I am grateful to the
Almighty for granting me another opportunity to be
present at this world Assembly. In the past three years,
I have talked to the Assembly about great hopes in the
bright future of human society and about some
solutions for achieving sustainable peace and
expanding love, compassion and cooperation. I have
also talked about unjust systems governing the world;
pressures exerted by some Powers seeking to trample
the rights of other nations; oppression imposed on the
majority of the global community, especially on the
peoples of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Africa, Latin
America and Asia; about challenges we are faced with,
such as efforts to shatter the sanctity of families,
destroy cultures, humiliate lofty values, neglect
commitments and expand the shadow of threats; as
well as about the arms race and the unfairness and
inability of the systems governing world affairs to
reform the status quo.
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With the emergence of various new
developments, the debility of existing mechanisms has
been revealed even more starkly. However, at the same
time an encouraging trend, originating in the thoughts
and beliefs of peoples, has blossomed and become
stronger. Against the backdrop of the despair caused by
the new developments, that trend has ignited a glimmer
of hope in the hearts of men for a brilliant, desirable
and beautiful future.
Today, I would like to talk to the Assembly about
the main reasons behind the conditions ruling the
world and the means to address them. Of course, the
Assembly is already aware of what I am talking about,
but I think it is necessary to remind ourselves. It seems
that the roots of problems lie in the way one views and
perceives the world and humankind, as well as in the
important issues of freedom, obeisance to God, and
justice. The world, humankind, freedom, obeisance to
God, and justice have been of the utmost importance to
humans throughout history.
God Almighty purposefully created the world.
The world is the bedrock for the evolution and growth
of a creature called man, and the laws governing the
world and all other creatures are at the service of
humankind’s quest for loftiness. The world should
provide the needed opportunities for the fulfilment of
the purpose behind humankind’s creation. No
phenomenon, creature or, indeed, anything has been
created in vain. Together they all pave the way for the
flourishing of humankind in a complex and purposeful
system, and they are each one of the signs of God
Almighty. All are His creations and He is the sole
creator and ruler of the world. All existence, including
power, knowledge and wealth, comes from Him.
With regard to humankind, God created the world
for humans, and humans for Himself. He created
humans from mud and in the soil, but He did not want
them to remain in the soil or with animal instincts. He
kindled the light of guidance in their souls and asked
them to rise from the soil to the heavens and to Him
with the help of wisdom, prophets and perfect men.
The world will ultimately disappear, but God has
created humankind for eternity and has made it a
manifestation of Himself. Creativity, mercifulness,
kindness, knowledge, wisdom, zeal, compassion,
splendor, justice, bounteousness, generosity, greatness,
love, glory, dignity, forgiveness, insight, kingship and
all other goodness and beauty are attributes of God.
God did not create humans for aggression, bloodshed,
rancour, selfishness and destruction. He made humans
His vicegerents on Earth and has asked them, on the
one hand, to make Earth prosper by using their God-
given potentials, to prepare the ground for the growth
of divine attributes in all humans and to provide all
with a life full of beauty, amity, freedom, justice and
goodness; and, on the other hand, in pursuance of that
path, to prepare for a prosperous, everlasting life
endowed by God’s mercy. God has obligated humans to
live divinely and socially, for it is only through social
life and interactions with others that divine attributes
can emerge.
With regard to obeisance to God, God Almighty
has tied the perfection and true freedom of humans to
the devotion and obedience to Himself. True freedom
and obedience to God are in balance, and in fact are
two sides of the same coin. Obeisance to God means
confessing to monotheism, obeying His commands,
and being free from ungodly worship. Obeisance to
God means the acceptance of the absolute truth, the
absolute light and the absolute beauty. Obeisance to
God means abandoning selfishness, animal instincts,
power-seeking and aggression and surrendering to
righteousness, justice, love and perfection.
In that way, humans can achieve their true
freedom and flourish. They can grow and manifest
divine attributes, have affection for others, stand up for
justice, fear no power or threat and defend the
oppressed. In such an environment, one’s freedom will
not impinge on any others’. Contention and conflict are
characteristic of materialistic freedom and animal
instinct. The essence of all divine religions and
obeisance to God and true freedom is disassociating
from oppressors and instead obeying and worshiping
God.
God is omniscient and knows all that is revealed
or kept secret, and He is kind and merciful. All
creatures are humble before Him and resign themselves
to His will. God is alive and is the Creator of the
universe and all life. God loves His creatures and
desires nothing but goodness, blessings and perfection
for them, and is against bullying, injustice, selfishness
and domination.
With regard to justice, it is the foundation of the
creation of humankind and the whole universe. Justice
is tantamount to placing every phenomenon in its own
place and providing humans with opportunities to
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actualize all their divine capabilities. Without it, the
order of the universe will collapse and the opportunity
for perfection will fade away. Without justice, it would
be impossible for human society to taste real peace,
beauty, joy and happiness. Justice is the main pillar of
social life, and without it social life cannot continue or
grow.
