In the Tehran Friday sermon, Expediency Council secretary and provisional Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said, addressing U.S. President Barack Obama: "Remain faithful to what you said in your election campaign, where you wisely said you will not be after demolishing Iran's rights, but after ridding the world of concerns, which we say in addition to that regional problems can be solved relying on Iran's cooperation... History will judge your conduct, as it did in case of Bush."
Addressing thousands of Tehran worshipers at Tehran University's central campus Rafsanjani, who is also a former president, said, "The victory of the Islamic Revolution rid Iran of the reign of the global oppression and granted the Iranians freedom – which is materialized at election scenes."
He said, "This is a great achievement, that depends on the continuous backing of the people, and we should not stop safeguarding it for a single moment, since without the people's will and love for the system, it would be vulnerable, and we can for example refer to Gaza case that was the greatest war scene, with half a million of besieged people, that are still resisting."
He stressed that the Iranian nation, too, has, throughout the struggles for liberty, countering the rioting instances, years of the sacred defense [i.e. the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war] and in toleration of the hardships of the imposed sanctions, acted loyally towards the system – so if anyone, for any reason, harms that loyalty, he is making a grave mistake.
Rafsanjani reiterated that Iran is the first country with a supervision apparatus over its lawmaking body, in accordance with our Constitution, and added that any law contradicting religious rules would be annulled, adding, "We live in an Islamic country that has had a great revolution whose objectives I would summarize in a few sentences...
"We defended our land and our revolution perfectly, constructed the infrastructures of our country despite sanctions. Our development is still going on, and we still have a long way to pave."
Rafsanjani stressed that had Iran not been faced with the vast campaign of the enemies, it would be far more advanced than today, adding, "And we are ready for dismantling any plot they would hatch against us bravely from now on."
Referring to the Israeli offensive in Gaza, he said, "Israel suffered another humiliating defeat, and they now assume, considering the great dimensions of the destruction they have caused in small Gaza Strip region, that the people would soon be disheartened."
Referring to the ongoing global economic crisis, he said, "The problems are ever increasing in the U.S.; the unemployment rate keeps rising, there is no sign of an economic blossoming, there are no new investments, and the unfinished projects have remained entirely stagnant... Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved Obama's $800 billion budget, aimed at blossoming the stock exchange markets – but the U.S. stock exchange markets suffered another 3% fall last night, and the third world nations, too, are suffering greatly. But I think that in Iran, where relying on proper planning we are less reliant on foreign developments, we need to harness that wave."
He added that particularly in next year's budget, and in the country's five-year plan, it is now the turn for the Majlis and the government to devise the budget most carefully, relying on the advice of the economic affairs experts.
He also praised Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for last walking out during the World Economic Forum in Davos over the injustice in allocation of additional speech time to the Zionists. "Erdogan made an excellent move at the forum, where the discussion was about Gaza and the Israeli officials were defending their conduct, but when the Turkish prime minister intended to reply they gave him a short speech period."
He added, "Erdogan told the Israeli leader that they had massacred so many innocent people, which would cause his conscience to kill him, adding that he would not be able to answer the history either, and furthermore, the Gaza residents would relying on Muslim nations' assistance materialize their denied rights, after which he left the meeting."
On Iran's nuclear program, he reiterated, "We are still waiting for the new U.S. administration to declare its wise stand, since otherwise they will waste another few years of our time by repeating (former US president George W.) Bush's words regarding need for Iran's halting of its nuclear program, threatening us, or offering impractical, unclear promises."
Source: IRNA, Iran, January 30, 2009
