in Syria, in Lebanon, in our region, and Iran. They will continue to make mistakes because they are detached from reality. This is the problem of major countries, governments, leaders, political forces – separation from reality and denial of reality.

Let me give you an example. If you go back to the archives from 1982, i.e. over 42 years ago, you’ll read that Hezbollah has weakened, Hezbollah’s popularity has declined, people are tired of Hezbollah, etc. Even when Hezbollah participated in the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, its environment began to abandon it. Meanwhile, if you look at the funeral processions of our martyrs over the past eight months, what do you see? Put in mind that these are not central funeral processions. This procession is only for a specific town and the neighboring areas.

Sometimes the number of people taking part in a funeral procession of a martyr in one of our border villages is greater than the number of people or political forces, parties and leadership attending a central festival. Yet, some say that the support of the resistance’s environment for it has declined and weakened. This is called detachment from reality and contradiction. In other words, they are accusing us of being strong, controlling and holding the state, its decisions of war and peace, disrupting the presidential elections, and making the whole country stand on one leg and a half; but at the same time, they are saying that we are weak and in crisis. Make up your mind; it is either one or the other.

Detachment from reality and denial are one of the problem. The American policy towards Iran is the same. I remember one day, His Eminence the Leader in a meeting with officials said something nice and funny. At that time, there were the yellow vest demonstrations in Paris. People wore yellow vests and took to the street every Saturday. At the time, [Donald] Trump was the US president. He said that hundreds of thousands of yellow-vest protesters were taking to the street in Iran every Friday.

This is Trump, the President of the United States of America, who has extensive security and intelligence, and all the security services in the region are at his disposal. He delivers a speech and says every Friday in Tehran and in the main cities of Iran there are demonstrations against the regime. His Eminence the Leader said, Mr. Trump, first of all, these demonstrations you are talking about take place on Saturday, not Friday. Secondly, they are in Paris, not in Tehran. This is called detachment from reality and denial. Regarding this point, the message is clear and strong.

The second point Iran is a strong, cohesive, and solid state. It was greatly pained and very saddened by the martyrdom of its president, its foreign minister, and this blessed gathering of personalities, but the accident did not shake it, confuse it, or weaken it. In the hours when they were still searching in the mountains, His Eminence the Leader was meeting with the families of the IRG. We saw him on television with a clear, confident voice and a hand gesture with complete reassurance saying that the country will continue. Don’t worry, things will be managed normally. Why? Because Iran is a real country and not, as they say, a banana state. It is not a third world country. It is a completely different country, a strong, solid and cohesive country.

The crash and what happened in Iran after also send this message directly to the friend and enemy. First, the Iranians have a constitution that addresses everything, including presidential vacuum. They do not have a presidential vacuum. According to the Constitution, the Vice President, with the approval of the Leader, assumes executive authority. When the Vice President is present and the Leader supports his assumption of executive authority, then there is no vacuum. The Minister of Foreign Affairs appoints a chargé d'affaires. Institutions operate on the second day. The Assembly of Experts elects a chairman, and the country is not disrupted. Even though the people are preoccupied with the funeral, but the institutions are working.

It is a state of institutions, a state of a constitution, a state of law, led by a brave, wise, expert, and great leader who runs this state. This is because the constitution alone is not enough. There are many people that have constitutions and laws, but because they lack wisdom, sincerity, and a sense of responsibility, they waste their countries, states, and governments. Iran has an incubator of popular will and very high popular confidence. They attempted to create strife under the pretext of that young Iranian woman who died in an unfortunate accident. They expected that during the incident or after the announcement of the martyrdom of Sayyed Raisi and those with him that unrest would occur in many provinces and that demonstrations and riots would take place. But there was nothing at all.

These funerals, brothers and sisters, if they were able to go to the rest of the Iranian provinces and cities, you would also witness millions of people taking part in them. This is the second message – a strong, cohesive, solid state that is able to withstand and continue.

I would like to conclude this title before moving on to the last section, which I said was meant to reassure the friend and make the enemy despair. Immediately, the question becomes after Sayyed Raisi, what would the foreign policy be, the issue of resistance, the issue of international relations, the issue of Palestine? I’ve seen a lot of analyses, including the extent to which the absence of these leaders affects, for example, Hezbollah, the resistance in Lebanon, the resistance in Palestine, and regional files?

What we must repeat again and again is that to Iran, these are fixed. Its policy is fixed. These are fixed rules. This is part of the reality of the Islamic Republic, its identity, and nature. It is an integral part of its religion, and therefore, it does not change or alter with the change of officials, the martyrdom of officials, the departure or death of officials. This is a fixed part. There are people who do not want to believe that the Iranians are free.

