Khamenei, helpless before the people, activates the execution machine

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Friday, 18 Mehr 1404, October 10, 2025. The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Ehsan Faridi, a 22-year-old student at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tabriz. He was first arrested on charges of propaganda against the regime and was later released on bail, but 40 days later they arrested him again, extracted a confession from him under torture, and now he faces the charge of "corruption on earth." Amirhossein Mousavi, who is well known by his online account name "James Bidin," is also an online

0:59 activist who has been arrested. By editing together confessions they extracted from him under torture and pressure, and broadcasting them on television, they have accused him too of espionage and of intelligence and security cooperation with Israel. In the first nine months of 2025, that is, up to the end of September, more than a thousand executions have been carried out in Iran, a figure unprecedented in the past 15 years and considered a record. With the repeated executions the Islamic Republic is carrying out, relative to Iran's population, we rank first in the world. Today Molavi Abdolhamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader

1:59 of Zahedan, protested this wave of executions in his sermons and said that execution is contrary to the conduct of the Prophet and to the views of Imam Ali and of the majority of Muslims. He said that the practice of the prophets and of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, including Imam Ali, who is the fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, was not to pass the sentence of "mohareb" (waging war against God) on people and execute them. In any case, the fact that the regime has set its execution machine in motion to spread terror, horror and fear is something whose causes must be

2:56 traced to a period in which the regime fears its own overthrow, feels powerless in front of the people, and is anxious. Because it is also incapable of solving the people's problems, it is trying, by creating fear, terror and horror and activating the execution machine, to effectively prolong its own life. One clear example of the regime feeling powerless is the valiant struggle of Iranian women, who have engaged in widespread civil disobedience against the imposition of the hijab and compulsory hijab. What they have done, especially after the events of 1401 [2022],

3:58 has forced the regime to retreat. It is a subject I have spoken about before. Yet a number of elements within the regime itself, no matter how they twist and turn, apparently cannot swallow this retreat by the regime. Today, following a directive issued to Friday prayer leaders across the country by the Friday Prayer Leaders' Headquarters, which is under the supervision of Mr. Haj Ali Akbari in the Supreme Leader's office, in many cities a chain of Friday prayer leaders began raising the issue of the hijab and once again bringing up the imposition of the hijab. This is a matter they usually justify by saying that the believers are offended and the people are upset, whereas various opinion polls show that among

4:57 women only 5 to 6 percent support the imposition of the hijab, which is exactly the same figure as the regime's own supporters. One survey shows that even a large majority of women who wear the chador and the hijab oppose the imposition of the hijab and compulsory hijab. This process, which is just one example of the regime's fear of the people and its retreat in the face of the people, shows how the regime, when it is powerless before the people and worried about popular uprisings because of economic and social problems, now, just to say "I

5:52 am here and you must fear me," and by creating a balance of fear in the hope of being able to prevent popular protests, has activated its execution machine. Meanwhile, Israeli media and an account called "Terror Alarm" today reported the killing of Esmail Qaani. The report spread and intensified to the point that the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, denied it. Of course, reports of Qaani's death have been raised several times before, but so far he has survived. Certainly Esmail Qaani is one of the people Israel would assassinate if

6:53 it could get its hands on him, unless the hypothesis that has sometimes been raised is true, that perhaps Qaani has in fact become an Israeli spy, or been bought, or things of that sort, which of course seems very strange. In any case, every now and then the rumor of his killing comes up. This comes as Mr. Putin said yesterday that in a phone conversation with him, Netanyahu asked him to tell his Iranian friends that Israel does not intend to engage in a conflict with Iran. As for this statement of Mr. Putin's, if he is telling the truth, which is possible, because he is someone isolated in the international arena, he throws himself into the middle of these disputes,

7:53 and he also lies a lot. But let us assume that Netanyahu did ask him this. There are only two possibilities: either Israel really does not intend to attack and is preoccupied, at least as long as it is busy with Gaza, and also, it is said, until it completes its laser missile defense so that it can stop Iran's missiles with high accuracy; or else the principle of surprise in war is still at play. In fact, saying these things is meant to make the Islamic Republic think, as last time, that no attack is coming, so that Israel can carry out a surprise

8:44 operation. Surprise in war, of course, has been one of the principles of war ever since Sun Tzu's book The Art of War, two thousand and some years ago, and many countries have used it in wars and still do. In any case, whether Israel will attack, and if it does, whether it can once again kill IRGC commanders like Qaani in the very first moments, or Khamenei himself, and so on, is one of the important questions being raised in almost all Iranian circles inside and outside the country, and it is the question of the day for the Iranian people. As for peace in Gaza, whose negotiations are underway in Egypt, it is said that agreements have been reached, and

9:43 in fact agreement has been reached on the stages of implementing this peace, a plan to be carried out in several phases. According to these agreements reached in Egypt, the first stage is Mr. Trump's announcement, since his 20-point initiative is the subject of these negotiations; after that comes a ceasefire on Israel's part, and then the exchange of the hostages and their bodies for Palestinian prisoners, and then the subsequent stages, if things get that far. It appears that problems have arisen at this very stage of freeing the hostages and their bodies and exchanging them for Palestinian prisoners. Among them, Israel has strongly opposed the release of six people on the list Hamas submitted who were

10:43 sentenced to life imprisonment, saying they are Israel's red line. Among them is Marwan Barghouti, one of the most prominent and well-known Palestinian figures, and it is said that if he is freed he may well become head of government and succeed Abbas, and that he has become a moderate figure who could complete the peace process. In any case, the fact that Hamas has now sat at the table and talked through the mediation of Islamic countries in Egypt with America and Mr. Trump's representatives, and of course has also talked indirectly with Israel,

11:40 and we hope the fire of war dies down and the lives, property and livelihoods of the people of Gaza see some calm, has raised serious questions in Iran, not only among the people but also in regime circles, on the left and the right, among principlists and reformists alike: given that Khamenei has in fact suffered this defeat, whether on the nuclear issue, the outcome of which has been 400 kilos of uranium with its centrifuges destroyed too, or in the missile war and the defeat he suffered in the 12-day war, or on the issue of the proxy forces, on which so much of the country's resources has been spent, and this very Hamas was perhaps

12:36 one of the reasons Iran invested so much in Syria, in Lebanon and elsewhere, and here too he has in fact been defeated, why does he not come out clearly and say that he is changing these policies? In any case, on the other hand, it seems the Islamic Republic, by sending shipments of weapons into Israel, for the West Bank of the Jordan River and for residents inside Israel, is trying to ignite war and unrest there, so that even if Gaza calms down, war will break out on this side of Israel. In any event, the question mark over Mr. Khamenei's performance and the main policies with which he has brought the country to

13:32 these precipices is another subject being raised these days in all circles, at least within the regime. Finally, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ms. Machado of Venezuela. It was announced today. She is a prominent opponent of Maduro, lives inside Venezuela, and is an advocate of a free economy, human rights and relations with the West. She announced that she dedicates her prize to the people of Venezuela and to Mr. Trump, in the hope that he will help bring freedom to the people of Venezuela. Hoping for the victory of Iran and Iranians.