February 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 28, 1422

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TEHRAN, Feb 11: Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami told crowds gathered on Monday in Tehran to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution that Iran would not allow any country to “insult our nation with hostile and baseless accusations”.

In a speech held as rallies were taking place across the nation, Khatami called for peace, but also for resistance to threats by the United States.

“We are against any form of terrorism and our policy is based on peace, detente and trust-building. ..” he said.

“Parts of the US administration regard themselves as masters of the world and want all world states to be obedient towards their policies ... Iran is disliked just because it is not obedient and seeks to continue its independence,” Khatami said.

Khatami was referring to US President George W. Bush’s “axis-of- evil” charges against Iran and his political maxim that “you are either with us or with the terrorists”, which Iran has several times rejected as war-mongering and undemocratic.

“Iran cannot just remain indifferent when the state-sponsoring terrorist regime of Israel pushes Palestinians out of their own homeland,” Khatami said. He repeated Iran’s full support for the Palestinian cause.

The US should regard the “horrible Sept 11 terrorist incident” as a consequence of its own policies rather than that of other countries, he added.

“The era of acting tough is over and I sincerely hope that even those with black hearts will wake up again and avoid more global enmity towards the US,” Khatami said.

Khatami’s speech, with the first part allocated to domestic Iranian issues, was milder than expected and indicates that the president and his administration are not willing to increase tension with the US.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in state-organized rallies throughout Iran which, although intended to mark the anniversary, turned into anti-US demonstrations.

The demonstrators, carrying banners reading “We are ready” (to fighting the US) and “US is the greatest evil” and shouting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, marched on a warm sunny winter’s day to the Azadi Square in western Tehran.

Three of the six Iranian television channels carried the parades live.—dpa