Hawzah News Agency- On the eve of Sacred Defense Week, a number of veterans, commanders, those who fought in the Sacred Defense, and the families of martyrs met with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution this morning in the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah.

In the beginning of his statements, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated that the war against Iran was an “international war” during the Sacred Defense. He referred to the role of many foreign entities in this war and said, “At one time, we asserted that all of the world powers are fighting us. But now, those who said that this was just a claim on our part are admitting to this themselves.”

Imam Khamenei explained that the Imposed War on Iran was global imperialism’s natural reaction to the victory of the Islamic Revolution. He said that the purpose of the Imposed War was to prevent the message and new words of the Iranian nation from being passed on to other nations, messages such as standing firmly, not fearing the US, and resisting global oppression and discrimination.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution went on to add, “The Islamic Revolution of the Iranian nation was not just the defeat of a dependent, corrupt system and a temporary blow to the US and the Arrogant Powers. It was a threat to the domineering system of global imperialism. The Arrogant Powers of the West and the East understood the seriousness of this threat. Thus, they imposed a war on the Iranian nation by encouraging and inciting Saddam.”

The Leader said that the main goals of the vengeful Arrogant Powers in imposing this war on Iran were to divide Iran, separate Khuzestan from Iran as an important part of the country, bring the Iranian nation to its knees, overthrow the Islamic Republic, and take the fate of the Iranian nation in its own hands. He said that it is important not to forget these obvious facts.

In another part of his speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution spoke of the deterrence power of the Islamic Republic, “Today, the country’s military defense system has reached a position where it has the capability of deterring foreign threats. There is no need to fear foreign threats. The enemies are fully aware of this fact.”

Furthermore, the Leader explained that one of the achievements of the Sacred Defense was that it proved an important principle to the Iranian nation. He emphasized this point that, “During the Sacred Defense it was proven that safeguarding the country and deterring the enemies’ threats is only possible through resistance, not submission.”

With regard to this, the Leader reminded of the need to put into use the principle of resistance in various political, economic, and cultural matters. He called people’s attention to this point that, “This intelligent resistance showed the enemy that they must always take Iran’s internal strength into consideration in their calculations. Why? Because it is with this spirit that we have been able to defeat the enemy in many cases, such as their imposing maximum pressure, designing a project for a 'New Middle East', and transgressing our borders by air and sea.”

Once again, he also stressed the need for correct reporting. He explained, “The work that has been done in this field so far has been good. But all of these have been infrastructural so far. The results of this work must be seen.”

At the end of his statements, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution emphasized that responding to the false, distorted reports of the Holy Defense and the Islamic Revolution itself is something that is mandatory. He said, “The US and Zionists are busy in this field writing books and producing films. Intellectuals and artists need to work and take appropriate action to confront them.”

In the beginning of this meeting, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, presented a report describing the programs and activities that have been carried out with the goal of preserving and promoting the culture and values of the Sacred Defense.