TEHRAN: Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei said Monday that the country would not return to what he described as an era of foreign domination.
Khamenei made the remarks in a message marking Sacred Defence Week and the second anniversary of the death of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
He contrasted present-day Iran with the period before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. According to Khamenei, foreign powers once exercised substantial influence over the country’s monarchy.
He also said foreign military forces no longer operated as freely near southern Iranian waters. Khamenei attributed that change to actions by Iranian forces and defenders of the Strait of Hormuz.
In another part of the message, he cited public mobilisation as evidence of domestic support. Khamenei claimed more than 30 million Iranians had declared readiness for self-sacrifice.
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He also said 500,000 people responded to a separate mobilisation call within 100 minutes. Khamenei also commemorated Nasrallah, describing him as a major figure in what Iran calls the resistance front.
He said Nasrallah had strengthened Hezbollah’s supporters and raised Lebanon’s standing. Those assessments reflected Khamenei’s political characterisation.
Khamenei added that Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem now carried what he described as Nasrallah’s “banner” and political path.
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He closed by arguing that Iran had emerged stronger from successive conflicts and would not return to the political conditions that existed before the Islamic Revolution.
