RNA – In his Friday prayer sermon to a large and fervent crowd of believers in Qom’s Qods Prayer Hall, Ayatollah Ali-Reza Arafi referred to the conditions and developments in the Middle East and said, “The regional situation is such that the Islamic Resistance Front has made great progress in various parts of the region but besides that, we’ve witnessed great atrocities.”
The head of the Islamic Seminaries of Iran added, “For more than a year, the oppressed people of Yemen have been attacked, killed and wounded and the destruction of the country’s economic infrastructure isn’t tolerable for the free conscience of humanity.”
He referred to the ongoing difficult conditions in Bahrain and said that we have recently witnessed the revocation of the citizenship of several Bahraini revolutionary figures and noted, “In contradiction to the logic of international rights and law, the United States constantly interferes in other countries’ affairs.”
Ayatollah Arafi said, “US President Donald Trump, has entered the same path that his predecessors had taken and regretted.”
The head of al-Mustafa International University said that the US’ missile strike against the Shayrat Air Base near the city of Homs strengthens the terrorists in the region and added, “During his presidential campaign [Trump] lied when he said he wanted to save the US from perdition and that the actions of his predecessors had been wrong. He must realize that the Islamic Resistance Axis will stand against the enemies’ attacks and they will never achieve their desired goals through such actions.”
He referred to Iran’s upcoming May presidential and parliamentary elections, saying that elections play an important role in a religious democracy and added, “The widespread and glorious participation of the people in the elections is the source of power for Iran’s Islamic government in this crisis-hit region and in the world. The rule of law and ethics should be the basis of an Islamic country and all stages of the elections must be respected.”
The member of the Supreme Council of Seminaries added that in the elections, the candidates must be answerable to God and added, “The criterion of the elections must be based on commitment, skills, preparation to solve the problems of the people, have a revolutionary spirit and stand against the imperialist powers of the world.”
Ayatollah Arafi added that the elections mustn’t become an atmosphere for conflicts and polarization which wouldn’t benefit anyone. “Those who turned the 2009 election from glory into a conflict betrayed themselves and their country,” he stressed.
Referring to the slogan given to the year 1396 by the Supreme Leader he added, “Some say that Iran’s economy must be West-oriented and pursue cruel Western development models and systems. This would mean that our economy should be dependent and subject to false Western policies.”
Ayatollah Arafi referred to the importance of the Resistance Economy that the Supreme Leader has emphasized for the past two consecutive years in the slogans given to these years and said, “The Resistance Economy is based on knowledge, justice, anti-corruption and doesn’t rely on the export of oil and raw materials and gives importance to efforts to generate employment.”
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