NOURNEWS- The following headlines appeared in English-language newspapers in the Iranian capital on Saturday, September 9, 2023
IRAN DAILY:
-- Why are Iran’s drones non-negotiable?
Iran’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict via the alleged sale of Iranian drones to Russia has been one of the topics that is almost consistently brought up by Western parties or even West’s allies in the East during almost every telephone or in-person negotiation with Iran in the past year. The matter is also raised in indirect negotiations involving Iran, the United States, and the European Union. In nearly all these negotiations, the Western parties insist that a precondition for any agreement between Iran and the West is Iran’s commitment to cease sending drones to Russia. Iran, in turn, has consistently retorted that it has not exported any drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine conflict.
There are crucial points to be made regarding the reasons and motivations of the West to continue raising the drone issue and conducting extensive propaganda against Iran for its alleged interference in the Ukraine conflict. The West’s policy on Iranian drones — like its policy on Iran’s other armaments that have consistently been a point of contention — needs to be analyzed and evaluated from realistic perspectives. The analysis should encompass aspects such as the West’s traditional policy of isolating and weakening Iran, global trends in geopolitical competitions, and established theoretical discussions in international relations regarding military capabilities as indicators of power. Five such points will be made here.
From a realist perspective, one of the indicators of a country’s power is its effective military and weapon capabilities within its borders. This extends to protecting its borders, confronting regional and international threats, and deterring any form of aggressive action in neighboring or distant regions. While proponents of idealistic theories prioritize economic power and the alignment of interests among countries to prevent war, strategists emphasize both defensive and offensive capabilities as the ultimate measure of a country’s power. This is because their perennial assumption about the international environment is one filled with threats against the very existence of states. Consequently, in today’s transformative international conditions, military effectiveness plays a more significant role in national security.
Simultaneous with shifts in the global order, intensified geopolitical competition and actors’ inclination to alter power dynamics weaken arms control regimes, making them susceptible to a collapse. This occurs while effective control over armaments, especially modern technologies, is lacking. The trend is evident in indirect aerial and naval conflicts and the pivotal role that smart weaponry plays. These armaments possess numerous advantages, which have increased their popularity. They reduce human costs, create more disruption, disturb rivals’ concentration, and serve intelligence and espionage purposes. An added advantage is that they are more effective in targeting military objectives while mitigating traditional warfare and extensive civilian casualties. Drones, among other things, have thus transformed into effective weaponry. Hence, while Western nations focus on accusing Iran of transferring drones to Russia — among other issues of arms technology — covert and discreet subterranean efforts by Western allies to attain newer military technologies with artificial intelligence and semi-autonomous or autonomous capabilities are rapidly progressing.
In the face of myriad security challenges spanning decades, Iran grapples with the question of why it should prioritize military might over economic prowess. Why embrace the world as anarchic, relying on realist theories of security? Amid escalating international tensions, Iran’s security concerns have deepened. It’s essential to remember that the security of nations and governments are intertwined. In such circumstances, a focus on unrealistic idealistic theories is unwise.
Western creators of idealistic economic functionalism theories, particularly Americans, exhibit paradoxes of morality and immorality. The annals of international relations are rife with diverse evidence of Western warmongering, justified through various means, albeit appearing legitimate. As seen in the context of the Ukraine conflict, while Russia is labeled the aggressor, American strategists like John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt admit that the actions of the US and NATO provoked Russia.
Although Russia’s attack on Ukraine lacked ethical justification, the reality was that Russia sought to ensure its own existence. Post-conflict, the US and European allies hinder negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, exacerbating the conflict. While vociferously denouncing Iran’s alleged sale of drones to Russia, Western powers supply Ukraine with weapons, fanning the flames of war. Furthermore, Western parties have repeatedly demonstrated unreliability in honoring their agreements with Iran. The US exited the JCPOA, and Europe failed to support the deal’s revival.
This doesn’t negate the necessity of potential negotiations and agreements with the West. Instead, it underscores that such interactions must be approached with a strategic outlook, factoring in long-term costs.
