He made the remarks Monday night while addressing a host of IRGC personnel and their families in Tehran, on the eve of the auspicious birth anniversary of Imam Hussain (a.s), which marks the National Day of Guards.

His remarks were in reaction to Washington’s move to designate IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization on Monday. In retaliation, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has designated American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a “terrorist organization.”

The reason behind the US’s animosity against IRGC is the force’s pioneering role in defending the country and the Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, adding, “the US and other ignorant enemies have done anything they could against the Islamic Republic of Iran, yet they failed to achieve a single thing. Today, the Revolution and the Islamic Establishment have become powerful in the region and the world.”

Ayatollah Khamenei regarded IRGC as an eminent entity at the forefront of encountering enemies on various arenas, saying, “IRGC leads the fight in operational fields, confronting the enemies at our borders; and even thousands of kilometers away from the frontiers, around the shrine of Lady Zainab (s.a.); as well as in political confrontations with enemies.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described that asset as the main reason behind the US’ animosity against the IRGC, and added, “US officials wishfully plot against the IRGC and actually against the Islamic Revolution and maneuver mischief. Undoubtedly, such ferocities won’t get them anywhere. Their vice and deceit will boomerang on them, leading the enemies of the Islamic Republic such as Trump and those around him at the US ruling apparatus to go down the drain.”

He mentioned the forty years of animosity against the Islamic Republic and the progress the revolution made in spite of it as a sign of the US’s weakness in hindering the movement of the Iranian nation and stated, “for forty years, the enemies of beloved Iran have imposed great amounts of all types of political, economic and propaganda pressure on the nation; yet they have failed to achieve anything even when the revolution was newly formed.”

Referring to the leading position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the region, Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say, “contrary to the assumptions of the enemies, the dignity and power of the Islamic establishment today do not emerge from atomic bombs, as from the beginning we have emphasized that nuclear weapons violate our religious principles and we do not need nukes. Thus, today’s dignity and sovereignty of the Iranian nation in the eyes of the Muslim world derives from the people’s resistance, self-sacrifice, and insightful awareness.”

Finally, Ayatollah Khamenei asserted that this honorable movement will continue via proper understanding as well as acting based on duties, and stated, “undoubtedly, the Revolution will progress, but everyone—including people from all walks of life, in particular the young individuals, as well as the IRGC, the Armed Forces and government agencies—should appropriately identify their roles and follow the pious role models offered by divine figures, such as the noble Imam Khomeini (r.a.), to act for the cause of God and perform their duties.”