Imam Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has issued a message on the anniversary of Operation Zulfaqari and the epic created by the people in which the Ba‘athist aggressors were driven out of Abadan Island. In his message, the Leader spoke of the factors leading to the Iranian nation’s victory in the Sacred Defense. He described the people’s vigilance, faith, and divine motivation; the sacrifices and selfless devotion of the popular forces; and their courageous steadfastness beside the valor of the Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as being the key to overcoming armed aggressive enemies.
The full text of the Leader’s message is as follows:
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The ninth of Aban (Oct. 31) marks the anniversary of an epic that was created by the people. It was a valiant operation carried out by the Islamic fighters against the Ba‘athist aggressors, driving them out of Abadan Island only 40 days after the start of the First Imposed War in 1980. But this important epic, which is regarded as the Iranian nation’s first victory in the 8-Year Sacred Defense, has received relatively little attention. It has come to be known as Operation Zulfaqari. It holds many lessons regarding confronting the enemies and aggressors attacking our Islamic homeland in every era.
At that time, Iraq was ruled by a tyrannical ruler who had little regard for the beliefs and traditions of Iraq’s people. Contrary to the ethos of the noble Iraqi nation, whose people rightly share bonds of brotherhood with the people of Iran, he imagined that by using certain slogans and baseless claims, he could sever the strong bond between the two nations. This is a bond with longstanding roots in their shared religious tradition and their love for the Household of Infallibility and Purity (pbut).
Like the enemy of today, the Ba’athist enemy in those days employed the familiar methods of aggression, occupation, and siege. The way to effectively countering and defeating its sinister plots was likewise through the vigilance of the people, the devotion of the self-sacrificing forces, and through their courageous steadfastness, beside the valor of the brave fighters of the Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Back then, an ordinary yet courageous Iranian worker, with his sacrifice and selflessness, alerted the people to the enemy’s sinister scheme. A group of popular forces and members of the local mosques, who were driven by faith and divine motivation and were equipped with minimal resources, took to the battlefield under the guidance of the mujahid, self-sacrificing Friday Prayer Leader of Abadan. That was the learned, courageous scholar, the late Ayatollah Jami (may God’s mercy be upon him).
This movement by the people forced the invading enemy, despite the enemy being armed with advanced weaponry, to regret their aggression. It wasn’t long before a chain of diverse ethnic groups from among the Iranian nation, from north to south and east to west, united in defense of Islamic Iran’s borders. Less than a year later, by the grace of God and at the command of the Imam of the Ummah (may God sanctify his noble soul), the siege on Abadan was finally broken.
Today, it’s that same vigilance and faith, that same motivation and resolve, that same sacrifice and selflessness, and that same zeal and steadfastness, which with the grace of Almighty God, the Most Exalted, and the watchful care of our Master [Imam Mahdi, may God hasten his noble reappearance,] are aiding the oppressed yet powerful Iranian nation. It’s this spirit that will sustain the nation in their confronting the domination, crimes, and aggressions of the Great Satan (the US) and in achieving victory in the Third Imposed War.
"And victory comes only from Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise" (Quran 3:126).
Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei
Aban 9, 1405
[Oct. 31, 2026]
