Description:
Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reveals the ‘real reason’ why the United States has been ‘waging war on Iran for the last 40 years’.
Nasrallah was speaking at a ceremony marking 40 years since the ‘victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran’.
Source: Al-Manar Tv (YouTube)
Date: 6 February, 2019
Transcript:
O’ brothers and sisters, let’s properly describe what has been going on for the last 40 years, so we can determine where we are in this battle. No one try to deceive us and (fool) us with slogans. No one try to (fool) us with slogans. For example, today most Arab and world media outlets present an (evil) and dark image of Iran, while they remain silent regarding the oldest dictatorships and the worst and most corrupt regimes across the Arab and Islamic world, (silence towards) the worst rulers who rob their people, people who live in poverty, hunger, illiteracy, unemployment, without being able to marry etc, while some still give such (rulers glorious) titles.
Let’s go back to the description: some say that what is occurring in our region is an Israeli-Iranian war. Not true. Some say that it is a Saudi-Iranian conflict, and (they say) we wish to remain neutral in this Saudi-Iranian war. This (description) is not correct. Ofcourse even some of our friends and admirers in the region speak like this, that it is a Saudi-Iranian conflict going on in the region.
Firstly, when it comes to Israel, Israel’s conflict with the region, with the Palestinian people, with the Lebanese, the Syrians, the Jordanians, Egyptians, and the Arab people, and its war against our sanctities, this (conflict) began before the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran. This ongoing (Israeli) war did not begin in 1979, it has been going on since 1948 and even earlier. This is first.
Second, this is not a Saudi-Iranian conflict, not at all. The correct definition of this battle is an ‘American war against the Islamic Republic of Iran ever since 1979’, and it will continue. Saudi Arabia is a tool within this war. (Merely) a tool, in this war. Certain Gulf states are tools in this war. Saddam Hussein, who portrayed himself as the ‘Knight of Arabism and the Qadisiyyah’, was a small tool of (Donald) Rumsfield and the Americans in this war. Those who are fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran today, through the media, politics, sanctions, issuing prohibitions, sowing chaos, and ‘takfir’, they are implementing an American project only.
Mohammad bin Salman admitted this with his very own mouth, that after 1979 America asked Saudi Arabia to work on spreading Wahhabism throughout the world. Why? He did not reveal or clarify the reason. Because the world began to develop an openness towards Islam. There was the Khomeini version (of Islam), and the Wahhabi version (of Islam), and there were other versions. The (Americans) said to the House of Saud, go ahead and spread the Wahhabi version around the world. And for this reason, we have two models, we have the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we have another model.
For example, why do they insist on saying the ‘Islamic State organisation’? We say ‘Daesh’. Today when Trump was speaking he says the ‘Islamic State organisation’. Everyone is insisting on calling it the ‘Islamic State organisation’, why? Because on the one hand when you present to me the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic state that has technology, technical (expertise), education, sports, medicine, advancement, industry, cheap water and petrol (availability), electricity and gas reaching every single house, with its national sovereignty and elections, its freedoms, and power, dignity, and honour (for its people) in this world and the next, (this is one image), and in contrast, when you come present to me an ‘Islamic state’ that carries out beheadings, and destroys churches and mosques, and religious shrines, the burning of flags, swearing, insults, and cursing (by its followers), the cutting of human organs, the eating of (human) kidneys, the cutting open of chests, the burning alive of prisoners within cages, the drowning of whole regions with water, widespread destruction. This is the Islamic state that America wants, and this is the Islamic state that Imam Khomeini wants.
This ‘Islamic state’ of Daesh (was the result) of (the US) asking Saudi Arabia to promote its (Wahhabi) culture throughout the world, and it spent over $200 billion for this purpose. Hence, they are tools within this war, there is no such thing as a ‘Saudi war’. Who is Saudi Arabia to wage a war or to (lead) a project of confrontation against Iran? Saudi Arabia and others are tools within the American war. ‘Pay money here’ – ‘go to Syria and pay money’, they do so. ‘Send takfiris’, they send them. ‘Send weapons’, they send weapons. ‘Say this’, they say it. In contrast, to think that there is a (Saudi) strategic administration of a (grand) project and such things – what is this talk?
The correct description of what is occurring in our region – and accept this frankness from me for once, I am always frank with you, but I mean this extreme clarity in describing the situation. And I wish to say this not only to the Lebanese, but also to the Syrians, the Iraqis, the people of the region and North Africa and the Arab and Islamic world. This is the correct description, let no one misunderstand this issue at all.
