President Hassan Rouhani and his Cabinet members visited the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in southern Tehran on Sunday to renew allegiance to the ideals of the late founder of the Islamic Republic ahead of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
"Imam led an important transition from dictatorship and colonization to democracy and independence over these 10 days [from his arrival in Iran on Feb. 1 1979 to the victory of the revolution on Feb. 11]," Rouhani said, President.ir reported.
He added that Imam Khomeini left two great legacies for the country, "republicanism" and "Islamism", and sought to build a government within an Islamic framework and under people's rule.
According to Rouhani, the late leader's ideals of democracy and Islamism do not belong to that period alone and must be pursued at all times.
"We must always respect people's opinions and not neglect their preferences in our domestic and foreign policy, as well as our economic and cultural plans," he said.
The president also highlighted Imam Khomeini’s insistence on public participation in all elections, stressing that whoever discourages people from going to the polls by denying them various options to choose from is deviating from the Imam's path.
He cited Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as saying that "the point of reference is the vote of the nation".
Critical Time
Rouhani said the late Imam's school will help the country overcome its problems today, at a time when Iran is in the most difficult economic and political situation in its history.
After the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear pact in 2018, it reimposed stringent sanctions.
It is also engaged in political disputes with the European Union over the full implementation of the deal.
"Today, after two years, our nation has very well withstood the unprecedented sanctions and this is because they believe … our policy should not be that of indignity and surrender, although we do not acknowledge the policy of tension and conflict either," the president said.
Rouhani noted that the Iranian people know well that there is no way but to stand up to aggressors that are oppressing not only Iranians, but also all Muslims of the world, especially the Palestinians.
The United States has proposed a so-called peace plan for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conundrum, which purportedly aims to end decades of conflict, but is overwhelmingly in favor of the Israeli side as evidenced by the absence of Palestinians from the announcement ceremony.
The lengthy document contains conceptual maps showing how Israel and a future Palestinian state could look if Palestinians agreed to sign up to the plan, which was endorsed at the White House by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Palestinian leaders have categorically rejected the proposals.
The suggested map of Palestine looks nothing like an integrated state and consists of multiple small zones engulfed by Israel.
The plan also hands East Beit-ul-Moqaddas over to Israel to be its “undivided, sovereign” capital, while a village in the east of the city would serve as the Palestinian capital.
Palestinians say they reject any proposal that does not envision a Palestinian capital in all of East Beit-ul-Moqaddas.
At the end of the ceremony, the Iranian government vowed to use all its capacities to pursue Imam Khomeini’s way under the auspices of the current Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who had paid tribute to the late founder a day earlier.
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