From 1979 until today, the Islamic Republic has not changed, retreated, changed, or weakened its support for Palestine, the Palestinian cause, and the resistance movements. Rather, year after year, its support and backing increased, and it made it more public. I am a witness to that, and you are a witness to that.

What the Islamic Republic was offering in the beginning was less than what it is offering now, of course, as a result of its capabilities and circumstances. The more its political, media, moral, material, financial, and military capabilities grew and improved, the more it gave support. It did not skimp one day. This is the horizon. This is what the delegations who met with His Eminence the Leader heard in Tehran during the past few days. This is to reassure them and to increase their reassurance.

Therefore, to all the enemies who are expecting and waiting for Iran to weaken, to be shaken, to retreat, to abandon Palestine and the resistance, you are living in illusions, mirages, and fantasies. The Islamic Republic was and will remain the strongest support in this world alongside Palestine and the resistance movements in Palestine.

Of course, in addition to the others. Syria, today, when we speak on the Day of Resistance and Liberation, in 2000 in Bint Jbeil, the two countries that we clearly thanked were the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran. They stood at the back of this resistance and still do. The resistance in Lebanon, Palestinian resistance, and the Palestinian cause constants.

4- Al-Aqsa Flood and developments:

The last part of my speech will be devoted to the latest developments in the Al-Aqsa Flood and the battle in which we are taking part and for which we are offering martyrs. I express my condolences to the families of the martyrs who have fallen in recent days, asking God to grant the highest degrees to the martyrs, patience and comfort to their loved ones, and healing to the wounded, on all the battlefields.

We are now in the eighth month. The “Israelis” themselves, regardless of the opinions of some, the “Israelis” themselves recognize, whether they are in power or the opposition, because some people sometimes say: ‘You’re quoting what people in the opposition are saying’, but the recognition is unanimous among both those in power and the opposition. They all agree that what the Zionist entity has experienced and is experiencing these months, and this year is unprecedented in 76 years. And this is, of course, one of the great achievements of the Al-Aqsa Flood and what followed it.

Previously, it was always the Zionist entity that created suffering and pain and inflicted tactical and strategic losses on the fronts: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine itself in 1948, with the exception of the 1973 war, which redressed the balance somewhat. But today, the enemy talks about its losses, its pain, its suffering, its critical situation, the difficulties it faces, the threat to its existence. And all this is true. All this is true. “Israel” is not just playing the victim to make us feel sorry for it. Of course, it lies about things like the murder of children and the rape of women, and so on. In any case, these days, every day, the international media and others deny the “Israeli” allegations about what happened on October 7, but the enemy acknowledges the serious suffering it is facing and recognizes its powerlessness and failure.

A few days ago, statements were published, and not by the opposition, because if it came from Lapid or Lieberman, for example, you could say that they are waiting for (the fall of) Netanyahu. We are obliged to mention these obnoxious names. No, these are not statements by the opposition, but by the head of the National Security Council, who is one of Netanyahu’s most loyal supporters, and who always sits to his right if you watch him on television. At a briefing in the Knesset before the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, he said: ‘In the north, there are no objectives, no strategy, no clarity, and we do not understand anything. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. As for Gaza, we have not yet managed to achieve any of our stated objectives. We have not succeeded in eliminating Hamas; we have not succeeded in recovering the prisoners; and we have not succeeded in disarming Gaza’. This is the head of the National Security Council saying this after eight months of war. It’s not me, nor you, nor anyone from the Palestinian resistance faction who is saying this, so people might say we’re exaggerating. No, the “Israelis” recognize this reality, despite all the calamities they have caused in Gaza and the calamities they have caused us in the border region, but these are not victories. These are not achievements. They have nothing to do with the political project, the future, security, national security, strategy, etc.

