LATEST: Supreme Leader’s Advisor: Hijab Issue is “West Wanting Our Youth To Think About Inappropriate Sexual Relationships”

SATURDAY FEATURE

Tehran Friday Prayer Leader Tells Rouhani to “Back Off” Over Personal Freedoms

The deputy head of Iran’s armed forces, General Masoud Jazayeri, has said that any US attack against Iran will bring the end of Israel and war in America.

Jazayeri declared on Friday, “They know that aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran would mean the annihilation of Tel Aviv and the continuation of war into the United States.”

The commander was responding to a line in US President Obama’s speech on Wednesday reserving “all options” if Iran did not comply with the terms of a nuclear agreement with the West.

Jazayeri chided, “If the US and its allies had the capability to attack Iran, they would not hesitate a moment to carry out their barbaric act. Of course, it is surprising that Obama is not embarrassed to rehash his empty words.”

He said that the “empire of money and weapons” will soon collapse.

Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Hossein Salami, calling on Iran’s nuclear negotiators to stand firm in talks, told worshippers at the Tehran Friday Prayer:

Today the IRGC can act in the most successful form possible against any kind of enemy option.

We have gathered so much power that if the enemy makes use of its options all at once, it won’t gain anything but defeat, retreat, and humiliation.


Supreme Leader’s Advisor: Hijab Issue is “West Wanting Our Youth To Think About Inappropriate Sexual Relationships”

As the Tehran Friday Prayer warned President Rouhani not to press for personal freedoms (see separate feature), other leading officials added their criticisms of deviant behavior.

Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, a relative of the Supreme Leader and member of his inner circle, explained on State TV why hijab (covering of the heads of women) must be maintained:

The issue of the hijab is followed closely by the enemy….

The Iranian youth should understand that all of this press and publicity opposed to the hijab is because the female hijab protects this (young) generation. They (the West) want our youth to think about inappropriate sexual relationships, rather than goals related to spirituality.

The Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamalhoda, was concerned about the Internet and television:

Social networks and satellites are tools of the enemy meant to create animosity with Quranic teachings.

The previous administration as well as the current (Rouhani) administration never had a plan to monitor social networks. So how is the administration supposed to allow free access to social networks but prevent the harms and risks associated with it?

Report: Rouhani Advisor Summoned by Clerical Court for “Scandalous Statements” About 2009 Election

President Rohani’s advisor on ethnic and religious minority affairs, Ali Younesi, has reportedly been summoned by the Special Court for the Clergy for remarks about the disputed 2009 Presidential election.

The hardline newspaper Keyhan said Younesi is being questioned about “strange and scandalous statements”, and has had to promise that he will refrain from “irrelevant and provocative comments”.

In the reformist Shargh daily, Younesi said the 2009 election — “won” by President Ahmadinejad amid widespread indications of manipulation — was “a deep wound in society” that had marginalized many groups.

Younesi, Iran’s first-ever advisor for minority affairs, has also vigorously spoken of the need to promote ethnic culture and communities. He has emphasized the teaching of local languages in provincial schools and hiring people in the area to fill provincial leadership roles.

Supreme Leader’s Top Advisor: Assad Has Restored “Relative Security” in Syria

Ali Akbar Velayati, the Supreme Leader’s top foreign policy advisor, declared on Friday that Syria’s Presidential election marks its victory over foreign-supported “terrorism”.

Velayati, a former Foreign Minister, asserted, “The Syrian government and nation have managed to restore relative security to Syria despite the Western countries and regional reactionaries’ all-out offensive, as well as the financial and military support offered by different states to Takfiri terrorists fighting in Syria who come from more than 70 countries.”

The advisor eagerly supported President Assad’s re-election on June 3, while taunting the West:

Through this long crisis imposed upon the country, the Syrian people have come to the conclusion that Assad has managed to defend his nation and country, and prevent the disintegration of Syria or its occupation by foreigners and Takfiri forces….

These days it has become evident that Westerners are not seeking to establish justice and democracy in the region, but rather trying to install a puppet, reactionary and pro-Zionist government in countries like Syria. That explains why they are strongly opposed to the election.

Rouhani Upholds “Resistance Economy”

President Rouhani has issued a ringing endorsement of the Supreme Leader’s “resistance economy”.

Speaking at the launch ceremony of a plant producing human growth hormone, Rouhani said, “This year is the year of economic growth and the resistance economy. We must strive to stand on our own feet in various fields of science and technology and make the country no longer dependent on importing foreign products.”

The Supreme Leader has proclaimed the Resistance Economy since 2012 as a goal of the Islamic Republic. In recent days, he has escalated that declaration, possibly in anticipation of any breakdown of the nuclear talks with the West and the need for Iran to endure continuing US-led sanctions.