Iran Supreme Leader says Revolution on track

Ayatollah Khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei maintained that despite opposition claims, the February 11 demonstrations showed that the Islamic Revolution has not been “derailed” and “the people have not left the path of the Revolution and the Imam.”

Ayatollah Khamenei, speaking for a group of Tabriz residents, claimed the enemies of the Revolution and a few other individuals have been trying to “insinuate that the Islamic Revolution has been derailed but the Islamic Revolution is on track today toward the same goals of the Imam,” referring to the leader of the 1979 Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.

In the past months, a number of Shiite clerics, opposition leaders and reformist parties have announced that the Islamic Republic has “deviated” from its original path.

Opposition leaders, MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami claim that “widespread fraud” in the June presidential elections and the consequent crackdown on election protesters has challenged the “republic” aspect of the system. They have repeatedly said that the goals of the Revolution and the path set up by the leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini has been compromised by the recent events.

The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei who took over the position of leadership after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, has chosen to back Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the elections and reject the demands of the opposition. He claimed if the Revolution had been derailed from its path, “this vast crowd of hearts, faith and motivation would not have been mobilized in the name of the Revolution,” referring to the February 11 demonstration in Tehran which he also described as a “divine miracle.”

He claimed the enemies of the Islamic regime had “planned to draw people away from the regime by creating clashes” but the Iranian people “hurled a hard punch into the mouths of the opposition” on February 11 because “divine power had awakened their hearts.”

On February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution which is customarily observed in Iran with demonstrations and various events, opposition forces had announced that they would stage their own demonstrations to reiterate their protest against the alleged election fraud that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back to power in June.

According to reformist media, protesters were unable to gather on February 11 due to extreme measures of the security forces.

Ayatollah Khamenei while refraining from using any names added: “a number of people out of neglect, without deep thought and even enmity, kept speaking against the movement of the Islamic regime claiming they were for the people, but February 11 showed the real demands of the people.”

Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that the opposition leaders had acted in “ignorance” in the post-election events, and the enemies had used the events to “weaken the Islamic Republic.”

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic also criticized the US policies in the region and added: “We candidly declare that we are against the control of a few countries over the rest of the world and we will fight against it and not let these few governments to play with the fate of world.”