In their millions, Iranians have filled the streets countrywide to relive the day 38 years ago when the nation’s hard-fought Islamic Revolution against the former US-backed regime became victorious.

People from all walks of life rallied in different cities and towns across Iran on Friday to celebrate the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On, February 11, 1979, the Iranian nation’s struggles and protests against the tyrannous monarchical Pahlavi regime came to fruition under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, the religious and spiritual leader who is known as the “great architect of the Islamic Republic.”

In the capital Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani addressed demonstrators at Azadi Square, preceded by celebratory parachuting and aerobatics. Senior officials also joined the marches in Tehran.

President Hassan Rouhani (greeting the demonstrators) and his cabinet members attend rallies marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Feb. 10, 2017. (Photo by Mehr)

Final communiqué 

The demonstrators, in a communiqué issued at the end of the Friday rallies, stressed that the US remained Iran’s “enemy number one” and that the Islamic Republic’s security was “non-negotiable.” 

The statement said the Iranian nation regarded its “missile power” the symbol of its “deterrence power,” a guarantee for its national security, and its “defensive red line.” 

It also stressed continued work to strengthen Iran’s defensive and missile power as a right of the Iranian nation under international law and the United Nations Charter and the rejection of any interference in that regard. 

The statement also urged vigilance against enemy plots and called on the administration to take action to foil such schemes.

This year’s rallies are of higher significance and look set to be one of Iran’s biggest as they coincide with a political maelstrom in Washington kicked up by US President Donald Trump and his political point men against Tehran.

Both on the election trail and soon after taking office in January, Trump leveled serious threats against the Islamic Republic, including a pledge to “tear up” the nuclear accord between Tehran and P5+1 states, including Washington itself.

The president also branded the country as the “terrorist state number one.” He has also imposed fresh sanctions and issued an executive order blocking Iranians, among nationals from six other Muslim-majority states, from travelling to America.

The Muslim ban has currently been suspended by US courts, but Trump is pushing to re-impose it.

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said earlier in the week that the Iranian people will be responding to his threats on the anniversary of the Revolution.

“Trump says, ‘Fear me!’ No. The [Iranian] people will respond to these remarks on Bahman 22 and will show what position the Iranian people assume vis-à-vis threats,” the Leader said on Tuesday, referring to the occasion’s date on the Persian calendar.

Ayatollah Khamenei also dismissed Washington’s decision to put Iran “on notice” over its missile tests, calling Trump the “real face” of American corruption.