Efforts to Set Nation Against Establishment Futile

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said enemies are trying to pit Iranian people against the Islamic establishment, but their efforts are futile. 
“Western countries have pinned their hopes on protests in order to overthrow the Islamic Republic,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a ceremony to mark the 33rd anniversary of the passing of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, in Tehran on Saturday, Leader.ir reported.
“They hope to set people against the Islamic establishment through psychological warfare, mercenaries and media campaigns,” he said.
However, enemies are making miscalculations as they wrongly believe they can provoke dissent in Iran, the Leader underscored.
They make such mistakes as they receive “wrong advice” from “traitors” who say “count on the Iranian people to rise up against the Islamic establishment,” the Leader said.
Enemies are “naive to suppose that people have lost their faith in religion and the clergy,” he stated. 
Ayatollah Khamenei said people’s interest in the Islamic Revolution has grown even more than the first day.

No Impasse 

“Iran will not reach an impasse” despite claims on social media, he underlined.
The Leader also said the West has plundered nations all the way from Asia to Africa and South America for the last three centuries.
“While the West has been ravaging the world … murdering, torturing and establishing slavery, their thinkers adopted human rights laws,” he said, adding this paradox in speech and action is a “masterpiece of the West civilization.”
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that “the enemy’s lies, deceptions and psychological warfare must be exposed.”
He pointed to the recent illegal seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by Greece and the confiscation of its oil by the US, praising Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps for retaliating “the act of piracy.”   
Days after the Iranian oil tanker was impounded by Greece in its territorial waters, IRGC naval forces seized two Greek oil tankers in the Persian Gulf over violations.
The Leader said the enemy has “accused Iran of stealing in their media campaigns,” however, “taking back what is stolen from you is not called stealing.”
The Leader cautioned that the enemy is trying to undermine Iranian officials.
He pointed to a recent building collapse in Abadan in southwest Iran, saying while those who are behind the deadly incident must be punished, it is imperative to be grateful to officials who traveled to the city and met the victims’ families and oversaw the rescue operation.
“Now that the enemy is seeking to undermine the Iranian officials, it is of greater importance to appreciate them,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Aligning Dualities 

In addition, the Leader said Imam Khomeini helped align dualities which had been meant to contradict one another.
“He put religious spirituality and people’s vote together” and “put economic justice and wealth creation together,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, stressing that “we neither oppress anyone nor do we accept being oppressed.”
And he said Iran will “strengthen its economy and improve its knowledge” in tandem with efforts to “ensure security and build up defense.”
“We have to maintain national cohesion and unity and at the same time we have to respect diversity and differing views,” the Leader added.