In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Peace be upon you, O avenger of God and son of His avenger, and the solitary one who has been wronged. Peace be upon you, and upon your grandfather, your father, your mother, your brother, and the infallible ones from your progeny.
Peace be upon the Imam whose life-giving call of uprising echoed the profound resonance of the prophetic mission across the farthest depths of history, and from whose effect the Islamic Revolution of Iran emerged—a revolution that was fundamentally Husayni in essence, built and nurtured with the slogan and creed of Husayn. The martyred Leader of Iran, too, grew up with this same creed. He was Husayni, he thought as Husayn did, he moved as Husayn did, he waged jihad and resistance as Husayn did, he lived as Husayn did, and he offered his blood in the path of the Husayni school and attained martyrdom. Among the followers of Husayn are those who, when their blood is unjustly spilled on the earth for the sake of Husayn and his creed, the Ummah of Islam is stirred into motion—and at that moment, that time connects to Ashura, and that place connects to Karbala. Now, too, that same Husayni fervor has animated our nation and has given a new radiance to the school of the great Khomeini and the martyred Khamenei. This is that life-giving commotion that reflects the call of Husayn’s oppression and the cry of “Is there any helper to help me?”—which stirs first in Iran, then in Iraq and other countries, and sends tremors through falsehood.
It is fitting on this occasion to express my sincere gratitude for the tens of millions of people—astonishing, record-breaking, enemy-defying, and historic in their presence—in the cities and villages of Iran and Iraq, especially Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, and Mashhad.
Our nation demands retribution for the blood of Husayn. This great nation has for years sacrificed its children in the path of Husayn and in battle against the enemies of Husayn and his creed, and now, too, it seeks vengeance for him and for the Husaynis of this time.
Now, I address our martyred Leader: O wrongfully slain one! O oppressed one of pride! O righteous servant of God! Now that we bid you farewell with tearful eyes and broken hearts, we pledge to honor your school, to steadfastly tread the straight path you delineated, to fear no hardship on this road, and to hold fast to divine glad tidings and promises as you did. We pledge to exact vengeance for your pure blood and for all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers. This vengeance is the demand of our nation and must certainly be carried out. These criminals—whose names are recorded from the first to the last—will take to their graves any hope of a peaceful death in their beds. They must know that this matter does not depend on my existence or that of other officials. Whether we are here or not, this will come to pass, and soon, individuals among the free people of the world will each carry out a part of this divine mission.
O father-martyr of the Ummah, may the taste of martyrdom—which you longed for all your life—be sweet to you. May the garment of martyrdom, upon a body bearing the marks of your mother Zahra the Most Pure, your forefather Aba Abdillah al-Husayn, and Aba al-Fadl al-Abbas (peace be upon them), be blessed for you.
And to you, his oppressed companions, who were suddenly attacked by the enemy and attained martyrdom—blessed are you, for now you are the guests of that Master whose kindness and grace you had perhaps often felt. That Master, who is the door of divine mercy for all, and especially for the people of this land, now hosts you, and His secure sanctuary has become your abode.
And to you, O exalted master, O noble one, O compassionate Imam—O Aba al-Hasan al-Rida al-Murtada, may the best of God’s blessings be upon you—now the torn body of a servant of your sacred presence and the pure progeny, after years of unceasing effort and struggle, together with the bodies of martyrs from his family—each one a reminder of a martyr from the plains of Karbala—rests in this pure soil, until that day when, by divine command, the sun illuminating the world—Imam al-Mahdi (may God hasten his noble reappearance)—emerges from behind the clouds of occultation and shines the light of divine mercy upon the people of the earth. On that day—which we hope will come soon—stars from among the truthful, the martyrs, and the saints will accompany him, and we hope that our martyred Leader will be among them, once again displaying brilliant and pure scenes of struggle and fulfillment of the covenant of Alast. And perhaps his companions will accompany him on that day as well.
O compassionate Master, we entrust our Leader—who spent everything in your path—and his martyred companions to you and to your grace and favor, so that just as they benefited from your kindness in their worldly lives, they may from now on benefit even more and far greater.
Finally, I once again offer my condolences to our Master, Imam al-Mahdi (may God hasten his noble reappearance), and ask that gracious figure to direct his pure prayers toward the martyred Leader of Iran, his martyred companions, and all the martyrs. I ask God Almighty to grant all the martyrs exalted stations, to grant patience and reward to their survivors, and to bestow upon the oppressed nation of Iran a decisive and imminent victory—God willing.
Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei