In Friday Sermon, Ayatollah Kashani Warns Muslim States About Bush's Statements In SOTU Address

In his second Friday sermon, Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani cautioned Islamic countries about U.S. President George Bush's statements in his State of the Union address, and called on Muslims to stand together against the U.S. and Israeli crimes.

Addressing a large crowd of worshippers at the Tehran University campus, Ayatollah Kashani said about Bush's speech, "We should see what is going on in the world...and what goals the enemies of Islam are pursuing."

He went on to discuss the U.S. Congress's ratification of a war budget, saying, "The U.S. Congress has passed a war budget despite the country's ailing economy. This budget means that the U.S. rulers are thinking of bloodshed and crimes."

Also in his sermon, Ayatollah Kashani condemned U.S. President George W. Bush's "deceitful" claims that pressure on Iran to stop uranium enrichment was aimed to restore peace and security in the region. He insisted that "Iran's nuclear activities are for peaceful, industrial and scientific purposes."

He added that if there was unity among the Muslim countries, there would be no U.S. and Israeli crime in Palestine.

Warning nations against the U.S. conspiracies against them, Ayatollah Kashani reminded worshipers that God vowed in the Holy Koran that "right is eventually victorious. We are now witnessing signs of victory in the world. The U.S. and Israel think that the world is a village and they are its master."

He called the Iranian nation to vote for the most competent candidates in the upcoming elections for the Eighth Majlis, saying, "One of our duties is sending the best persons to Majlis."

He also called on Iranians to participate en masse in the Bahman 22 rallies that will mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, saying that such participation would give a crushing response to the crimes of the "Jewish and Christian Zionists, who "have joined hands to bring the Palestinian people to their knees."

Sources: Iribnews.ir, IRNA, Fars, Iran, February 1, 2008

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