Today, for example, we are seeing a number of salient points, some of which we have already mentioned. For example, today, one of the most worrying things for “Israel”, both for Netanyahu’s faction in power and for the opposition, who have been in mourning over this for the last few days, is the subject of the recognition of the State of Palestine by certain European countries. There are many countries that have recognized the State of Palestine, but most of them are Asian countries, African countries and Latin American countries. The fact that European countries have recognized the State of Palestine set off alarm bells. That’s why you saw the harsh and severe reaction from “Israel”, which summoned the ambassadors to reprimand them and recalled their ambassadors for consultations and so on. This will open the door for other European countries to recognize the Palestinian State, which is rejected by both the opposition and the loyalists of the enemy entity, not just Netanyahu: Netanyahu, Lapid, Gallant, Benny Gantz and all the others, because they all look alike and they see a Palestinian state, regardless of its borders, size, and capacities, as an existential threat to that entity, because it is essentially an artificial entity, an entity that is not viable. The question of recognizing the Palestinian state has put them in mourning. Why should this be? Because it is a strategic loss. Because before the Al-Aqsa Flood, the world had forgotten Palestine, the Palestinian State, and the rights of the Palestinians, as we have mentioned on several occasions. This recognition perpetuates the “Israeli” mourning, which had already been caused by the vote of the UN General Assembly: 143 countries around the world support the full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations.

As usual, the satanic US administration confronts this option and declares, “We do not recognize a Palestinian state, and such recognition threatens peace and threatens the political solution. The Palestinian state can only be established through negotiations between the ‘Israelis’ and Palestinians.” They claim that the Palestinian state will be established through negotiations with the very people who loudly proclaim, day and night, that they reject the very idea of a Palestinian state. Biden comes along and mocks the world, claiming that the Palestinian state will be created out of dialogue between “Israelis” and Palestinians.

Today, this growing recognition in the world of a Palestinian state is one of the results of the Al-Aqsa Flood and of what came after the Al-Aqsa Flood. All that I am going to mention now are the results of the Al-Aqsa Flood and of what came after the Al-Aqsa Flood, namely the Resistance, the specific historic operation of October 7, the steadfastness of the people of Gaza and of the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, the steadfastness of the Resistance, the courage of the Resistance, the political solidity of the leadership of the Palestinian factions, and so on. Without all this, my brothers and sisters, if this Resistance had surrendered, been defeated, submitted or knelt down, the whole world would have recognized Netanyahu’s victory and congratulated him, with many Arab and Muslim countries in the front line, who would not have recited the sura Al-Fatihah over the souls of the Palestinian martyrs, and would not have wept for the children and women of Palestine. None of this would have happened if the Resistance had been defeated in the first weeks or months of the war. These are the results of steadfastness, resistance, and firmness.

The second point is the international courts. I don’t want to go into the details of the verdict of the Prosecutor of the criminal court, who equates the executioner with the victim back-to-back [by asking for arrest warrants against both “Israeli” and Hamas leaders]. Quite apart from that, the very fact that the International Criminal Court … who would have imagined that the day would come when prosecutions or arrest warrants would be issued against Netanyahu and Gallant? Who would have thought that such a day would come? Regardless of the injustice that has befallen the Hamas leaders, these are the results of the Al-Aqsa Flood: steadfastness, patience, resilience, the greatest scandal in the world [which is this live genocide], and all the efforts, media and popular, demonstrations, university students etc.

“Israel” is now before the International Criminal Court and has been unmasked. In any case, one of the results of the Al-Aqsa Flood that His Eminence Imam Khamenei spoke of is that the West has been unmasked, the whole of Western civilization, the whole of the Western camp. Would you like an example of these scandals? Karim Khan himself, the criminal prosecutor, what did he say to CNN? He said that senior leaders called him and said ‘What are you doing? This ICC was created for Africa’. I don’t know what the exact translation is, I don’t know exactly what he said in English, but he said that the ICC was reserved for ‘thugs like Putin’, he mentioned Putin by name. This is a scandal for the international community, Western civilization, and the Western camp. These international courts were only created to judge the poor [countries] in Africa.

“Israel” is today before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. All those who speak of “Israel” as respectful of the international community and international resolutions, when “Israel” has never respected a single international resolution… Today, the Court of Justice in The Hague has made a decision, of course, which is not sufficient. The law required a resolution demanding that the enemy immediately cease the war on Gaza, but in any case, they made the decision to demand that the enemy stop the war on Rafah. What did the enemy do? The most violent air strikes on Rafah began after the announcement of the decision of the International Court of Justice. This is “Israel”.

It is clear that the reactions of Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, and others [were very virulent]. The question of the Palestinian state is therefore a strategic loss. Today, the entity and its leaders are before the international courts. “Israel’ is also more discredited than ever in international public opinion. We should also mention the (unprecedented) student movement in solidarity with Palestine; we must thank all the university professors and students in America, France, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada, everywhere in the world. What motivates them? Human feelings! Human feelings! Despite the fact that these people have been brainwashed by the Western media for decades, when these videos [of the genocide in Gaza] arrived on social networks, these human feelings, this human nature, were shaken to the core.