The previously mentioned point emphasizes that continued focus on deterrence logically contributes to securing long-term interests. In a changing international landscape, a complex interplay exists between “deterrence” and the construction of a security regime. Failing to transition power amidst anarchic conditions implies being confined to a limited new order, blocking power elevation for an indefinite period. While a significant portion of a country’s power indicators stems from economic prowess, such economic power is attainable through various means. Iran, due to its geographical, political, and ideological circumstances, should establish a stronger link between technological and military advancements and its economy. Military-technological progress could become a future income source. Issuance of drones and modern weaponry is also part of Iran’s commercialization of its defense industry.
One of the additional objectives of the West’s extensive propaganda against Iranian drones is to undermine Iran-Russia relations. Despite the ups and downs, weaknesses, and challenges, Iran-Russia relations present an opportunity for both countries on regional and global levels. West’s policy aims to isolate Iran and disrupt Tehran-Moscow ties. Despite criticisms, the Iran-Russia relationship has yielded effective technical and military advancements. During sensitive times and under regional and international pressures, Iran has received direct and indirect political support from Russia. The anti-Iranian propaganda regarding the alleged Iran-Russia drone deal seeks at least to hinder the deal, with broader goals of creating disruption and mistrust in this relationship. Given recent efforts by Iran and Russia to strengthen ties, adhering to the principle of deterrence, alongside diplomacy and regional cooperation, remains a vital security strategy for Iran.
The West’s surprise at the progress Iran has made in drone production is notable. Past resolutions against Iran primarily focused on impeding its technical-military progress. However, Iran has invested heavily to neutralize these resolutions and achieve a level of deterrence. This underlines the significance of deterrence as a central security tool for Iran’s future, running parallel to diplomacy, multilateralism, and regional engagement.
-- Major railway project launched in eastern Iran:
Construction works have started for a major railway project in Iran’s arid eastern regions upon an order by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi.
The project that started on Wednesday will connect the cities of Nehbandan to Yunesi in Iran’s province of South Khorasan with a railway that stretches nearly 400 kilometers in the arid deserts along Iran’s border with Afghanistan, according to Press TV.
Raeisi said in a speech in the provincial capital of Birjand that the railway will play a major role in the economic empowering of the region, adding that the government had earmarked all the financial and technical resources needed for the completion of the project.
The Nehbandan-Yunesi rail link passes through Birjand and several major cities in South Khorasan and is part of a 910-kilometer railway corridor between Zahedan, in southeast, and Mashhad in northeast Iran.
Head of the Iranian transportation ministry’s local department in Birjand said that the government will use oil barter financing mechanisms to fund the project.
Mir Mohammad Moudi said that the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had approved a government request to use 1,800 trillion rials ($360 million) worth of oil barter financing resources to fund the railway project in the region.
Iran has an ambitious plan to link its only ocean port of Chabahar on the Sea of Oman via railways to landlocked countries in Central Asia. The project would significantly boost Iran’s cargo transit capacity via the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
Construction is already underway for a railway connection between Chabahar and Zahedan with a first part of the link due to be opened until the end of the calendar year to March.
-- Iran rejects Japanese-Arab statement about Persian Gulf islands:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry in a statement denounced a joint statement from the ministerial meeting of Arab-Japan Political Dialogue about three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf, saying that the islands are an eternal part of Iranian territory.
The Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that their statement about the Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb lacks any political or legal value, and is in violation of the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs of countries and respect for their territorial integrity.
The third session of the ministerial meeting of the Arab-Japan Political Dialogue was held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on September 5, 2023.
Regarding the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf, the ministers attending the event called for efforts “to reach a peaceful solution through bilateral negotiations as per the provisions of international law and the UN Charter.”
The three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid claim to the islands.
The islands fell under British control in 1921, but on November 30, 1971, a day after British forces left the region and just two days before the UAE was to become an official federation, Iran’s sovereignty over the islands was restored.
