Iran Press/ Iran news: Speaking on the occasion of 11 February (22 Bahman) march, President Hassan Rouhani said with the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the Iranian people showed their preference for independence rather than despotism.
The Iranian president added: "The Islamic Revolution was based on choice and the highest fruit of the revolution is elections. That is, our people have chosen between Islam and infidelity, the right and wrong and the popular system and the dictatorship."
He added: "If the Shah's corrupt regime had allowed the people to choose, there would be no need for a revolution."
"If that regime had allowed people to choose their government, constitution, and their independence, there would have been no revolution", the president added.
I want to answer the question that may have arisen in the minds of some of the third and fourth generations of the revolution, why the Iranian people chose the revolution 41 years ago and why it toppled the former regime.
Rouhani stated: "If the former regime had agreed to free, fair and national elections, there would have been no revolution."
"The revolution came because the door was closed. The blockade of the election led people to break this chain through the path of a great revolution", the president underscored.
He stated, "In fact, the Islamic Revolution of Iran was based on a choice. People chose between a corrupt US-dependent regime and a religious democratic system; They chose democracy. Between dependence on superpowers and independence, our people chose independence."
"Our whole revolution was actually based on a choice," Rouhani added.
In another part of his speech Rouhani pointing to Lt. Gen. Soleimani added: "Martyr Soleimani was a commander on the battlefield and also a capable diplomat in negotiations."
"General Soleimani was martyred on his way to a meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister, was not going to the battlefield, what Israelis and Americans say that he was a threat to stability is completely baseless," Rouhani added.
He said: "Martyr Soleimani gave stability and security to Iraq, with the help of the Iraqi people and army, and also security to Syria and Lebanon."
He said, "Martyr Soleimani was a brave and strong soldier on the battlefield and a persuasive and dignified diplomat round the negotiating table."
"Martyr Soleimani was a man of war and peace, a war that led to peace and a strong peace that did not lead to war," the president highlighted.
Elsewhere in his remarks President Rouhani said: "It is difficult for the US to tolerate the Islamic Revolution and the victory of a great nation which ended the presence of the Americans in Iran. They cannot stomach the victory of the Islamic Revolution."
He added: "The US and the Zionist regime are well aware of the importance and significance of Iran. They know Iran's role in the region that is the most important power in this sensitive region, so the Americamns and the Zionists were the most fierce enemy of Iran and the Islamic Revoution right from the very beginning."
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