Rouhani urges Iranians to vote as country marks 1979 revolution

Hundreds of thousands across Iran marked the anniversary of its 1979 revolution on Tuesday amid some of the highest levels of tension ever witnessed between Tehran and the US in the past four decades.

While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gave a speech in Tehran's iconic Azadi Square denouncing the US, he also focused on encouraging the country to vote in upcoming parliamentary elections even after officials disqualified thousands from running, including 90 current lawmakers.

"We should not withdraw from the ballot boxes," Rouhani called out to the thousands in the crowd who rallied in the city in freezing winter. 

"The ballot boxes are our saviour."

'Don't be passive'

Iran views high turnout as a vote of confidence in the country’s Shia theocracy, something it wants to show as public anger still simmers over the country accidentally shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner in January that killed all 176 people on board. 

Tehran for days denied its forces shot down the passenger plane before admitting to it in the face of mounting Western pressure.

The shootdown also marred funeral processions that drew millions of mourners for Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

There is also anger over Iran's long-faltering economy, which has been hard hit by the American sanctions. 

In November, protesters angered by Iran raising government-set gasoline prices by 50 percent blocked traffic in major cities and occasionally clashed with police. 

Amnesty International says more than 300 were killed in violent protests and a subsequent government crackdown. 

Iran's government did not release any death toll though lawmakers said thousands were detained.

Rouhani called on voters to still turnout despite "possible complaints and criticism".

"I beg you not to be passive," he said.

US-Iran ties

Tensions have spiked since President Donald Trump withdrew the US from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018. 

A series of attacks across the Mideast culminated with the US launching the drone strike that killed Soleimani in January. 

Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile attack targeting US forces in Iraq, injuring over 100 US troops.

State television referred to this year's anniversary as the "Soleimani dawn".

His image could be seen on signs carried by demonstrators, as well as a large poster off to Rouhani’s side during his speech.

The Iranian president spent much of his speech praising Soleimani, calling him both a great military commander and a "senior diplomat".

Soleimani headed the paramilitary guard's expeditionary Quds Force, which works across the Mideast with allies in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere. 

The US has long blamed Soleimani for the spread of powerful roadside bombs in Iraq that killed and wounded American troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

'We will not compromise with America'

Those taking part in the demonstration in Tehran, in which protesters burned American and Israeli flags, offered harsh criticism of the US.

"America can't do a damn thing through the sanctions," said Ozra Shahbakhti, 50, repeating an earlier comment made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

"Even if we die from poverty and hunger, we will not compromise with America, no way. I'm telling this to officials, foreigners and America."

Ali Akbar Nikkei, 36, put the blame directly on Trump.

"You stretch your hand for friendship towards us and then you assassinate our great general and consider this a victory?" Nikkei said. "You are too desperate to bring Iran to its knees."

Revolution 'unbearable' for US

Iran's revolution began with widespread unrest over the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The shah, fatally and secretly ill with cancer, fled Iran in January 1979.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini then returned from exile in France and the government fell on February 11, 1979 after days of mass demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and security forces.

Iran later would vote to become an Islamic republic or a Shia theocracy. Khomeini became its first supreme leader, garnering the final say over all matters of state. 

Anger over America allowing the shah into the country to receive cancer treatment in New York would later spark the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran by students and the subsequent hostage crisis, which kindled decades of enmity.

On Tuesday, Rouhani charged the US finds it "unbearable" that the revolution remains in place 41 years after bringing down their longstanding ally.

"It is unbearable for the US to accept the victory of a great nation and that a superpower has been driven out of this land," Rouhani told a rally.

"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.