IRANIAN President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad spoke to a gathering of the people of Ramshir in oil-rich Khuzestan Province, which has a large Arab population on Thursday 4 January.
He said: ‘The existence of the Iranian nation, the movement of the Iranian nation and the message of the Iranian nation is full of goodness and benefit for mankind.
‘And on the opposite side there are the regimes of America and Britain, who have stood against us for more than 27 years.
‘They have brought nothing for mankind except harm, misery, discord, ignorance, backwardness and poverty.
‘Their existence, their message and their movement are against mankind, against the well-being of human beings.
‘Take a look at the world. Wherever they tread, or wherever their words or policies are effective, there follows discord, backwardness, conflict, enmity and corruption.’
He added: ‘Consider this. They all got together – the East and the West – they collaborated and entered Palestine 60 years ago.
‘They created a counterfeit regime and, with the force of bayonets and with deception and with dollars plundered from the pockets of the nations of the world, they imposed it on our region.
‘See how, in the past 60 years, they have had no benefit for human beings except aggression, threats, terror, demolishing homes over the heads of women and children, massacre and transgression.
‘Consider our own country. Before the revolution, for nearly 150 years, Britain and, towards the end, America, were present in our country.
‘They controlled all our resources and wealth.
‘Our wealth was lost, our culture was lost, our integrity was lost and in their place poverty, destitution and backwardness were left.
‘If you go to Afghanistan today, you would see what these people, who have gone there with the slogan of liberating Afghanistan, have left behind.
‘Consider Iraq. They came with the slogan of liberating Iraq, with the slogan of saving the Iraqi nation.
‘But, in less than four years, you can see that they have caused the deaths of more than 150,000 Iraqi people and more than 600,000 injured or maimed.
‘It was a nation that lived in harmony and unity for many years and, today, they wish to sow the seeds of discord and conflict and dissent among the people of Iraq.
‘See what they have done in Africa. They have plundered all the wealth of Africa and left behind poverty backwardness and destitution.
‘My dear ones, today, after being repeatedly slapped in the face by us for 27 years and retreating, they wish to prevent the progress of the Iranian nation.
‘With the slogan of the opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons they wish to prevent the scientific and industrial and economic progress of Iran and the Iranian nation.
‘But I say to them that they should know that they are all like bubbles on the water surface, they are all impotent and will always be defeated by the Iranian nation.
‘They have repeatedly experienced the faith and authority and intelligence of the Iranian nation.
‘They apparently have no intention of learning from history, they do not wish to learn from past experience.
‘In my opinion, the time has come once again for the Iranian nation to slap them hard around the ears.
‘They have thought that with propaganda, with psychological warfare, with lies, with slogans, by sitting down and talking and standing up and waving pieces of paper at the UN Security Council they can prevent the movement of the Iranian nation.
‘It is necessary for me to say in the presence of the heroic people of Ramshir, so that they can hear once again: You should know that, like the people of Ramshir, the Iranian nation is present on the scene, united, like-minded, firm.
‘The Iranian nation stands united and will decisively and fully defend all its nuclear rights.
‘Today nuclear fuel belongs to the Iranian nation; it is the right of the Iranian nation, and each and every person in Iran, young and old, man and woman, in every community, in every corner, in every city, with clenched fists, to reiterate the absolute right to nuclear energy.
‘May you be proud and dear and victorious.’
Earlier in an address to the city of Ahvaz, in the same province, Ahmadinezhad said: ‘Today, in your presence, I should like to explain how the government views Khuzestan and what it expects from this province.
‘I believe that Khuzestan is a bottomless and unique treasure for the revolution and Islam, both from the spiritual and material perspectives.
Khuzestan is not a province like others; Khuzestan is a depository. We all know about its material reserves – the mines, waters, oil-bearing lands and different kinds of material resources which we know about to a certain extent.
‘But more important than this is that Khuzestan is a spiritual repository of the Iranian homeland and the spiritual support of the Islamic movement and the global revolution of Islam.
Take a look at the past history of Khuzestan and see how the main centres of the birth of civilization, culture, worship of God, and pursuit of justice. . .
‘The people of this province have a talent.
‘Contrary to some people who divide and box people into groups and sections and then create discord among them, I do believe that Khuzestan – whether it be our dear Arabs, Lurs, Persians, non-Persians, Shushtaris or Dezfulis and so forth, are all one single body, one single spirit and love and are a single chain.
‘The government and the system are proud of Khuzestan and the people of Khuzestan and they have complete and utter confidence in all the people of Khuzestan.
‘What the Americans, and after them specifically, the British are saying, makes us realise more than ever how important and powerful Khuzestan is.
‘They say things which indicate that they want to deceive themselves.
‘The people of Khuzestan have been moving from the start along the path of pure Muhammadan Islam
‘The double-faced British are still feeling the pain of the blows received from the swords of Arab tribes of Khuzestan.
‘We must change our vision. Our expectation from Khuzestan, from all strata in Khuzestan – from the Lur, Persian, dear Arab and all other dear ones – is that we must move speedily towards our regional and world responsibilities and mission.
‘Sometimes, certain individuals tell us in a weak, defeated manner and with exaggeration, that elements in such and such a country of, for instance, the Persian Gulf Littoral, intend to come and hatch plots in Khuzestan.
‘Hearing these things trouble me and I tell them: What do they want to do? If the people of Khuzestan wanted to make the effort, they could turn this entire Persian Gulf region around their fingers – and so they should.
‘Then we have to sit here and see that certain persons who cannot even blow their noses on their own and even ask permission from their masters before drinking water, come here and tell us these things.
‘I have no doubt at all that the people of Khuzestan will not give in to these kinds of talk.
‘You were also witness to what happened in Lebanon. Let us do some calculations here. A few thousand people – a thousand of who could be counted on one’s fingers – stood against the powerful Zionist army and brought it down to its knees. . .
‘Dear ones, today we have to prepare and equip ourselves quickly – especially all the dear people of Khuzestan, notably, Arab tribes and the Arabs of Khuzestan – they shoulder heavy responsibilities today in defending the realm of the Ahl al-Bayt of the entire region.
‘We must equip and prepare ourselves and adopt this outlook. The convoy is in the process of moving swiftly and it is gaining in speed every day.
‘Take care, dear ones, for more than a thousand years, generation after generation; we have lived for the love of accompanying this convoy. Our fathers and forefathers have done the same – we should take care not to neglect it.
‘The world is also prepared and is being prepared speedily. If up to now the convoy of humankind was moving at a speed of, let us say, 30km per hour on average, to reach that peak, our speed has now accelerated to two and three-fold. Every day that passes, this speed increases.
‘God willing, you will soon see how the roots of corruption of America and the Zionist regime too – in spite of their own disbelief and that of many materialistic analysts – will disintegrate before the eyes of the world.’
