Maryam Rajavi: Khamenei’s Friday Prayers remarks in Tehran signal intensity of crisis and rift within the regime and reflect fears about public discontent
Khamenei makes a futile attempt to overcome the crisis by waging violent suppression and issuing ultimatums to rivals
NCRI – The President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, described remarks made by the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, at the Friday Prayers sermon in Tehran, as a reflection of the broadening scope of the crisis and deepening of rift within the clerical regime and a sign of the clerics’ trepidation about the wave of public disenchantment and anger vis-à-vis the regime.
Mrs. Rajavi said: Khamenei is making a futile attempt to close in on the crisis which has engulfed the reviled clerical regime and rang its death knell by resorting to violent suppression of opponents and dissidents, issuing ultimatums to internal rivals and sacking, purging and arresting former officials and authorities of the regime.
During Friday Prayers sermon in Tehran, Khamenei said, “When a threat is felt … [and] when the infusion of the wrong principles into the system’s framework is at issue … this would be indicative of a deadly poison.”
He added, “The issue is not about having differing viewpoints. It is about opposition and attack. It is about causing harm. It is about pulling out a sword against the system and the Revolution.”
He then warned opponents and said, “Confronting the system … [and] pulling out a sword and standing against the system will invite a tough response.”
Khamenei also used demagoguery to exploit historical examples from Islam and vowed to “hit the source of plots at its roots” and “burn” the enemies.
He described as “lies and gossip” the widespread scandal caused by a small portion of revelations about the murders, violent suppression and rape of detainees of the recent uprisings by the regime. He referred to the dissident clerics and the defeated rival faction as “former and current political officials of the country who are within the body of the system” and warned them that they will cause their own “downfall” by committing “blunders.”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 11, 2009