The statement by the Arab countries also claimed that the Arash gas field in the Persian Gulf is exclusively owned by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and they alone have the right to its natural resources.
Nasser Kanaani has earlier said Iran will not tolerate a violation of the nation’s rights over the gas field.
He has stressed that the country has always adhered to “the path of dialogue and consensus” about the operation of the oil and gas fields shared with its neighbors.
-- Iran will ’do its utmost’ to put MKO members on trial:
Iran’s top human rights official said the Islamic Republic will take all necessary measures to put on trial the members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) terrorist group.
Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, made the remarks in an interview with the Arabic-language Al-Alam television news network.
Gharibabadi said that the MKO terrorist group, like other terror outfits, is based in Western countries and enjoys full support of certain Western states.
“We believe that Westerners draw on these groups as a tool in order to reach their foreign policy objectives. These terrorist groups lack the capacity to play a supporting role for the foreign policy of the West and the United States as their advocates,” the top Iranian official said.
He said the MKO terrorists must be accountable for their criminal actions, noting that they have martyred more than 17,000 innocent people in different parts of Iran.
Gharibabadi also pointed to the decision by Branch 1 of Tehran’s Criminal Court to bring to trial 104 MKO members, including the ringleader of the terror cult Maryam Rajavi, stating that the deadline for them to introduce defense lawyers to the court expired a few days ago. The top Iranian rights official said the decision to openly hold the trial of the MKO members for their terrorist actions depends on the court itself.
KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL:
-- U.S.-Funded Network Stirring Riots Dismantled:
Iran’s intelligence organization has delivered a “serious blow” to a network seeking to organize riots across the country, a statement said on Wednesday.
The operation was conducted jointly by the country’s Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organization of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), they said.
Iran’s intelligence forces identified and dealt a blow to some members of the riot organization network, they added.
The network’s members were being funded by the United States State Department and led by the Freedom House, a Washington-based so-called political advocacy group, and the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy, a Massachusetts-based anti-Iran organization, it noted.
Directed by “a foreign-based political element,” the members were seeking to mobilize “women so that they could play a role in riots.”
As a means of furthering its goals, the network was involved in providing free courses for some foreign- and Iran-based alleged “women rights and civil society activists.”
The network held its last workshop for foreign-based so-called activists at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University earlier this year, with “one of the correspondents of anti-Iran media outlets” as instructor.
It had also planned to hold a “secret online course” over two days throughout September, involving a number of “activists.”
“The courses had sought to create the preparation and devise agendas” for Iran-based rioters, the statement said.
The network’s dismantlement came on the anniversary of riots that spread out throughout the country last September following the unfortunate death that month of a young girl named Mahsa Amini.
Amini fainted at a police station and was pronounced dead days later at a Tehran hospital. An investigation attributed her death to a medical condition, dismissing allegations that she had been beaten by police forces.
Iran says the 2022 riots were the result of foreign-backed elements exploiting the incident.
The country has also warned that foreign-based anti-Iran figures and media outlets were still busy trying to usurp the tragedy in order to reignite unrest across the Islamic Republic.
-- Official Urges Countries to Expel Anti-Iran Terrorists:
Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights urged the countries that have become safe havens for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) to either expel the terrorists or hand them over to Iran.
In an interview with Tehran-based Al-Alam News Network, Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran is one of the few countries that has been and is the target of terrorist attacks. He said after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, terrorist groups were created with the support of the West and the United States and assassinated more than 17,000 innocent people.
-- France Upholds Ban on Abayas in Public Schools:
A top court in France on Thursday upheld a new government decree barring children in public schools from wearing the abaya, a full-length robe worn by some Muslim women, in a blow to critics who had called the ban discriminatory and had filed an emergency petition to strike it down.
The Council of State, France’s top administrative court, which has jurisdiction over disputes concerning civil liberties, ruled that the ban was not a “serious and obviously illegal infringement of a fundamental freedom.”
