Ali Larijani who was addressing a meeting of Parliament Basij personnel on the occasion of Sacred Defense Week, said that Saddam’s invasion of Iran in 1980 had been directly by the instigation of the west; “Sacred Defense Week provides an opportunity to redefine the unparalleled event in the contemporary history of the country,” Larijani told the meeting.
“Except for two countries, all the region took sides with Saddam Hussein; even they had entered a race in supporting Saddam, with an intelligence official famously having said that his country provided $40bn to Iraq during the war; however, our nation taught a lesson to Saddam: you will definitely fail vis-à-vis Iranians strong resolve, which provided the country with a continuous source of security,” said the Parliament speaker.
“The second lesson taught was that countries in the region should not be trapped by the conspiracies out of their recklessness; Iran would not attack any country and it will not either in the future; however, if any country violates our borders, it will receive a strong and formidable response,” Larijani emphasized.
Larijani then touched upon the political conditions of the country on the eve of invasion by Iraq; “the country was politically chaotic; with Bani Sadr as president, the country was a place for political saber-rattling of rival factions; Bani Sadr was in conflictual relations with Mohammad Beheshti, which was a heavyweight political figure in the Revolution,” Larijani said, “he systematically stymied the influx of weapons to front lines in the south of the country; not until had Bani Sadr stepped down did the country succeed to solve its problems in front-lines and coordinate all pious forces to change the equation of the war in the interest of Iran,” he concluded.
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