30 Years On, Iran Celebrates Anniversary of Islamic Revolution

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31/01/2009 Thirty years have passed on the Iranian Revolution, but its reflection is still witnessed day after day worldwide…

At a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Iran's Islamic revolution was not limited to its borders. "The revolution is lively and alive after 30 years," Ahmadinejad stressed.

"We are still at the beginning of the path and greater changes are ahead. This thunderous revolution will continue until justice is implemented," the Iranian president said. "Although the Islamic revolution happened in Iran it is not limited to Iranian borders," he emphasized.

Crowds chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" at the ceremony at Khomeini's mausoleum in southern Tehran also attended by supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, government ministers and military commanders.

"Because of Islam we saw victory in Gaza and Lebanon," said the revolutionary leader's grandson Hassan Khomeini. "Iranians are proud because Khomeini was the flag bearer of this Islamic awakening worldwide."

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the "Gazans and Hezbollah were able to defeat the army of the Zionist regime because of the effective influence of Iran."

Meanwhile, Iranian school bells rang throughout the country Saturday morning to mark the glorious return home of the Founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, after 15 years of exile. Trains, ships and factories also sounded their whistles as a token of marking the start of the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

On this day in 1979 the Imam arrived at Tehran International Mehrabad Airport amidst a warm enthusiastic welcome and later proceeded towards the city’s cemetery Behesht-e Zahra where he made a historic speech.

Khomeini's shrine was decorated with a large poster of the elderly bearded cleric, then 76, as he disembarked from an Air France jumbo jet helped by a steward -- an image etched in world history. "The Islamic revolution is the result of sacrifices made by martyrs," read a banner inscribed with one of Khomeini's famous quotes. "We will guard the great legacy and principles of Imam Khomeini," vowed Sayyed Khamenei on another banner of his mentor who died in 1989.

In related developments, Education Minister Ali-Reza Ali-Ahmadi rang the bell of a secondary school in southern Tehran Saturday morning. Addressing the students and teaching staff of the school, the minister said the leadership of the late Imam Khomeini and vast presence of people in all aspects of life led to the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. Today, the Islamic Republic is free and independent and follows the Islamic values and principles, he added.