Iranian Regime Calls For Massive Rally Turnout After Trump’s SOTU Condemnation

By Patrick Goodenough | February 6, 2020 | 4:37am EST
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses a gathering in Tehran on Wednesday. (Office of the Supreme Leader)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses a gathering in Tehran on Wednesday. (Office of the Supreme Leader)

(CNSNews.com) – Following President Trump’s tough criticism of the Iranian regime in his State of the Union address, its leaders are urging Iranians to turn out in huge numbers in rallies next week to show their support for the Islamic Republic.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday the February 11 rallies – marking the 41st anniversary of the 1979 revolution that brought the mullahs to power – and parliamentary elections later in the month, were “two big tests facing the great Iranian people.”

Addressing a gathering in Tehran, Khamenei said Iran’s enemies fear “popular support for the establishment” more than its military might.

In his speech, Trump accused Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC Qods Force commander killed in a U.S. airstrike in early January, of responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq, including a soldier whose widow and son were White House guests in the chamber.

He then turned to the Iranian regime more generally.

“In recent months, we have seen proud Iranians raise their voices against the oppressive rulers,” Trump said. “The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, stop spreading terror, death and destruction, and start working for the good of its own people.”

“Because of our powerful sanctions, the Iranian economy is doing very, very poorly. We can help them make a very good and short time recovery. It can all go very quickly, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help,” he said. “We are here. Let’s see which road they choose. It is totally up to them.”

As he appealed Wednesday for a big turnout in the February 11 rallies, Khamenei noted that this year’s commemoration coincides with the traditional 40-day after death memorial for Soleimani.

He also accused some foreign media outlets of trying to downplay the large turnout of Iranians on nationally-important occasions, while hyping the numbers of Iranians taking part in anti-regime protests.

“When some traitorous, foreign media try to describe the crowd of millions of Iranians as a few thousand, and at the same time, they refer to the movement of a few hundred people in the streets as the entire nation, naturally the people won’t trust them.”

As referred to by Trump, thousands of Iranians in dozens of cities – described by some as the most widespread anti-regime protests since the 1979 revolution – took to the streets after President Hassan Rouhani last November announced a steep fuel price hike and rationing. As many as 1,500 people were killed in the regime’s crackdown, and thousands were injured and arrested.

Protests erupted again last month, after authorities’ belated admission that a Ukrainian passenger plane which crashed after takeoff from Tehran on January 8 had been brought down by an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) missile, killing all 176 on board. Again, regime forces used teargas, rubber bullets, batons, and pepper spray to disperse peaceful protestors, injuring many, according to human rights monitors.

Rouhani on Wednesday also called for a massive turnout for next Tuesday’s rallies, according to a speech posted on the presidency website.

“Today, we need to stand together on February 11 more than ever and tell our enemies that we have stood by our revolution for 41 years and that we will be in the path of the revolution, Imam [Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic republic], and supreme leader until the day we are alive,” he told a cabinet meeting.

“Allah willing, attending the February 11 rallies will be another strike on enemies.”

Rouhani spoke dismissively of the campaign of “maximum pressure” put in place by the administration since Trump in 2018 withdrew from the Obama administration-era Iran nuclear deal.

“The Americans have done their utmost to pressure the Iranian nation over the past two years, but have failed, thanks to our people’s steadfastness and unity,” he said.




 

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