“The blind scheme and plot of the enemy — following the imposed war, economic pressure, and propaganda and siege — is to sow discord and social fragmentation in order to compensate for its defeats on the military field and bring the nation to its knees,” Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei said in a message on Thursday.

The message came on the anniversary of the first session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly — Iran’s parliament — which was officially inaugurated on May 28, 1980.

Ayatollah Khamenei extended congratulations on Eid al-Adha and the anniversary of the inauguration of the first Islamic Consultative Assembly to all Iranian people and lawmakers, expressing appreciation for the efforts of lawmakers and in particular Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in the path of elevating the country.

The Leader described the Islamic Consultative Assembly as "the essence of the nation, the manifestation of religious democracy, and the pillar of law and legislation in the Islamic Republic," saying it plays a vital role in exercising the will of the people.

Noting that three months have passed since the "third Sacred Defense," Ayatollah Khamenei said the Iranian people's inner character and essence, "in faith, hope, and action", has been proven to both friends and foes.

He was referring to the US-Israeli aggression on Iran that began on February 28 and came to a halt on April 8 following Iran’s strong retaliatory attacks against US and Israeli bases across the region during forty days of defense.

“The seat of a representative is considered a frontline trench of transformation on the path of the country's progress,” he said, urging parliamentarians to devote their full capacity, and to be in full coordination with the administration while preserving legislative independence towards the goal.

He listed the priorities as “reconstructing the country, resolving the people's concerns — especially economic and livelihood issues — boosting production and employment, advancing science and industry, elevating culture and ethics, fighting financial corruption, curbing inflation and high prices, and realizing total eradication of poverty.”

On that basis, he said, parliamentary legislation “must have a direct and visible relationship with the country's main issues and the needs of the people, and must be oriented toward creating hope and building the country's future.”

He said lawmakers, through their positions, legislation, and speeches, can make the parliament “an institution that drives hope-creation.”

He called on the parliament to work alongside the executive branch and the judiciary with a focus on the slogan of “resistance economy in the shadow of national unity and national security” for the Persian year 1405, making economic stability, reducing inflation, managing liquidity, boosting production, revising the Seventh Development Plan, and adding provisions for reconstruction from the second and third imposed wars the main agenda.

Elsewhere, Ayatollah Khamenei named some of the requirements of a lawmaker, including observing piety, maintaining “courage and the declaration of clear, firm positions in the face of the arrogant powers' overreach,” as well as keeping “intelligent and revolutionary attention to Iran's new position in the region and the world.”

Among the manifestations of piety is “preserving the great blessing of national unity and unparalleled cohesion that has been bestowed upon the awakened nation under the flag of Islamic Iran, and which is among the most important factors of victory against the Great Satan,” he said, referring to the United States.

Gratitude for this gift, he said, requires that all members of the nation, “especially intellectual and political elites, including members of the parliament”, be committed to safeguarding this unity and avoiding “hollow” political disputes and the highlighting of social differences.

He called on every person whose heart beats for Islam, the Islamic Revolution, or Iran's independence and dignity to redouble their efforts to guard the unity of the nation's cohesive and interconnected ranks, to not turn disagreements into conflicts and divisions, and to be “a manifestation of the nation's cohesion and solidarity” both in words and deeds.

The Leader concluded by wishing lawmakers success in “the very heavy duty of representing a worthy nation that has stood firm against the oppression and aggression of the wicked of the age and is guiding history toward its rightful course.”