Iran marks 33rd anniversary of Islamic revolution

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians carrying flags and banners in support of the Islamic regime celebrated nationwide the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution on Saturday. State television showed the people in the capital Tehran and other cities swarmed the streets and were carrying images of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, and his successor, incumbent leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Chanting anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans, people in Tehran swarmed the Azadi (liberty) Square and nearby areas to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.- backed regime of Shah in 1979. Addressing a large crowd of people gathered at Tehran's Azadi Square on the occasion, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran has always been ready for the talks over its nuclear issue, but it will not yield to Western pressures to quit its rights. "We have always been ready for (nuclear) talks within the framework of justice and respect," said the Iranian President, adding that, however, "I clearly announce that if you (Westerners) talk in the language of coercion and disrespect (with Iranians), the Iranian nation will never surrender to you" over its nuclear rights. "The only way you need to observe is to respect the rights of Iranian nation and to come to the negotiation table," said Ahmadinejad. Also, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Saturday that the Iranian nation and the government will not give in to any Western pressure over its "peaceful" nuclear program, local satellite Press TV reported. Salehi made the remarks while attending the rallies marking the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Tehran. The foreign minister told Press TV that the Western pressures on the Islamic Republic to abandon its "civilian" nuclear program will lead to nowhere. "I think this is a good enough message for others to understand that this nation will never ever yield to pressures from outside," Salehi said, referring to the large turnout of people at Tehran's Azadi Square on Saturday. This was Salehi's second confirmation in two days of Iran's determination to counter the Western pressure concerning Tehran's nuclear issue. "Our nation should know that the Islamic Republic of Iran takes these threats seriously and we are prepared in every respect and have plans for the worst case scenarios. But we know that nothing will happen," Salehi said Friday. He said that Iran will announce new nuclear achievements in the coming weeks, stressing the importance of confidence building between the West and Iran over Tehran's atomic case. "They should trust us and we will take the required measures within the framework of our nuclear safeguards," he said. Salehi said Friday that it is possible that nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (G5+1) are to be held in the near future. On Saturday, the Iranian president hailed Iran's achievements in diverse scientific areas including space technology and medicine and called as "successful" Iran's economic programs in the past years. He also said that Iran will announce new "big" nuclear achievements in days. "In the following days, the world will witness the inauguration of several big achievements in nuclear fields," he said. On Saturday, the visiting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, addressing the crowd in Tehran's Azadi square, congratulated the Iranian nation and government on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution and said that Iranians play a role in constructing a bright future for the Palestinians. On the day, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) displayed a maquette of the downed U.S. RQ-170 stealth aircraft on Tehran's Azadi square. In December 2011, Iranian media reported that the Iranian military downed the U.S. RQ-170 stealth aircraft in the eastern part of the country after finding it transgressing the eastern border.