Okay, why is America insisting on fighting this war against Iran? For two reasons. And here some of these words are directed at (the people of) Iran. The first reason: that Iran is an independent state, a sovereign (state), it makes its own decisions. Iran owns its oil and gas (reserves), it owns its steel, its metal, its owns all of its mineral (reserves), it completely owns its huge wealth of human (resources), it completely owns its huge wealth of material (resources), its owns its rivers, seas, borders, ports, land and skies, and it does not submit itself to the Americans, nor does it work for the Americans, it works in the interests of its people, nation, and country. (All) this cannot be tolerated by the Americans.
O’ people, (do you think) the Americans are coming to Venezuela for the sake of democracy? Or are they coming for the sake of the largest oil and gold reserves in the world? Trump’s brain, which only has the ‘dollar sign’ and ‘oil barrel’ in it – such a person is coming to Venezuela for the sake of democracy? Well then, let him see the democracy of his allies here in the region. (Trump) is coming for the oil. And Iran (is viewed) the same way by America.
And here I say to the Iranian people, who know this truth, yet there are fallacies coming from abroad, and some (people) within Iran are working (to promote) these fallacies: why does America have a problem with Iran? Here comes the second reason: (Iranians) are (always) told about the second reason – okay, let’s deal with the second reason.
So the first reason was the independence of Iran, Iran’s capabilities, and its exploitation of its own resources. The second reason: Iran’s regional position. Its support of the oppressed and downtrodden. Its principled position regarding Palestine, al-Quds, and the (holy) sanctities. Its support for the resistance movements. I tell you: the whole world may forsake Palestine, yet the Islamic Republic of Iran will never forsake Palestine, al-Quds, and the (holy) sanctities.
Okay, so there is another reason, that is true. That Iran supports Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian resistance factions, and Iran helped in Iraq, and Iran intervened in Syria, and Iran (also) has a different position in Yemen and Bahrain, (and so) for this reason America is pressuring it. Yet let’s be precise, this is the second reason. This is not the first reason.
This is the second reason. Because in 1979, when America came and militarily mobilised the whole world against Iran and Imam (Khomeini), in 1979 there was no Hezbollah, nor Hamas, nor Islamic Jihad, nor had Iran begun aiding the (resistance) factions yet, it had only taken a political stance (at that time), nor did it intervene in Syria or do anything in Iraq. All this talk (of Iran’s involvement) in the region was completely non-existent back then, yet despite this, war was imposed on Iran (in 1980), and its scholars, leaders, and key figures were killed, and it was besieged. The sanctions on Iran are not because of its support for Hezbollah and the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. The sanctions on Iran have been imposed since 1979. Hezbollah was born in 1982. Islamic Jihad and Hamas (were born) after 1982. Thus, there needs to be more attention paid to this (widespread) fallacy.
O’ brothers and sisters, America’s problem with Iran is this truth: that it is an independent state. (Iran) is not a policeman (that works) for America, otherwise (the US) would not have required to station this (huge) military presence in (the Middle East). Today what does Trump say? He says ‘we have a problem, our military, soldiers, and people, we spend trillions of dollars on this (military) presence (abroad), we need to find a solution for this’. The Shah (of Iran) was playing this role for them at that time, (now Trump) wants another (Shah-style) Iran to resolve this problem for him. Yet Iran (today) is not like this.
Hence this war on Iran, in its various shapes and forms, will continue, so long as Iran (remains firm) – with its leader, officials, scholars, religious authorities, elites and people – and it is indeed doing so. Regardless of any (internal Iranian) debates and differences relating to details. When it comes to the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Iran, and the national and Islamic dignity of Iran, (these all) constitute a red line for the Iranians. They will not relinquish or back down from this (red line). As a result, this reality will continue in the region, until America backs down and is defeated, just as it has been defeated and is being defeated, from 1979 till today – there is no more time to provide you with a list of all the (successive) defeats of the United States of America and its projects in our region, and (all) the defeats of Israel in our region. And in the future more and more defeats (will follow).
At the same time, Iran will continue to stand with the people and movements of the region, and it must bear the consequences of this stance and the fulfilling of this responsibility, and it is thanked for this. And this (bearing of responsibility) is rooted in its religious faith, Islamic commitment, its ethical depth, its civilization and history, this is Iran, this is the people of Iran, this is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
True independent and sovereign country as Iran USA does not like nor want it to exist .Iran is a great country which all NAM or most UN members should stand with against terrorist U.S. .
It is a shame that so many people in Europe are brainwashed with the anti-iranian propaganda coming from the US and Israel. Iran never aggressed any country but has been aggressed by the US led regime change in 1953 against the democratically elected president Mossadegh. And again by the Israelis carrying out assassinations on Iranian soil. No critic is said concerning the Saudi regime beheading its critics as we have learned with the case of journalist Kashoggi. This Saudi regime is the most backward regime and carries out horrible wars of aggression in Yemen and elsewhere.