IRAN’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF ISLAMIC REVOLUTION AND TALKS WITH P5+1 OVER URANIUM ENRICHMENT

Shah Muhammad Reza Pehlavi, who ruled Iran like a Sultan and his wife were notorious for extravagant life style. Though he was the de facto ruler, he always neglected the aspirations of the people which led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and forced him flee abroad seeking asylum. Shah was called by the Iranians as the ‘stooge of US’ as he was on good terms with US.

Ever since his tenure as the Head of Iran, people disliked and hated him which led to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 under Iran’s Supreme Head Ayatollah Khomeini who was respected and revered by the Iranians. He was known for his adherence to Islamic values and it was he who issued a fatwa against noted writer Salman Rushdie alleging that Rushdie’s novel ‘Satanic Verses’ which according to Ayatollah Khomeini and other Muslim clerics was blasphemous.

Ever since Khomeini issued fatwa, Rushdie went into hiding fearing death at the hands of fundamentalist Muslims.

Now that almost 35 years have gone by, the fatwa against Rushdie still stands and Rushdie is still in hiding protected by security forces.

Ayatollah’s period was marked by hatred towards US which has been called by the Iranian citizens as the ‘Great Satan’.

On Tuesday, Iran celebrated the 35^th anniversary of Islamic Revolution. Thousands of Iranians came out into the streets to eulogize the great revolution and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a broadcast to the nation, who is a moderate President unlike his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was a conservative to the core and was a bitter enemy of US and it was in his term as President Iran began to enrich Uranium for peaceful purposes, that was how he explained, but US and other Western countries couldn’t take him for granted. After repeated warnings, the Western nations led by US, ordered ‘biting sanctions’ against Iran which couldn’t force Iran to continue the enrichment of Uranium.

Upon completion of two terms, Mr.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stepped down and Iran went to polls and Hassan Rouhani who is a moderate leader emerged winner and assumed office who wanted to establish cordial terms with P5+1 nations.

His attempt to develop warm relations with US and other nations – US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany  which is aspiring for permanent membership status in the UN Security Council was primarily to ease the ‘biting sanctions’ against Iran. Mr.Rouhani’s decision to establish warm relations with US is not to the liking of citizens of Iran.

Mr.Rouhani foresaw a bright future for Iran and to achieve it Iran wanted to have the sanctions imposed to be withdrawn and with that intention in mind, he contacted US President Barack Obama over phone which led to the meeting with P5+1 nations. In return for easing sanctions on Iran he explained to them Iran’s purpose to enrich Uranium only for peaceful purpose and as per the demand of P5+1 he was willing to reduce the Uranium enrichment to only 5 percent down 20 percent.

On the occasion of marking the 35^th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution while addressing lakhs of Iranians he took the opportunity to make it clear that Iran won’t bow down to all the demands put forward by the P5+1 nations.

He wanted to have ‘fair and constructive’ nuclear talks with the US and other nations in order to remove all sanctions imposed on it by the developed nations.

With the purpose of showcasing Iran’s might it launched a long-range ballistic missile two days before the celebration of 35^th anniversary of Islamic Revolution.

The next round of talks with P5+1 nations are scheduled to be conducted at Vienna the coming week.

The deep-rooted animosity and hatred towards US are still etched in the minds of Iranians and while celebrating the anniversary of the revolution they reportedly shouted slogans against US ‘The Great Satan’.

Similarly US too moves ahead with cautious optimism since suspicions still lurk in its attitude towards Iran.

Vienna talks will not be the last and for a peaceful settlement all the differences to the satisfaction of the nations involved in the talks are bound to go on for a long period.