Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received a group of Iranian cultural figures, poets and professors of Persian literature along with poets from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan in Tehran on Wednesday.
Underscoring the necessity for poetry to openly defend good against evil, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The poetry of revolution is… at the service of the objectives of the revolution, which are justice, humanity, unity and national eminence,” according to the official website of the Leader.
Praising young poets for their perseverance in “this poisonous atmosphere,” the Leader said, “This perseverance symbolizes the very sense of duty and today any poetry which is against oppression and in line with the objectives of the Islamic Ummah… is the symbol of wise poetry.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also touched on the anniversary of the poison gas attacks on the border city of Sardasht in 1987 by the Iraqi Ba’athist regime, saying the oppression endured by the Iranian nation is an important and shocking example to be reflected in poetry across the globe.
“The world media which are dominated by the US, Britain and Zionists and which sometimes raise a hue and cry for saving an animal, brazenly remain silent vis-à-vis these crimes and similar ones like the ongoing bombing of Yemen and the invasion of Gaza and Yemen over the past years.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said rapid reaction by young poets to events and developments is a very good and valuable move, saying, “We hope that the poetry of revolution, which is in fact serving the objectives and ideals of the revolution, namely justice, humanity, unity, national eminence, the country’s all-out progress and training of human beings, will make progress day by day.”
