Leader slams US over terrorism against Iran

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei slams the US and its elements for conducting terrorist attacks against Iranians in the past.

In an address to the families of Iranian martyrs in Tehran on Saturday, the Leader pointed to a number of bloody acts of terror against the Iranian nation in the 1980s, including the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet by the US military as well as a bomb attack by US-backed elements that killed tens of high-ranking officials in Tehran.

Ayatollah Khamenei said knowing one’s enemies is one of the crucial requirements of the current era and warned against attempts to whitewash the crimes of the enemies.

“Those who want to cover up the evil enmity of the US and some of its followers through media and propaganda ploys are in fact betraying the nation and state,” the Leader said.

“The Iranian nation should, through awareness of the extent of the enemy’s hostility, be prepared to confront and counter [its plots] in the soft war arena, such as in cultural, political and social spheres,” the Leader said.

Around 17,000 Iranians have fallen victim to terrorist attacks since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On 28 June, 1981, a powerful bomb went off at the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party (IRP), where the party’s leaders were holding a meeting. Tens of Iranian officials, including then Head of Supreme Judicial Council Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, were killed in the bombing, which was carried out by the US-backed Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

Washington and the European Union (EU) have removed the MKO from their list of terrorist organizations. The anti-Iran terrorists enjoy freedom of activity in the US and Europe, and even hold meetings with American and EU officials.

Out of the 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, 12,000 have fallen victim to the acts of terror carried out by the MKO.

In another incident on July 3, 1988, 290 people were killed in a US missile attack on an Iranian passenger plane. Iran Air Flight 655 was on a routine flight from Iran’s southern city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai when it was shot down by the United States Navy’s missile cruiser USS Vincennes.

US officials at the time claimed their naval officers had mistaken the Airbus A300 for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. In 1990, former US President George W. Bush awarded Captain Will C. Rogers III, the then commanding officer of the USS Vincennes, with the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer.

MKA/HMV

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