Leader: Accepting 1988 ceasefire, wise best decision by Late Imam Khomeini

He made the remark here on Monday during his speech delivered to a virtual conference on the occasion of Sacred Defense Week.

Ayatollah Khamenei said when the Late Imam Khomeini decided to accept the 1988 ceasefire, he said he “drank a cup of poison” but still it was a wise decision Imam Khomeini made at that time.

The Leader stressed the Late Imam would have not taken the step, had he regarded it as an unwise decision.

In July 1987, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 598 urging Iraq and Iran to accept a cease-fire and hold negotiations under the auspices of the UN.
In 1988, Imam Khomeini accepted a ceasefire under Resolution 598.

Parts of his remarks as quoted by his official website Khamenei.ir are as follows:

“In the 8-year war on Iran, Saddam was just a tool in the hands of big powers like the U.S. that were seriously harmed by the 1979 Revolution, or governments that worried about the creation of a new Islamic power in the region. The USSR, some European countries, and NATO were against us.”

“During the first years of the war, which were shortly after the Islamic Revolution, the armed forces weren’t in good shape and we were extremely short of equipment. These persuaded the enemy to attack us. Imam Khomeini managed the war amazingly under such conditions.”

“The U.S. and other powers started the war to overthrow the Islamic Republic, but they were defeated. Iran’s victory in this war is as obvious as the sun. The whole world used all their strengths for eight years but failed to achieve their goal.”

“In the wars that were fought against Iran over the past couple of centuries, Iran was always defeated and lost parts of its lands. In Saddam’s war on Iran, he failed to separate even an inch of our lands even though the U.S., USSR, and NATO supported him.”

“Since the beginning, our late Imam knew that the war between Iraq and Iran was not an ordinary war between two neighboring countries. He knew who the main enemy in the war was and realized that Saddam was a mere instrument. He always said that the US was worse than the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union worse than the US, and England worse than both of them. In other words, he had understood that these powers were the main elements working behind the scenes of the war.”

“The 8-Year Holy Defense enriched our human capital. Numerous people who were involved in the defense later started working in various sectors. Martyr Soleimani was one example. No one has yet understood the extent of his work, and it may gradually come to be known in the future.”

“Overall, wars are cruel and violent, but the Iranian nation’s Sacred Defense brought blessings too. One such was moving toward new technologies. At the start, we didn’t have missiles. Thanks to our young experts’ efforts, we started making missiles and became a missile power.”

The Supreme Leader also warned against the grave danger of distortion of Sacred Defense.

The issue of twisting Sacred Defense is a serious matter and a big danger, Supreme Leader said.

He went on to term the Sacred Defense as one of the most logical moves taken by the Iranian nation.

Sacred Defense was a logical move from the start to end, the Supreme Leader noted cautioning against the distortion of this fact.

Head of the Foundation for the Preservation of Sacred Defense works and values, Brigadier Bahman Kargar had earlier said that Ayatollah Khamenei will honor one million war veterans and defenders of holy shrines in a ceremony to mark Sacred Defense Week.

Sacred Defense Week starts in Iran on September 21. The Week is annually celebrated nationwide in commemoration of martyrs and war veterans of the Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980-88.

Iraq’s eight years of the imposed war claimed the lives of 230,000 Iranian soldiers and left near 600,000 war-disabled.  While about 43,000 Iranians were Prisoners of War (PoWs) in Iraq and many others were Missing in Action (MIAs).

The braveness of the Iranian soldiers during those years of war is unprecedented in the history of contemporary conflicts.