khamenei.ir- The following is the full text of the message delivered on November 26, 2016 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, on the martyrdom of a number of Imam Hussein (a.s.) pilgrims in Iraq and the railway accident that led to the demise of a number of Imam Ridha (a.s.) pilgrims.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful


The bitter and tragic incident that led to the martyrdom of tens of Iranian and non-Iranian pilgrims of the Master of Martyrs (a.s.) in Iraq and also, the painful railway accident that resulted in the death and injury of the pilgrims of Hazrat Abi al-Hassan al-Ridha (greetings be upon him) made me sad and sorrowful, as it did our compatriots and their mourning families.


In the first incident, criminal and malevolent takfiri groups – whose eyes had been blinded and whose malicious plots had been foiled by the great Arbaeen gathering and the unique security that Husseini pilgrims enjoyed – embarked upon cowardly and despicable revenge and once more showed their vicious faces and their evil identity. From other parts of the world too – from countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan – bitter and shocking news have come about the crimes of their cohorts. This is another warning, to all Muslims and sympathetic personalities, about the danger of the takfiri orientation and the governments that support them.


In the second incident too, the negligence, flaws and injudiciousness of officials made some of our families mourn the loss of their dear ones and it led to the death and injury of a number of our dear people.


I ask God to bestow His mercy and forgiveness on the deceased, I pray for the recovery of the injured and I express my condolences to their families. I also want officials, in both domestic and foreign sectors, not to move on from such painful incidents easily. They should place at the top of their agenda the concern to eliminate these disasters and other such disasters from the people's lives- in a fundamental manner.


In the present time too, they should do their best to cure the injured, to transfer the bodies of the deceased, and to decrease the pain that the mourning families are suffering from.


Sayyid Ali Khamenei


November 26, 2016