Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah spoke Wednesday on the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, praising the outstanding achievements made in Iran in different fields after the victory of the 1979 revolution. RNA - The following is highlights of Nasrallah’s televised speech broadcast live from the Lebanese capital Beirut.
“We speak about Iran because it is the 9th country out of 13 influencing countries in the world developments. It was ruled by an oppressive dictator who dubbed himself ‘the King of Kings,’ excluded the country’s religious and Islamic culture and submitted it to the US, which allowed the latter to steal its (Iran’s) oil and have full control over it. [Some] 60,000 US counselors led Iran under [Mohammad Reza] Pahlavi who was the policeman of the [Persian] Gulf and had a strategic relation with Israel; he even gave it Iran’s oil for free,” Nasrallah said.
He added, “Imam Khomeini, the great and significant cleric who had a courageous character, a heart that did not know fear, and a determination that couldn’t be undermined, emerged at the beginning of the 60s after having followed up the events, planned a revolt, and stood in the face of the Shah who was preparing to sign a deal with Israel which would’ve destroyed Iran economically. This is the revolution we are celebrating its 40th anniversary today, it started with one man who stood up for the sake of Allah and without having any selfish or material benefits for himself.”
“Those men who led the revolution suffered from torture, imprisonment, oppression [and] expulsion but did not give up. Instead, Imam [Khomeini] spoke against relations with the US and Israel and highlighted the importance of the Palestinian cause. He also spoke about the agriculture that was destroyed by the Shah, the corruption, hunger, deprivation, poverty [and] disease.”
“On the 11th of February 1979, the revolution triumphed and the US and Israeli counselors were driven out of the country as the alliance was cut and real independence was attained, and after 40 years it is still preserved, putting Iran in the forefront of the region’s independent countries,” he explained, according to Press TV.
He went on, “They stood firm in the face of the eight-year global war that was waged against them under the leadership of the US, the Soviet Union and [the Persian] Gulf and Arab states. It triumphed and started rebuilding itself.”
Nasrallah also enumerated a list of achievements that Iran has made as well as major developments throughout these 40 years.
– After victory, Iran’s population was 30 million, today it is 80 million.
– During the Shah rule, Iran did not have any position concerning scientific production. Today, Iran is the first in the region and the 7th in the world for its inventions and the 16th in the world for its education.
– After victory, Iran had 232 university and educational establishments, today it has over 3,000.
– There are over 200,000 intellects and 80,000 university professors. As for university students, there are now over four million.
– Illiteracy among adults has been completely eradicated. In 2018, 107,000 books were published, and there are 8,000 female authors.
–In the past, it imported 70 percent of medicines it needed; today Iran produces 97 percent of its medicines, ranks the 11th in the world in producing medical drugs, and ranks the first in the Middle East in producing vaccines and serums.
– Iran today produces over 95 percent of its weapons and exports five arms.
Nasrallah explained, “I’m not denying that poverty does exist in Iran for several reasons on top of them the sanctions and internal divisions, but we have to be fair in the data we present, especially that Iran lies in the eastern part of Asia in the Arab and Muslim world which imports most of its needs, and all that is the outcome of its great efforts, sacrifices, and persistence.”
“This revolution brought religion back to life, not just Islam, it brought back people’s faith in themselves, in God … and in His power to bring victory,” Nasrallah said.
“What I mentioned are facts even though most international media try to distort the image of Iran, while concealing the actual crimes of their own leaders. Some claim that it is an Israeli-Iranian war or a Saudi-Israeli conflict, and this is untrue … This is literally a US war on the Islamic Republic in Iran and Saudi [Arabia] is only a tool in this war, so are several other [Persian] Gulf states…” he added, asking, “Why does the US insist on its war on Iran? Firstly, because Iran is an independent state and makes its own decisions on oil, gas, metal and wealth and does not submit to the US, and the latter cannot tolerate that. Secondly, [it] is [because of] Iran’s regional position and stance toward the oppressed countries and al-Quds.”
“If the entire world abandoned Palestine, Iran would never abandon al-Quds and the sacred places,” he stressed.
The Hezbollah chief further reiterated that neither “Israel” nor the US is capable of waging a war on Iran because the outcome will not be to their benefit.
Locally, Nasrallah assured that Iran is ready to help Lebanon in various fields, and it could back Lebanon in the process of development, security and education without asking for anything in return.
He pointed out that the Islamic Republic is ready to help Lebanon solve its biggest problem in the government today which is electricity. He said Iran even offered Lebanon a deal to build highways that would solve its traffic issue for fifty years.
In conclusion, Nasrallah said “with Imam Khamenei and the victory of the Islamic Revolution, we entered the era of victories … and this era will be completed by further victories, God willing.”
‘Islamic Revolution’s achievements really amazing’
In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Thursday, political analyst Kevin Barrett reflected on Hezbollah chief’s remarks on the Islamic Revolution in Iran, noting that what Iran has achieved following its revolution is really amazing.
“He [Nasrallah] is absolutely right that the Islamic Revolution in Iran has had some amazing achievements, and here in the West with corporate-controlled mainstream media we are not allowed to hear about the actual positive achievements of the Islamic Revolution,” Barrett, an author, journalist and radio host who holds a PhD in Islamic and Arabic Studies, said.
He added, “We are endlessly told that there are terrible economic problems in Iran and we are not told that in fact, since 1979, Iran has taken tremendous strides [by] rising in the human development index, [while] poverty level has gone way down, education has gone way up, and particularly women’s education has gone [greatly up] from the state under the Shah of Iran prior to 1979 in which very sizable percentage of Iranian women were not even literate, to the state today where the majority of university students and even teachers at many levels are women.”
“We can compare this to places like Saudi Arabia where as late as 10-20 years ago when I was studying these things, it [had a population, which] was nearly 50 percent illiterate.”