TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has addressed a range of domestic and foreign policy issues in a meeting with a group of the organizers for commemorating the anniversary of the martyrdom of the martyrs of resistance Lieutenant General Haj Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The meeting came a few weeks before the first anniversary of the assassination of General Soleimani and his comrade al-Muhandis near Baghdad’s international airport earlier this year. The two martyrs were assassinated in an American drone strike on January 3 that was ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The strike brought Iran and the United States close to an all-out war as General Soleimani was an influential figure in Iran and beyond. In response, Iran showered a U.S. airbase in western Iran with missiles, causing brain injury among dozens of American servicemen.

However, Iran said time and again that the ultimate revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani would be far more important than a missile strike on a U.S. base. It would be the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the missile strike on the American airbase of Ain al-Asad was another slap on the face of America.

But the tougher slap, the Leader said, would be the soft victory over the superficial hegemony of arrogance and the expulsion of the Americas from the region. The former needs the determination of our young revolutionaries and devoted elites, and the latter needs the determination of all nations and the resistance policies, the Leader pointed out.

Ayatollah Khamenei stated, “Millions attending Martyrs Soleimani and Abu Mahdi’s funerals in Iraq and Iran was the first severe slap to the U.S. But the worse one is overcoming the hegemony of arrogance and expelling the U.S. from the region. Of course, revenge will be taken on those who ordered it and the murderers.”

He added, “Martyr Soleimani defeated the front of arrogance both during his life and with his martyrdom. The U.S. president said they spent $7 trillion in the region without achieving anything. The U.S. failed to achieve its goals in Syria and Iraq. The hero behind this major task is General Soleimani.”

The Leader called the assassination of General Soleimani a “historic incident.”

“The martyrdom of General Soleimani is a historic incident. He is a national hero for Iranians and the Islamic nation. That's why Iranians from different backgrounds - even those least expected - honor him. He was the one who promoted the model of Resistance among Islamic nations,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to the khamenei.ir.

He also addressed the issue of taking revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani, saying that this revenge is surely going to happen.  

“Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani, as well as those who carried this out, should be punished. This revenge will certainly happen at the right time,” the Leader said.

 ‘Iran should become strong in all areas’

In his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei also gave the Iranian officials a set of advices that if implemented, would make Iran immune to foreign pressure.

The first advice is that Iran should become strong in all areas, including in the defense, science and technology sectors.

“Because as long as we are not strong the enemies will continue to commit aggressions against [us.],” the Leader said.

The second advice is that Iranian officials must not trust the enemies.

“My definite advice is that do not trust the enemy. Do not trust the promises of the enemy to resolve the people’s problems and build the country’s future. Because these are not the promises of good people. Rather they are the promises of the villains. You should not forget enmities. You saw what Trump’s America and Obama’s America did to you. Hostilities aren't particular to Trump for them to end with him going. Obama’s America also did bad things to you and the Iranian nation,” the Leader said, noting that the Europeans also did not comply with their commitments towards Iran.

“The three European countries have displayed utter malice and duplicity too,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

Over the past few weeks, tensions between Iran and the three European countries – France, Germany and the UK (E3) – that are signatory to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have sharply worsened after they called for new negotiations with Iran on the nuclear and non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s defensive missile program and its regional influence.

Following the U.S. election, the E3 foreign ministers held a trilateral meeting in Germany to coordinate their positions on Iran. After the meeting, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made remarks that were indicative of a possibly new European policy toward Iran.

“A return to the previous agreement will not suffice anyway. There will have to be a kind of ‘nuclear agreement plus,’ which is also in our interest. We have clear expectations of Iran: no nuclear weapons, but also no ballistic missile program that threatens the entire region. Iran also needs to play a different role in the region,” Maas said in an interview with the German magazine, Der Spiegel. He added, “We need this agreement precisely because we distrust Iran. I have already coordinated with my French and British counterparts on this.”

The Leader responded to the E3 calls for missile and regional talks, saying the Europeans had no right to call for such negotiations.

“The Europeans are constantly taking stances against Iran. While they are making the most improper interferences in the region’s issues, they tell us not to interfere in the region. And while France and Britain possess destructive nuclear missiles and Germany is moving in this direction, they tell us not to possess missiles,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a recent meeting with high-ranking officials.

Directly addressing the Europeans, the Leader added, “What business is it of yours. Correct yourself first and then make remarks.”

During his Wednesday meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei called on Iranian officials to refrain from pinning hope on the lifting of sanctions and, instead, work to nullify the sanctions.

“Lifting sanctions is in the enemy's hands. Nullifying them is in ours. We should work more on nullifying than removing them. I don't say we shouldn't pursue removing sanctions. But sanctions that were supposed to be lifted according to the JCPOA, 4 years ago, have intensified,” he said.

This is the second time in less than a month that the Leader underlines the need to nullify the U.S. sanctions on Iran rather than removing them. In late November, he said that Iran had tried to remove the sanctions but they were not removed.

“There are two ways to tackle sanctions: 1) removing sanctions 2) nullifying and overcoming them. We tried the first option, removing sanctions, by negotiating for a few years, but to no use. The second option may have difficulties in the beginning but will have a favorable end,” the Leader pointed out in November. “If succeed, through hard work and innovation, in overcoming the sanctions and the other side witnesses how sanctions were nullified, it will abandon sanctions gradually.”