Wearing an abaya is part of a “logic of religious affirmation,” the court said in a statement, adding that the ban was therefore in line with a French law that “prohibits the wearing by pupils of signs or clothing ostensibly expressing religious affiliation, either in and of themselves, or because of the pupil’s behavior.”
In France, the abaya is mostly worn by Muslim women who want to follow the Quran’s teachings on modesty.
The number of incidents in schools related to “laïcité” — France’s version of secularism — more than tripled over the last school year compared with the one before, from about 600 to nearly 2,000, according to the French authorities. Many of those incidents related to students’ wearing of abayas, the authorities say.
But critics of the ban say it is a discriminatory measure that unfairly polices the clothing of Muslim girls and unnecessarily puts them at the center of yet another political firestorm over the way they dress. Action Droits des Musulmans, a Muslim advocacy group, had filed the emergency petition.
The group said in a statement after Thursday’s ruling that it was “deeply concerned about the consequences this decision could have on young girls, who risk being discriminated against on a daily basis because of their ethnic and religious appearance.”
The ban, which also applies to similar but less common full-length robes worn by boys, went into effect on Monday as millions of students returned to classes after the summer break.
Gabriel Attal, France’s education minister, said that about 300 students arrived at school on Monday morning wearing abayas. Sixty-seven of them were sent home after refusing to take them off, he said.
In Stains, a northern suburb of Paris, teachers at a local high school organized a protest on Wednesday accusing the government of fueling debates over the abaya instead of adequately funding and renovating their establishment.
Safiatou Baradji, a 10th-grade student who wore a Muslim veil outside of school, said that she had occasionally worn an abaya during the previous school year and insisted
that it was “a normal piece of clothing.”
Noah Sevede, another 10th-grade student in Stains, said most of the students at his school who wore a Muslim veil also wore an abaya outside school, including his sister. But he said French authorities should focus on improving material conditions in schools instead of policing clothing.
“There are other things that need to be fixed first,” he said. “Who are they to tell girls how to dress?”
-- Ex-Mossad Chief: Israel Enforcing Apartheid System:
A former head of the Mossad intelligence agency has said Israel is imposing a form of apartheid on the Palestinians, joining a growing number of prominent Israelis to compare the occupation of the West Bank to South Africa’s defunct system of racial oppression.
Tamir Pardo’s views come at a time when far-right members of the Zionist regime are moving to kill off any prospect of an independent Palestinian state.
Pardo told the Associated Press that Israel’s mechanisms for controlling the Palestinians, from restrictions on movement to placing them under military law while Jewish settlers in the occupied territories are governed by civilian courts, matched the old South Africa.
“There is an apartheid state here,” he said. “In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”
Pardo, 70, was appointed to head Mossad in 2011 by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Zionist regime’s prime minister then and now.
Successive Zionist regimes have fought back against accusations of apartheid by characterizing them as antisemitic out of concern the charge will fuel a boycott movement or open the way to prosecutions under international laws against apartheid.
But such allegations become harder to dismiss when they come from those within the Israeli establishment.
Pardo told the AP his views on the system in the West Bank were “not extreme. It’s a fact.”
He also warned that what has been described as Israel’s “forever occupation” threatens its existence. “Israel needs to decide what it wants,” he said. An entity “that has no border has no boundaries.”
Pardo is among the highest ranking former officials to draw the once taboo parallel with the old South Africa. Former attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair, said last year that Israel “has sunk to such political and moral depths that it is now an apartheid regime”.
The former speaker of the Israeli parliament, Avraham Burg, and the renowned Israeli historian, Benny Morris, are among more than 2,000 Israeli and American public figures who have signed a recent public statement declaring that “Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid”.
The open letter calls on U.S. Jewish groups to speak out against the occupation of the Palestinian territories as “the elephant in the room” in the mass protests against Netanyahu’s deeply divisive judicial changes which, it said, are intended to “annex more land, and ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population”.
Prominent foreign officials have also invoked apartheid to describe the situation in the occupied territories.
