"The day the missiles of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps crushed the US base is one of the days of God. The Guards' response was a major blow to America's fearsome superpower image," the Leader told a huge crowd in Tehran Friday. For the first time in eight years, Ayatollah Khamenei led the Friday prayers in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque attended by a huge number of worshipers. It came after Iran pounded two US bases in Iraq with missiles in retaliation for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.
The Leader described the past two weeks as extraordinary marked by both bitter and sweet adventures and events containing lessons for the Iranian people.
"The day of God means seeing the hand of God in the events - the day when tens of millions in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Iraq and some other countries came to the streets to honor the blood of the commander of the Quds Force," he said.
"The day IRGC missiles pounded the American base is another day of God. We saw these two days of God before our eyes. The days are a turning point which make history. They are not ordinary days," he said. "That a nation summons such a power and mental countenance to slap an arrogant and bullying force of the world in such a fashion is a sign that the hand of the divine power" is involved, Ayatollah Khamenei added. The Leader said the recent events are about to leave an everlasting impact on the morale and disposition of the nations, where the Iranian people are seen as a "patient, resistant and very grateful nation". "The Zionist news empire and terrorist officials of the American regime did their best to accuse our dear and great commander of terrorism, but God Almighty changed the scene so that not only in Iran but also in various countries, people prayed for his soul and burned American and Zionist flags."
The massive funeral processions held for Gen. Soleimani and his companions and their martyrdom were both "among the divine signs", Ayatollah Khamenei said.
That is "because the assassination of Gen. Soleimani, the most prominent and powerful commander in the fight against terrorism in the entire region, led to the disgrace of the dishonored American government", he said.
"In assassinating this valiant martyr, the Americans did not face him on the battlefield but committed their crime stealthily and cowardly, which brought about more disgrace to them," the Leader added. Such assassinations were more typical of the Zionist regime in the past, Ayatollah Khamenei said, referring to Israel. "Of course, the Americans have committed a lot of crimes and killings in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this time the US president confessed in his own words, 'We are terrorists;' there is no greater disgrace than this," the Leader said. Ayatollah Khamenei also hit out at the "American clowns who claim in utmost rascality" to be standing with the Iranian people, referring to a series of tweets by US President Donald Trump and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
"Is a group of a few hundred who insulted the image of the nation's compassionate and celebrated commander the Iranian people, but not the countless and massive crowd who honored Haj Qassem in the streets?" the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei was referring to a protest by a few hundred people in downtown Tehran against the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, during which a poster of Gen. Soleimani was torn apart. "The Americans have never been with the Iranian people and they are blatantly lying. If they are, it is meant at driving a poisonous dagger in the heart of this nation. Of course, they have failed so far and will be unable to do a damn thing from now on," he added. He also touched on the "bitter" tragedy of the loss of lives in the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran, saying necessary measures must be taken in order to avoid a repetition of the incident. “There are ambiguities. We thank the IRGC commanders who provided explanations, but the incident must be followed up, and similar incidents must be seriously prevented.”Ayatollah Khamenei said, “As much as we were saddened and our hearts were broken by the plane crash, our enemy was made happy, assuming that it has found a pretext to question the IRGC, the armed forces, a the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The enemy's goal, he said, was to overshadow “that great incident” (the funerals held for General Soleimani and the IRGC’s missile attacks on the US base), but “they were wrong.”The Leader also expressed sympathy with the families of those who lost their lives in the crash.
“We share their grief, and thank the parents and bereaved families who stood against the enemy’s plot and temptation and acted against what the enemy wanted, even though their hearts were full of pain and sorrow,” he said.
“The mother of one of these dear ones in this plane wrote to me and said ‘we are standing by the Islamic Republic and your motivations’. This needs courage, insight, and awareness,” he added.