Terhran: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday urged Iranians to show unity and “disappoint the enemy” ahead of the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, amid rising tensions with the United States.
In a televised address, Khamenei said national power relies more on “determination and resistance” than on military hardware like missiles and aircraft. His remarks come as Iran prepares for nationwide rallies on Wednesday to mark the revolution’s victory.
“Until the enemy is disappointed, a nation is exposed to persecution,” Khamenei said. “The enemy must be disappointed,” Xinhua news agency reported quoted the Iranian Supreme Leader as saying. He described the annual marches as a display of dignity that forces foreign powers to “retreat” from ambitions of interfering in Iranian affairs.
The speech follows a period of heightened friction with the United States, fueled by a US military buildup in the Middle East and ongoing threats against Tehran. Despite indirect nuclear negotiations between Iranian and US delegations in Muscat, Oman, on Friday, significant gaps remain, leaving the prospect of a deal uncertain.
Khamenei expressed hope that this year’s anniversary would compel “other nations, governments, and powers to display modesty and reverence” toward the Iranian people.
The 1979 Islamic Revolution was a watershed moment that transformed Iran from a pro-Western monarchy into an Islamic republic. Led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a diverse coalition of clerics, students, and secular activists overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States.
Iran and the United States severed diplomatic ties in 1980 after the Iranian people seized the US Embassy in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, will lead a delegation to the Omani capital of Muscat on Tuesday, according to the SNSC-affiliated Nour News.
Larijani is scheduled to meet with high-ranking Omani officials to discuss regional and international developments, as well as bilateral relations, the news outlet reported Monday.
The visit comes after Oman hosted and mediated a round of indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. Amid heightened tensions between the two nations, Oman is considered a potential venue for future talks.
At a news conference in Tehran on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the date and location for the next round of nuclear negotiations would be determined through consultations with Oman.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday characterized recent indirect nuclear negotiations with the United States as a “step forward,” even as Washington moved to tighten the economic noose around Tehran with new sanctions and tariff threats.
The talks, mediated by Oman, represent the first high-level contact between the two adversaries since the Israel-Iran conflict last June, during which the United States attacked Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
While Pezeshkian framed the dialogue as Tehran’s “consistent strategy” for peaceful resolution, analysts say the diplomatic opening reflects cautious crisis management rather than any genuine rapprochement.
Writing on his X account, Pezeshkian said Iran’s nuclear ambitions remain firmly within the “explicit rights” guaranteed by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. “The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect,” he wrote, “but it does not tolerate the language of force.”
(IANS)