Earlier this year, the former Irish president Mary Robinson and the former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon – representatives of The Elders group of global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 – spoke about the “ever-growing evidence that the situation meets the international legal definition of apartheid” after visiting the West Bank.
They said the Zionist regime’s policies “clearly show an intent to pursue permanent annexation rather than temporary occupation, based on Jewish supremacy”.
-- Arba’een Pilgrims From Iran Hit Record 4 Million:
Millions of Muslim pilgrims traveled to the mausoleums of the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, commemorating Arb’aeen, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.
The event, organized under strict security, brought together some 22 million pilgrims this year, according to official figures.
Iran hit a new participation record with four million visitors, a top security official told the Iranian news agency IRNA, up from three million last year.
Marked by Shia Muslims, who constitute the majority in Iraq and Iran, Arba’een (“Forty” in Arabic) marks the 40th day of mourning for Imam Hussein (AS), grandson of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) and a founding figure of Shia Islam.
Karbala, where Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried in two enormous mausoleums facing each other, is an epicenter of Shia Islam.
Pilgrims freely expressed their suffering, weeping and wailing in memory of Imam Hussein, who was martyred in 680 during a battle in Karbala with the Umayyad caliph Yazid.
Pilgrims dressed in black, some sporting headbands bearing religious messages, moved forward shoulder-to-shoulder to enter the mausoleums and pray.
As they massed on the esplanade between the mausoleums, mist machines struggled to provide cooling in 41-degree Celsius heat (106 Fahrenheit).
Accompanied by religious chants and prayers, processions of the faithful holding up black banners moved around the two mausoleums and the esplanade.
Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani visited Karbala on Tuesday evening, where he said: “The state has mobilized all of its resources to serve its citizens”, according to a statement from his office.
He also hailed the volunteers from across Iraq’s provinces who preserve the tradition of setting up and financing “mawakeb”, stands that serve free drinks and food along the pilgrim routes.
-- If You Resist, You Will Reach Peaks:
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has advised Iranian youths to stick to the path of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam, and not to be diverted by “satanic attractions”.
In an address during a mourning ceremony on the occasion of the Arba’een on Wednesday, the Leader said the name of Imam Hussein, the way of Imam Hussein and the invocation of Imam Hussein opens the way.
“Hussein, in the true sense of the word, is the light of guidance. Hussein is the light of guidance. You can sense this guidance in your mind and within yourselves. Anyone who attends a gathering for Imam Hussein will undoubtedly benefit spiritually from it. There is no doubt about this,” the Leader said.
“Whenever one of us attends one of these religious gatherings for an hour, our hearts become cleaner and brighter in comparison with the way they were at the beginning of that hour,” he added.
“You need to move with determination,” Ayatollah Khamenei told the youth.
“You must make decisions as you are moving. There are many attractions to distance you from this straight path. These diversions have always existed, and this is true even more today than ever before. You need to have strong determination in order to be able to resist these evil attractions. If you resist them, you will be able to reach the peak,” he said.
“You will reach the peak of the sovereignty of God’s religion, the sovereignty of truth, and the sovereignty of justice. You will reach the peak of [realizing] the goal and purpose of human creation, which is human growth and human perfection.
“This is something that has not taken place since the time of the Messenger of God (pbuh) and up until today. This is your duty. You, today’s young people, can be a source of hope. You are a source of hope. It is not a matter of whether you can [be a source of hope or not]. You are a source of hope. Today, each of you can be a source of light that enlightens around you and your surroundings. Try to maintain this. Try to remain steadfast on this path. ‘So be steadfast, just as you have been commanded – [you] and whoever has turned [to Allah] with you’ (Quran 11:112).”
The Leader said it is important to be steadfast and persistent.
“You are capable of doing this, and God willing, you will do this due to the blessings that you gain when you turn to and take recourse in Hussein ibn Ali (pbuh).
