Following is a report on the official Friday sermon in Tehran for February 6, 2009, by interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
The report is from the English website of the official Iranian news agency IRNA, on the same date. (To view the MEMRI TV page for Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/380.htm.)
Be sure to visit the MEMRI Iran blog daily for news you will find nowhere else: http://thememriblog.org/iran.
The U.S. Should "Be Angry and Die of the Anger" At Our Progress
Referring in his sermon to the launch this week of the Iran-made Omid ("Hope") satellite,[1] he told a crowd of worshippers at Tehran University: "Iran's success in joining group of countries having technology of building satellite has made the U.S. angry; the world has been shocked over Iran's repeated victories in different scenes, including the launching of Omid into space."
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He said that that since the victory of the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago, Iran has shone in different political, scientific, and cultural areas, and Iranian scientists' access to satellite manufacturing technology is a sign of the zenith of Iran's success. "The U.S. is extremely unhappy over our progress, and we tell them to be angry and die of the anger."
Saying that the Iranian people had managed to win the honor of acquiring space technology only 50 years after such countries as the U.S., Russia, Japan, China, and France did, he said, "Our country has over the past 30 years been subject to different sorts of sanctions and they (Westerners) have never provided us with new technology, but under God's grace and the wise leadership of the Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution [Khamenei], we daily witness more success."
"Neither The Iranian Nor Other People Worldwide Will Believe [Obama's] False Gestures"
Referring to the Gaza issue, Khatami said that said Arabs had clashed with the usurper Israelis several times over the past 61 years, since the formation of the forged Israeli regime, but that the wars had proven ineffective. He added that the 33-day war of Lebanon and the Gaza attack had brought the Zionist state a humiliating defeat.
He added that the world should know that the tyrannical and forged Zionist state is a threat to global peace and tranquility.
On comments by U.S. President Barack Obama two weeks ago, Khatami said that Obama's motto of change is a mere lie because he is repeating the mistake of his predecessor George W. Bush. "Despite Obama's emphasis on the U.S. commitment to maintain the security of the Qods [Jerusalem]-occupying regime, and to continue sanctions against Iran, neither the Iranian nor other people worldwide will believe his false gestures."
Endnote:
[1] For Iranian TV report on the satellite launch, see "Iran Successfully Launches First Domestic Satellite Into Orbit" http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/13436.htm. Also see "Iranian Space Agency Head To Fars: Iran Will Build More Satellites" http://www.thememriblog.org/iran/blog_personal/en/13538.htm ; "Iranian Research Satellite Launched" http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/13421.htm.
