TEHRAN (Iran News) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei will address the Iranian nation in a live speech on Wednesday, marking the 31st anniversary of the passing of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
The Leader’s speech will be broadcast live on at 11:00 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) through his website (khamenei.ir), and Instagram and Twitter account as well as Iran’s national TV.
The annual ceremony to honor the founder of the Islamic Republic, which is normally held with the speech of Ayatollah Khamenei in Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum in southern Tehran, has been canceled due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Ayatollah Khomeini, better known as Imam Khomeini, passed away on June 3, 1989 at the age of 87.
He devoted his life to standing up to the Pahlavi dynasty, and eventually paved the way for its downfall in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In the pre-revolution era, Ayatollah Khomeini spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah, mostly for his association with superpowers.
He was not allowed to return to Iran during Pahlavi’s reign and only came back home on February 1, 1979 after the Shah gave in to popular demonstrations and left the country. The Pahlavi monarchy collapsed 10 days later on February 11.
The Leader’s speech on Wednesday precedes the anniversary of demonstrations of June 5, 1963, which is remembered in Iran as a prelude to the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
Ayatollah Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after he made a keynote speech in the holy city of Qom, where he lambasted the “capitulation law” that granted immunity to Americans on Iranian soil.
Later that year, people took to the streets to protest his arrest. Taken by surprise by the mass demonstrations, the Pahlavi regime’s forces launched a bloody crackdown to quell the protests.
Press TV contributed to this story.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
