The ten-day celebration of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution began in Iran on February 1.
This month thousands of Iranians mark the historical day when the Iranian nation toppled the US-backed Pahlavi regime, 34 years ago, ending 2,500 years of monarchy. The 1979 Islamic Revolution, resulting from about a century of the nation’s struggle for freedom and independence, overthrew an increasingly repressive, brutal, corrupt and extravagant monarchy in Iran and replaced it with an Islamic government, with Iran officially becoming an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979 after receiving a 99.8 per cent support in a referendum.
The Islamic Republic set out to establish a religious democracy with social justice among the highest of its priorities. The victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, besides being a glorious milestone in the history of Iran, changed regional and global equations and continues to impact world developments, and ensure the progress of the Islamic Republic. Support for the Iraqi Ba’athist regime during its eight-year (1980-1988) imposed war on Iran, and threats of ceaseless anti-Iran propaganda have marked the over three decades of the revolutionist Islamic Republic.
But the Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to safeguard the dignity and the power of the Islamic Revolution and the prowess of the Iranian people. Through 34 years after the revolution, Iran has made several crowning achievements in various fields in its attempt to keep up with the most advanced nations.
Khamis Mohamed, Nairobi
