Mojtaba Khamenei at the funeral ceremony: The blood of the martyrs will not be shed in vain, and vengeance is coming

The following statement was issued by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on the occasion of the funeral procession for the body of Ali Khamenei in Iraq and Iran:

"In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Peace be upon you, O avenger of God and son of His avenger, the wronged one whose blood remains unavenged. Peace be upon you, and upon your grandfather, your father, your mother, your brother, and the infallible ones among your descendants.

Peace be upon the Imam whose life-giving call of uprising extended, as a mighty and resounding echo of the Prophetic mission, into the far depths of history, and from whose impact the Islamic Revolution in Iran emerged; that revolution which was Husseini from its very foundation, and was built and elevated by the slogan of Hussein (peace be upon him) and his path. Iran’s martyr, too, was raised upon this path; he was Husseini, he thought in a Husseini way, moved in a Husseini way, struggled and resisted in a Husseini way, lived in a Husseini way, and gave his blood in a Husseini way for the school of Hussein, and thus attained martyrdom.

Among the Husseinis are men whose blood, when unjustly shed for Hussein and for his school and path (peace be upon him), causes the Islamic nation to rise, linking that time to Ashura and that place to Karbala. Today, that same Husseini epic has revived our people and bestowed a new manifestation upon the school of the great Imam Khomeini and the martyred Imam Khamenei. This is that life-giving epic, the echo of the cry of Hussein’s مظلومية and of the call, ‘Is there anyone to help me?’ in Iran, then in Iraq and other countries, shaking falsehood to its core.

It is also fitting, on this occasion, that I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the tens of millions of people whose astonishing, enemy-breaking, and historic presence was recorded in the cities and villages of Iran and Iraq, especially in Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala, and Mashhad.

Our people call for vengeance for the blood of Hussein (peace be upon him); over the years, this great people has offered its sons as sacrifices for Hussein, and in the war against the enemies of Hussein and Husseini zeal, and today it also demands vengeance for his blood and for the blood of the Husseinis of this age.

And now I address our martyred Imam and say:

O wrongfully slain one, O exalted oppressed one, O righteous servant of God: as we bid farewell to your body with tearful eyes and broken hearts, we pledge to you that we will preserve your school, steadfastly follow the straight path you charted, fear not the hardships of this road, and bind our hearts, as you did, to the divine glad tidings and promises.

We also pledge to avenge your pure blood, and the blood of all the martyrs of these two wars, from the disgraced criminal killers. This vengeance is the demand of our people, and it must inevitably be fulfilled. These criminals, whose names are all known in a complete list from first to last, will carry with them to their graves the wish that they might die peacefully in their beds. They must know that this matter does not depend on my presence or the presence of other officials; whether we are here or not, this will be accomplished, and soon free people around the world will each carry out part of this divine mission.

O martyred father of the nation, blessed are you for tasting the sweetness of martyrdom that you had long desired throughout your life. Blessed, too, is your donning of the garment of martyrdom in a body bearing the marks of your mother al-Zahra al-Tahra, your grandfather Abu Abdillah al-Hussein, and Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas (peace be upon them). And you, his oppressed companions who were subjected to a surprise attack by the enemy and attained martyrdom, blessed are you, for you are now guests of that master whose compassion and kindness you may have felt time and again. That noble figure who represents the gate of divine mercy for all, especially for the people of this land, is now your host, and his secure proximity has become your abode.

O master of lofty station, O august one, O compassionate Imam, O Abu al-Hasan al-Rida al-Murtada, upon you be God’s finest blessings: now, in this pure soil, is laid to rest the dismembered body of a servant among the servants of your presence and of the pure Household, after years of diligence, effort, and unceasing struggle, together with the bodies of martyrs from his family, each recalling one of the martyrs of the plain of Karbala, to rest here until that day when, by God’s command, the Remainder of God (may God hasten his noble reappearance), the radiant sun, emerges from behind the clouds of occultation to pour the light of divine mercy upon the people of the inhabited world. On that day, which we hope is very near, he will be accompanied—may God hasten his reappearance—by stars among the truthful, the martyrs, and the saints, and we hope that our martyred master will be one of them, so that he may once again depict promising and sincere scenes of struggle and fidelity to the covenant of ‘Am I not your Lord?’ And perhaps these companions will accompany him on that day as well.

O my compassionate master, we entrust to you our master who gave all that he possessed for your sake, together with his martyred companions, so that they may be honored by your grace and care; and just as they enjoyed the outpouring of your kindness in their worldly lives, may they from this moment onward receive it in a far more complete and exalted manner.

In conclusion, we once again offer our condolences to our master, the Remainder of God (may God hasten his noble reappearance), and we beseech that merciful master to include with his pure supplication the master of Iran’s martyrs, his martyred companions, and all the martyrs, and to ask the Truth, Glorious and Exalted, for the elevation of rank for all the martyrs, patience and reward for their families, and decisive and near victory for the oppressed Iranian people, God willing."