Larijani: enemies seeking to hit Iranian economy

Addressing the first official session of the 9th parliament and after MPs reinstated him in his post as parliament speaker, Larijani stressed that the new parliament should move vigorously to defuse enemies' plots. He said an overall look at current developments in the region and the world as well as the status quo in Iran and the region reveal that enemies' main priority is hitting the Iranian economy. "…the enemy's arrow is aimed at the country's economic foundations under the current international conditions," Larijani said, and added, "And their other hues and cries are not important because they have channeled their pressures into weakening our economic strength." Yesterday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the country's newly-elected parliament to stand with him against "evil ones" who have encircled the nation. "Today, evils have been mobilized from all directions to put the Iranian nation under pressure. Removing and resisting the pressures, and cooperation, are the main priority today," Ahmadinejad told lawmakers. Ahmadinejad also underlined his respect for demarcation of duties, saying "Any effort to intervene in other's affairs will not serve the country. This is only devastating." He also urged the Iranian lawmakers to help develop the country through their sincere services to the nation. Earlier yesterday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei had also in a message stressed the necessity for maintaining unity in the new parliament. Ayatollah Khamenei urged members of the Iranian parliament to try to fulfill their heavy responsibilities before God Almighty, try to maintain unity. In a message read to the first session of the new parliament opened on Sunday morning, he urged representatives of the 9th parliament not to think of their own personal attitudes when carrying out their duty in the parliament which is to make laws. The Supreme Leader added that the inauguration of the 9th parliament in Iran sends a strong message from the Iranian nation to the contemporary world as it proves the firm will of a nation to overcome huge amounts of animosity exercised against it just because it wants to build a unique system based on the Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Khamenei said the Iranian people have given life to the notion of Islamic democracy not through words but in practice. He urged the MPs to abide by the laws, and said that in a decade which is dedicated to progress and justice all regulations ratified by the parliament should lead to promotion of these two values.