Islamic Revolution 'unbearable' for the US, says Rouhani

IRANIAN President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday (11) that the US was unable to bear the fact that the Islamic Revolution remains in place 41 years after ousting US ally Muhammad Raza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran.

“It is unbearable for the United States to accept the victory of a great nation and that a superpower has been driven out of this land," Rouhani told a rally in Tehran marking the anniversary of the ouster of the shah and establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979.

“It is natural for them to have dreamt, for 41 years, of returning to this land, because they know that we are one of the most powerful countries [in the Middle East],” he added.

Rouhani was speaking at a rally in Tehran's Azadi Square marking the anniversary, at a time of heightened tensions with the US.

Tehran and Washington have been sworn enemies since 1979, when the government of the US-backed shah was ousted. Pahlavi was forced to flee the country after months of protests against his regime.

Ties between the two sides have been severed since November of that year, when radical students demanding the shah's extradition seized 52 hostages at the US embassy in Tehran and held them for 444 days.

The bad blood between Tehran and Washington worsened in 2018 when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a deal that froze Iran's nuclear programme before re-imposing crippling sanctions.

"In the past two years, America has put so much pressure on our beloved people, on all of our trade, all of our exports, all of our imports, and all of the country's needs, to exhaust the patience of our people," said Rouhani.

"But, the Americans did not understand the greatness of the Iranian people," he said.

"The United States believes it is facing 41 years of civilisation. No, the Americans are facing thousands of years of Iranian civilisation."

Thousands of Iranians converged at Azadi Square for the commemorations, waving flags of Iran and holding portraits of the founder of the Islamic republic, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, they converged on Tehran's Azadi Square.

"Death to America" and "We will resist until the end", read some of the banners carried by those in the crowd.

"Iran is looking forward to creating another epic," read the news ticker on state television, which called for a massive turnout.

The celebrations mark the day that Shiite cleric Khomeini returned from exile and ousted the shah's last government.

The state has appealed for a strong turnout as a show of solidarity after a year in which Iran has been shaken by protests and military tensions with the United States.

"Securing our country and our region depends on our unity, and participation in this rally is a symbol of this unity," Hadi Khamenei, brother of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on state television.

Iran's economy has been battered since US President Donald Trump in 2018 abandoned an international nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions and a stated campaign of "maximum pressure".

When Iran raised petrol prices in November, nationwide protests erupted and turned violent before security forces put them down amid a near-total internet blackout.

Tensions with Washington escalated in early January when a US drone strike killed powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

Iran retaliated by targeting US forces but then accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, in a tragedy that sparked anger at home and abroad.

Soleimani's daughter Zeinab, too, addressed the crowd at Azadi Square.

This year's anniversary also comes ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in Iran.

The alliance of moderates and reformers that propelled Rouhani to power in 2013 is scrambling to avoid losing its majority in the February 21 polls.

Rouhani's government has come under intense pressure from conservatives for agreeing to the 2015 nuclear deal that was unravelled after Trump's decision to withdraw from it and re-impose crippling sanctions.