Senior cleric hails Iranian people’s massive participation in rallies

“The people, with their million-march presence in the streets, once again demonstrated national unity and cohesion and gave a firm response to the enemy’s actions and crimes,” Tehranˈs Interim Friday Prayers Leader Hujjatoleslam Kazem Sediqi said during Tehran’s Friday Prayers today as the country’s people from all walks of life have held nationwide rallies to mark the National Day of the Fight against Global Arrogance on the anniversary US embassy takeover on Nov. 4, 1979.

Sediqi pointed to the recent riots in some cities in the country, which are fomented by the Western countries, and said that “Although war, sedition, chaos and disturbance are not good, they come with a lesson, a warning, and a wake-up call.”

The senior cleric said that “Threats should be turned into opportunities.”

He said that the US problem with Iran did not begin with the takeover of its embassy in Tehran on November 1979, but instead Washington was much earlier than that an enemy to the Iranian nation.

He recalled toppling the national government of Mossadegh in a CIA-led coup in 1953, saying the former Iranian prime minister was neither a Mulla nor made he any claims of being an Islamist, but he was overthrown by Washington because he nationalized the oil.

The senior cleric further said that the United States has a record of leading 60 coups in the world toppling other nations’ governments.