It doesn’t matter if the victim belongs to the same religion, the same race, or the same homeland. We are all human beings. There are people in the world, in the western world, in our region, and even here in Lebanon, who want to erect borders (between people). For some, the Lebanese borders of 10,452 square kilometres are not just geographical borders for a country. They want to make them borders for morality, borders for human feelings, borders for humanitarian solidarity. And so, for these people, the question of Gaza deserves no more than a few words. These people who demonstrate in the universities around the world, these men, women, children, young men and women, like yesterday, in Congress, in front of Blinken, who dye their hands red and confront him (to denounce the complicity of the United States in the genocide in Gaza), and who are beaten up and expelled, but who continue to shout and demand an end to the war on Gaza, this humanity, these human feelings, and this primordial human nature, it is the Al-Aqsa Flood that has awakened them, that has aroused them in every region of the world. This is unprecedented in decades.

Moving on to the “Israeli” failure, confusion in failure, confusion, failure and powerlessness. There are people whose job it is to make us afraid of “Israel”, to make Gaza afraid of “Israel”. But what more can “Israel” do in Gaza than it hasn’t already done? And they want to scare Lebanon. Let “Israel” get out of the quagmire in Gaza first! Some Lebanese who don’t read the “Israeli” statements, so I want to read them some of their statements. When, in “Israel”, they started talking and threatening Lebanon with all-out war, even in recent weeks. Lieberman, who is a former Defence Minister, replied to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich when they said that Lebanon and southern Lebanon should be invaded and a security belt established south of the Litani River. This is what he said to them: ‘Habibi [my dear], Khabibi [Sayyed Nasrallah imitates the Hebrew accent], with what army, with what soldiers, with what fighters do you want to go south of the Litani? Are you finished in Gaza?’ This is a former Defence Minister speaking, not a political analyst.

To underline “Israel’s” failure and powerlessness, I’m going to highlight one of its recent aspects. In the last few days, Netanyahu has clearly disavowed the security services and the military establishment, exposing them at the heart of the battle. Where else in history has a leader acted in this way? The army with which he is fighting, the security services with which he is fighting, yesterday he disowned them and exposed their back. He declared: ‘It’s absolutely not true and it’s a lie that they told me there was a threat from Gaza. On the contrary, they were giving me different, opposing assessments that Hamas had been deterred and that there was no danger from Gaza.’ Of course, Lapid replied: ‘That’s a lie. It is Netanyahu who is lying. When I was prime minister and when he was prime minister, they presented us with estimates that there was a threat from Gaza.’ Netanyahu is like Iblis [Satan] when he disowns all his supporters because what’s important is that he protects his head. This is one of the forms of weakness in enemy leaders, of impotence, failure, and confusion.

Today, hundreds of families of soldiers fighting in Gaza are collecting signatures to demand an end to the war. Thousands of university professors and elites are launching petitions and collecting signatures to demand an end to the war in Gaza. In opinion polls, day after day, support for the war in Gaza is declining. Confidence in the victory in Gaza is waning, and this will worsen with time. Praise be to God, there have been major achievements in recent weeks, whether on the Gaza front or the Lebanon front, the Yemen front or the Iraq front. This will of course increase the pressure on Netanyahu and the enemy government. So, yes, if he wants to carry on like this, as I said in the last speech, he is heading for the precipice, for disaster, for a dead end. It’s not just me who’s saying this, but many of the political leaders and generals of the enemy entity. But praise be to God who has made our enemies stupid, so that the results of this torrent of bloodshed of children, women, resistance fighters, and mujahideen in Gaza, Lebanon, and the region will be greater and greater. We hope that the war will end as soon as possible, but if Netanyahu insists on continuing the war, he is leading this entity to disaster and bringing the opposing front to a great historic victory.

During Netanyahu’s last visit to the north, he uttered a couple of sentences with which I will conclude the speech, quoting and commenting on them. He reassured the people and the soldiers in the north, i.e. those facing us on the Lebanese front, and he also spoke to the divisional commanders, telling them: “We have detailed and important plans, and even some surprises.” Netanyahu thinks that he is good with psychological warfare; he’s telling us to watch out, Hezbollah, the Lebanese, the people of Lebanon and the Resistance in Lebanon in all your factions. Netanyahu has surprise plans! Netanyahu continues: ‘But I’m not telling the enemy about these plans, which are designed to achieve two things: the first is to restore security in the north, and the second is to get the inhabitants back to their homes in safety. We are determined to achieve these two objectives together.’