Humans need to know God in order to realize a
prosperous society in this world as well as to strive for
a beautiful eternal life. To that end, they first have to
know themselves and strive for loftiness in themselves
and their societies. However, as long as the world is
construed as closed, limited and aimless; as long as
eternal life is considered imaginary and illusory, while
the afterlife and the judgment day, as well as reward
and punishment, are thought of as fictional and unreal;
as long as morals and commitment to them are called
backwardness, while immorality, lies, deceit and
selfishness are considered desirable and humans are
limited to a materialistic life in this world; as long as
attempts are made to replace obedience to God and
following His prophets and true freedom with servitude
to materialistic tendencies, animal instincts and the
oppression of others, while contention reaches its
pinnacle; as long as the aggressors, because of their
financial, political and propaganda powers, not only
escape punishment but even claim righteousness; and
as long as wars are started and nations enslaved in
order to win votes in elections, not only will the
problems of the global community remain unsolved,
but they will be increasingly exacerbated.
Let us look at the situation in the world today.
Iraq was attacked under the false pretext of
uncovering weapons of mass destruction and
overthrowing a dictator. The dictator was toppled and
weapons of mass destruction were not uncovered. A
democratic government is established by the votes of
the people, but after six years the occupiers are still
there. They insist on imposing colonial agreements on
the people of Iraq by keeping them under Chapter VII
of the United Nations Charter. Millions of people have
been killed or displaced, and the occupiers, with no
sense of shame, are still seeking to solidify their
position in the political geography of the region and to
dominate oil resources. They have no respect for the
people of Iraq and they disregard any dignity, rights or
status for them. The United Nations is not capable
enough to solve the problems and to stop aggression,
occupation and imposition.
In Palestine, 60 years of carnage and invasion is
still continuing at the hands of some criminal and
occupying Zionists. They have forged a regime by
collecting people from various parts of the world and
bringing them to another people’s land by displacing,
detaining and killing the true owners of that land. With
advance notice, they invade, assassinate and maintain
food and medicine blockades, while some hegemonic
and bullying Powers support them. The Security
Council cannot do anything and sometimes, under
pressure from a few bullying Powers, even paves the
way for supporting those Zionist murderers. It is
natural that some United Nations resolutions that have
addressed the plight of the Palestinian people have
been relegated to the archives unnoticed.
In Afghanistan, the production of narcotics has
multiplied since the presence of NATO forces began.
Domestic conflicts continue, terrorism is spreading and
innocent people are bombarded on a daily basis in
streets, markets, and schools and at wedding
ceremonies. The people of Afghanistan are the victims
of the willingness of NATO member States to dominate
the regions surrounding India, China and South Asia.
The Security Council cannot do anything about it
because some of those NATO members also happen to
be the major decision-makers in the Council.
In Africa, there are efforts to re-establish the
relationships of the colonial era. By starting civil wars
in large countries, including the Sudan, the
disintegration of those countries is planned in order to
serve the interests of some corrupt Powers. When there
is national resistance, the leaders of the resistance are
put under pressure by legal mechanisms created by the
very same Powers.
In Latin America, people find their security,
national interests and cultures seriously endangered by
the menacing shadow of alien domineering
Governments, and even by the embassies of some
empires.
The lives, property and rights of the people of
Georgia, Ossetia and Abkhazia are victims of the
tendencies and provocation of NATO and certain
Western Powers and the underhanded actions of the
Zionists.
The never-ending arms race, the proliferation and
stockpiling of nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction, and the threats to use them and the
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establishment of missile defence systems have made
the situation unstable.
With regard to Iran’s peaceful nuclear
programme, despite the inalienable right of all nations,
including the Iranian nation, to produce nuclear fuel
for peaceful purposes, and despite such facts as the
transparency of all Iranian activities and our country’s
full cooperation with the inspectors of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Agency’s
repeated confirmation of the fact that Iran’s activities
are peaceful, a few bullying Powers have sought to put
hurdles in the way of the peaceful nuclear activities of
the Iranian nation by exerting political and economic
pressure on Iran and threatening and pressuring IAEA.
Those are the same Powers that produce new
generations of lethal nuclear arms and possess
stockpiles of nuclear weapons that no international
organization is monitoring. Moreover, the tragedies of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were perpetrated by one of
them.
Indeed, they are not against weapons, but they
oppose the progress of other nations, and tend to
monopolize technologies and to use those monopolies
to impose their will on other nations. However, it is
very natural that the great Iranian people, with their
trust in God, with determination and steadfastness and
with the support of their friends, will resist the bullying
and have defended and will continue to defend their
rights. The Iranian nation is for dialogue, but it has not
accepted and will not accept illegal demands. The time
has come for IAEA to present a clear report to the
international community on its monitoring of the
disarmament of those nuclear Powers and their nuclear
activities, and for a disarmament committee to be
established by independent States to monitor the
disarmament of those nuclear Powers.
