Iran’s president on Monday blasted a US “conspiracy” against the country as vast crowds marked 40 years since the Islamic revolution at a time of heightened tensions with Washington.
“The presence of people today on the streets all over Islamic Iran… means that the enemy will never reach its evil objectives,” Rouhani told those thronging Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) square.
Chador-clad women, militia members in camouflage fatigues and ordinary citizens marched through the capital in freezing rain to mark the day in February 1979 that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ended millennia of royal rule.
Life-size replicas of Iranian-made cruise and ballistic missiles lined the route in a statement of defiance after Washington last year reimposed sanctions after pulling out of a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
A pre-prepared resolution was read out that proclaimed “unquestioning obedience to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei” and called US President Donald Trump an “idiot”.
The event on Monday was the culmination of official celebrations called the “10 Day Dawn” that mark the period between February 1, 1979, and February 11 when Shiite cleric Khomeini retuned from exile and ousted the shah’s last government.
The state has played up this year’s anniversary as 40 is symbolic of maturity in the Islamic tradition and the age at which Prophet Mohammed received revelations from God.