“Your will and determination were seen in the great walks that took place today and on previous days on the route between Najaf and Karbala, and [in general] on the way to Karbala. Or in other cities, there were walks that were following what is being done in that walk. Just as you walked with strength, the way young people walk, God willing, you will be able to move on the path of spirituality, truth, and the sovereignty of tawhid [monotheism], with the same strength, God willing, in all your endeavors. This is the kind of hope we have in you, the youth of today, the youth of the Islamic world, and especially in you, our dear Iranian youth. I hope that the Almighty God will help you and grant you success, and you will remain steadfast on this path, live like Hussein, and remain like Hussein.”
TEHRAN TIMES:
-- Arbaeen 2023: A message of love and peace from Iraq to the world:
The data and expectations indicated that the Arbaeen pilgrimage in 2023 would be different in all aspects in terms of the early preparations undertaken by the government of Mr. Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani. Expectations indicated that the number of pilgrims would reach 25 million from inside and outside Iraq, which required the Prime Minister, Mr. Al-Sudani, to form a permanent committee headed by the director of his office, Mr. Ihsan Al-Awadi.
-- Movies from Iran line up for Korean festival:
– Five Iranian films will go on screen at the 15th edition of the Seoul Yeongdeungpo International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival (SESIFF), which will be held in the South Korean capital. “Left Handed” by Nasrin Mohammadpur, “Hooves Beat” by Fargol Masrurirad and Seyyed Hossein Zeitun-Nejad and “Night of the Universe” by Ramin Farzaneh and Parisa Sedaeiazar are among the films. “Left Handed” tells the story of Maryam, a 38-year-old woman who heads a family of four. She decides to cut off her right hand while working in a poultry slaughterhouse because, in this way, she can get more money from insurance than losing her left hand to pay her debts. To this end, Maryam starts to practice with her left hand to do daily chores. However, on the appointed day.
-- 300km of highways, roads inaugurated across Iran:
Some 300 kilometers of highways and main roads have been inaugurated across Iran on the occasion of Government Week (August 24-30), an official with the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructure Company said. “On the occasion of Government Week, 300 kilometers of roads and highways went operational in the west, south and east of the country with the aim of developing international transit and promoting tourism in different provinces,” Mohammadreza Kadkhoda-Zadeh said. According to the official, over 750 kilometers of highways, main roads, and freeways are also going to be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (late March 2024), IRNA reported. “The physical progress of most of the transportation projects underway is above 70 percent and these projects are of great importance in terms of organizing traffic in various provinces,” Kadkhoda-Zadeh said. The official put the investment needed for completing the mentioned projects at about 180 trillion rials (about $361 million). Back in August, Iranian Deputy Transport and Urban Development Minister Kheirollah Khademi said 293 kilometers of freeways were going to be added to the country’s road network in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22). According to Khademi, the mentioned freeways are parts of five prioritized projects namely Tehran-Shomal, Manjil-Roudbar, Isfahan-Shiraz, Tabriz-Soufian, and Maragheh-Hashtroud. “Inaugurating these routes, in addition to increasing the length of the country’s freeway network, will eliminate an important part of the traffic bottlenecks in the region,” Khademi said.
-- Iran eyes new UNESCO labels as World Heritage committee is to vote in Riyadh:
Having 26 World Heritage labels, Iran has put forward its Persian Caravanserai and the Cultural Landscape of Masouleh as new candidates for inclusion in the prestigious cultural heritage list. Moreover, the Islamic Republic and Azerbaijan have nominated their shared Hyrcanian Forests, which is an extension of the same property that was inscribed solely for Iran in 2019. The nominations will be assessed for UNESCO tags in the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, which will take place in Riyadh from September 10 to 25. The World Heritage Committee, composed of representatives from 21 states.
-- Black Friday: A turning point in Iran’s fight against tyranny:
The 17th Shahrivar uprising, which occurred on September 8, 1978, is known as a turning point in Iran’s history. Many historians and analysts believe that the Islamic Revolution happened due to what occurred on this specific day. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, began his political endeavor and fight against the monarchy in 1962. But it wasn’t until January of 1978.
NOURNEWS