On July 27, 2022, a video was posted to the IslamicTV YouTube channel of Shiite children in Houston, TX performing a song titled “Salute, Commander”, which is an Iranian children’s anthem pledging allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The video had been first posted by the Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX, on its Facebook and YouTube accounts, but these posts were later removed. The children performed the song in English and Farsi. The song’s lyrics say: “[Khamenei] is calling on his children, his soldiers… In spite of my age, I will be your army’s commander…May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, I will sacrifice everything for you…I make an oath to be your martyr, Ali.”
The song’s original Farsi lyrics include a pledge to follow in the footsteps of IRGC Qods Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2020. In February 2019, the Islamic Education Center of Houston had held a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. At the ceremony, children sang: “Khamenei is our leader, we are his soldiers.” For more information about the ceremony, see MEMRI TV Clip No 7081.
Children: “Salute, commander [the Hidden Imam]! Salute, from the brave generation that has been left behind. Salute, commander [the Hidden Imam]! Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] is calling on his children, his soldiers, who were born in the 2010s.
Via MEMRI.