Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received thousands of people from East Azerbaijan province on Wednesday on the occasion of anniversary of Tabriz uprising on February 19, 1978 as a prelude to the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Leader believed that the public turnout in the 22 Bahman (February 10) rallies could not receive the gratitude it deserved and that “the words would fall short of accurately conveying my gratitude to the public turnout,” said the Leader, hailing the fact that now the 3rd and 4th generations of the Revolution would be on the field to defend the achievements and ideals of the Revolution.
On the issue of ‘national reconciliation’ raised recently by the Reformist in the Establishment, Ayatollah Khamenei believed that national reconciliation would largely been meaningless when the whole nation are united. He also extended critics to authorities who would take the higher turnout as a clue that the public had been satisfied with their current performance; “the public grapples with its own problems, economic as well as social; they would not tolerate discrimination, unemployment, and general neglect by the authorities of their grievances,” he added.
“People will never reconcile with those who brazenly came to streets to beat and strip young Basijis on the day of Ashura,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized, making allusions to events of late December 2009 which coincided Tassua and Ashura, two important and sacred days in the history of Shi’ism.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution also called authorities in the government and elsewhere to take the responsibilities assigned to them in the year of Resistance Economy, Action and Implementation; “public grievances should not be neglected; high prices, unemployment and inflation are important issues to be addressed,” he asserted.
Ayatollah Khameni warned against enemies’ propaganda to mount economic pressures on country to dishearten people and to weaken their bonds with the Establishment; “a clichéd measure by the US has been to threaten with war; that a military option is on the table; the European official tells us JCPOA had largely prevented an imminent war; outright lies! Why war on earth? They do so to prepare the minds and public mentality for war; but the real war is fought against us on economy, with sanctions as their artillery and canons; the real war is to deprive our country of economic activity and technology; they deflect us from real war to rather imaginary military war; the real war is also in field of culture,” he emphasized.
“The interminable wealth of the oil of the Middle East finances CIA, IM6, and Israeli intelligence services in their propaganda against the Islamic Republic; hundreds of satellite TV and Radio networks, social networks on Internet along with the politically bankrupt circles are working in close cooperation to weaken the Establishment,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“Their efforts to provide an inefficient version of the Establishment is to flog a dead horse and will produce nothing for their money squandered thus; we will not gloss over the internal problems; however, we admit that during the past four decades, the rate of progress and building infrastructures had been extraordinarily high, and when compared to our progress, the past regime’s achievements are but paltry; however, some aspects of our technological advancement would not be possible even in a course of a century.”
“In a regime puppet of the US and the UK, people was of little importance and prestige; with the Revolution, our national glory was restored and we found the deserved place in the region; now in the region, affairs would not be in order without Iran’s direct role,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized.
He quoted a verse of the Holy Quran (8:60): “And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds;” “this preparation recommended for in the verse implies more of a non-military development, that is, the strengthening of infrastructure to which I frequently alluded; the economic growth of 8 per cent in expert predictions is possible given the domestic capacities; the preparation would also be taken as Resistance Economy; oil incomes would not be included in such preparations, though it provides an important part,” said the Leader.
He also denounced specific circles in the country who highlighted the weaknesses and pitfalls; “the same circles have been in league with foreign powers in fashioning sanctions and where in the Iranian economy sanctions should target,” he added.
Turning to ethnic diversity, Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the diversity as a boon rather than a threat to country; “the sheer diversity is an opportunity for Iran; however, the enemies had been eyeing this diversity and ethnic fault lines to hit the unity and solidarity of the country, but we believe there is no fault lines within the nation.”
SH