Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran has overtaken the arrogant West and would implement its universal mission to establish peace and justice worldwide (see Ahmadinejad: Iran's On Mission Of 'Universal Justice'). He said that Iran has an historic and international responsibility, and that with the help of divine guidance would implement its mission, at a time when humanity needs pure and just leadership. He added that Western capitalism and liberalism had deceived the world throughout the past century.
Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, said that the Tunisian uprising and Egyptian unrest drew their inspiration from Iran's Islamic Revolution, and that Iran's importance and centrality was clear to all – to the point where the greatest powers on earth need it to solve any international problem.
Senior Iranian ayatollah Nouri Hanedani said that the Tunisian uprising heralded the emergence of the Mahdi (the Shi'ite Messiah) and that the popular uprisings in Egypt, Jordan, and other countries attested to the wisdom of these peoples against the arrogant ones (i.e. the U.S. and the West).
The Iranian website Fararu assessed that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, like the deposed Tunisian leader, would not manage to rein in the popular protests due to their sheer intensity.
Sources: Fars, Fararu, Press TV, Iran; Lenziran.com, January 27, 2011