So he claims to have detailed, important and surprising plans. He also adds, “Ultimately, I am not going to disclose to Hezbollah what we intend to do, because I am not revealing to our sworn enemy our timetable, nor the means by which we are going to achieve these objectives. With deception, we create peace and security, but also war, and we are committed to restoring security and will do so.”

Here are my comments on the surprises he promises us. Well, since October 7, you, the Zionist entity, the most powerful army in the region, and the most powerful security services in the region, with most of the security services in the region at your service, and faced with Gaza under siege, Gaza has surprised you, Hamas has surprised you along with the resistance factions. And what a surprise! The whole Gaza division has collapsed, and so far they don’t know whether that brigade commander Hamas mentioned yesterday is alive or dead. They are completely lost. A whole division collapsed, the walls collapsed, the technology collapsed, the elite army collapsed on October 7 with the Gaza surprise. That was the first surprise.

Secondly, the Resistance in Lebanon surprised you on October 8. I read the “Israeli” media, and all the “Israeli” media were saying that it was impossible for Hezbollah to take the initiative one day because the situation in Lebanon is difficult, the economic situation and the living situation are difficult, Hezbollah’s popular base and the Lebanese people would not put up with it, and so it is impossible for Hezbollah to take the initiative to open the front. But the Resistance in Lebanon surprised you by opening the front.

Yemen surprised you as well. Did Netanyahu, the enemy government, and their American masters imagine that this beleaguered Yemen, emerging from eight or nine years of war, could enter the battle with such strength, courage, and resilience, and defy the whole world? Yemen is defying the world by striking these ships and preventing them from reaching the ports of occupied Palestine. Iraq also surprised you. At the end of the day, in Iraq, the American forces are present; there is a state and a regime, and there is no room for maneuver for the Resistance.

Similarly, when you bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the Islamic Republic of Iran surprised you with its drones, missiles, and Operation True Promise. Aren’t these all surprises? We’re the ones who have the right to talk about surprises and speaking of surprises; the time when we sat back and made threats is over. Now, if I said to Netanyahu ‘No, no, don’t talk about surprises, you should expect surprises from our Resistance’, I wouldn’t be exaggerating.

But I would like to say to Netanyahu, to Gallant, and to the enemy government: here, on the Lebanese front, within the Resistance in Lebanon, we have studied and calculated all the hypotheses, all the scenarios you can resort to, all the measures you can take, and all your deceptions. We were not born yesterday. We have been engaged in a battle against you for at least 41 years. We will not be fooled by your deception any more than we will be influenced by the pressures of your masters in the world. They will have no effect, and you will derive no benefit from them. This Resistance will continue.

In all honesty, we are engaged on this front, and we have been clear from day one: we are committed in supporting Gaza and the resistance in Gaza. We’re not here for ostentation, we’re not embellishing, and we’re not deceiving or anything like that.

We know that some people in Lebanon may not like this speech, and we knew from the outset that there are Lebanese who will not tolerate this position, decision, and statements, but we have always been clear, frank, and transparent. When we go into battle, we go with clear objectives, clear slogans, clear discourse, and clear practice. We do not hide, and one of the reasons is our belief in the truth of this battle, and one of the reasons is that this battle will have martyrs, and we do not hide our martyrs and are not ashamed of our martyrs. That’s why, from day one, we said that this was a battle for Gaza.

Of course, we set a second objective, a second objective rather than a first objective, which was to prevent any pre-emptive operation by the enemy against Lebanon because it was thinking about it. As early as October 7, the enemy was thinking of launching an operation against Lebanon, and this was said later during the discussion that took place within the enemy government. That was the second objective. Thirdly, having engaged in this battle, we must seek results, it must bear fruits at the national level when it comes to Lebanese national security, the restoration of occupied land, and the preservation of sovereignty. This front, God willing, will continue.

We and you are a march that has belonged to the martyrs since the beginning of history. We continue on our way. We have in our hands enormous achievements in this battle, from the Resistance and Liberation Day on 25 May 2000, to the 2006 July war of, to the current battle. We have enormous sacrifices and many achievements. We must remain faithful to the sacrifices and maintain the achievements, which requires firmness, resilience, continuity, certainty, and trust in God Almighty, who gives us victory, helps us, guides us, and strengthens our steps. {And if God helps you, no one will be able to defeat you.}

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for coming and taking part in this ceremony. We renew our condolences and sympathy [to the Iranian people & leaders] in this painful incident. We ask God Almighty for mercy and high rank [for the martyrs], as well as patience, comfort, and a great reward for their families.

May Allah’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.