Excerpts from His Imperial Majesties speech
On the issue of Azarbaijan & HIM. dedication to the territorial integrity of Iran - January 9th, 1963

People of Iran! On the day that I shouldered the grave responsibility of Kingship, after the resignation of my crowned father, I swore to the Holy Koran that I would employ everything in my power to safeguard and protect the independence of Iran, her territorial integrity and the fundamental rights of its citizenry. I promised to keep the Almighty God as my witness that I shall have no intentions other than the prosperity and the grandeur of her government and that of her people.

I call upon the Omnipotent Creator to attest to the fact that to this very day, in spite of grave hazards and obstacles, which threatened my own life, I have remained unswervingly loyal to this sacred covenant and on the path of protecting the boundaries of my nation, even during the military invasion of her soil at wartime, and despite the obstacles created by the ill-wishers of Iran during the chaotic years after, with the grace of the Almighty God and the support of the noble people of Iran in general, and specifically because of the valor portrayed by the people in the Azarbaijan province, I managed to rid the sacred soil of Azarbaijan from the claws of the separatist elements and hence protect and uphold the territorial integrity of my nation.