Theories of development that are in line with the
hegemonic system and not in accordance with the true
needs of humankind and human societies have become
repetitive and bland tools for assimilating economies,
expanding hegemonic domination and destroying the
environment and the social solidarity of nations. There
is no end in sight to this. Poverty, hunger and
deprivation are hurting more than one billion of the
world’s population and have dashed their hopes for a
decent life.
The dignity, integrity and rights of the American
and European people are being played with by a small
but deceitful number of people called Zionists.
Although they are a miniscule minority, they have been
dominating an important portion of the financial and
monetary centres, as well as the political decision-
making centres of some European countries and the
United States, in a deceitful, complex and furtive
manner. It is deeply disastrous to witness that some
presidential or premier nominees in some big countries
have to visit those people, take part in their gatherings
and swear their allegiances and commitment to their
interests in order to attain financial or media support.
That means that the great people of America and
various nations of Europe need to obey the demands
and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and
invasive people. Those nations are spending their
dignity and resources on the crimes, occupation and
threats of the Zionist network against their will.
All that is due to the manner in which the
immoral and the powerful view the world, humankind,
freedom, obeisance to God and justice. The thoughts
and deeds of those who think they are superior to
others and consider others to be second class and
inferior, who intend to remain out of the divine circle
and to be the absolute slaves of their materialistic and
selfish desires, who intend to expand their aggressive
and domineering natures, constitute the roots of the
problems in societies today. They are the hindrances to
the realization of material and spiritual prosperity and
to security, peace and brotherhood among nations.
I explicitly state that the Iranian people and the
overwhelming majority of peoples and Governments
are against those deeds and perspectives of the world-
domineering Powers. The establishment of justice
requires people who have achieved moderation and
justice inside themselves, restrained their domineering
attitudes and actualized their attributes of self-sacrifice
and are at the service of humankind. The complete and
full-scale manifestation of such characteristics can
happen only under the rule of the righteous and perfect
human being who is obedient to God and who is
promised by the divine prophets.
Of course, with the grace of God Almighty, a
hopeful trend is flourishing in the heart and soul of
human societies. The universal eagerness for justice,
purity, love for others, monotheism and the quest for
perfection is clearly and increasingly on the rise. A
universal resistance to the acquisitiveness, aggression
and selfishness of the bullying Powers is being formed.
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Today, the bullying Powers’ thoughts, practices and
strategies are rejected by nations and Governments,
and all are seeking to establish new human relations
based on justice, with a view to attaining prosperity,
perfection, security and sustainable welfare. That is the
very auspicious phenomenon that all the traditions of
creation and the ruling laws of the universe emphasize
and support.
Today, the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to
collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the
cesspool it and its supporters have created. The Islamic
Republic of Iran, while fully respecting the resistance
of the oppressed people of Palestine and expressing its
all-out support for it, submits to the Secretary-General
of the United Nations its humane solution, based on a
free referendum in Palestine to determine and establish
the type of State in the entire Palestinian lands.
The American empire in the world is reaching the
end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their
interference to their own borders. Today, the thought of
hegemony quickly becomes a demerit.
I should now like to say a few words to
expansionist Governments ruling global relations. Be
aware that living with obedience to God and carrying
out His orders, having compassion for people and
striving for the fulfilment of justice is to your
advantage too. I invite you to return to the path of God,
the prophets and the people of the world, as well as to
truth and justice. The only route to salvation is a divine
straight path. Otherwise, God’s hand of power will
emerge from the sleeve of oppressed nations and will
make your life difficult, and will put an end to your
hegemony. Let us love the peoples of the world and
respect their rights. Rectify past behaviour. That will
benefit you and the human community. The Iranian
people are prepared, along with other nations, to help
you be rescued from your current situation and to
establish peace and prosperity.
Fortuitously, opportunities are accessible. With
the grace of God Almighty, the existing pillars of the
oppressive system are crumbling. Great developments
in favour of humankind, as well as its true and real
rights, are on the way. A golden and brilliant future is
awaiting humankind. A global community filled with
justice, friendship, brotherhood and welfare is at hand,
as I have elaborated — a community that will tread the
path of beauty and love under the rule of the righteous
and perfect human being, the one promised by all
divine prophets and the one who is the true lover of
humankind; a community that will be devoid of all
fear, despair and privation. Such a community will
soon be ours. The community promised by the great
divine prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ
and Muhammad is about to materialize.
Let us, hand in hand, expand the thought of
resistance to evil and the minority of those who are ill-
wishers. Let us support goodness and the majority of
people who are good and the embodiment of absolute
good that is the Imam of Time, the Promised One who
will come accompanied by Jesus Christ, and
accordingly design and implement just and humanistic
mechanisms for regulating the constructive
relationships between nations and Governments.
May the great Almighty deliver the saviour of
nations and put an end to the sufferings of humankind
and bring forth justice, beauty and love. Let us have a
proper share in the establishment of that illuminated
and promised divine age.