Speaking in the ceremony of Iranian Armed Forces military parades in Tehran, Ebrahim Raeisi said that September 22, 1980 [ refers to the start of the eight-year Iraqi imposed war against Iran in 1980, known also as Sacred Defense in Iran] is a reminder of bravery, courage, sacrifice and resistance of the great nation of Iran.

Sacred Defense Week is a reminder of the bravery and resistance of Iran's armed forces against the enemies, he added.

Raeisi praised Iran's defense achievements and its weapons production capacity, saying that they show how the country's armed forces have turned the sanctions into an opportunity for growth.

The president said Iran's enemies thought that the sanctions would stop its defense progress, but the reality is that the sanctions have stimulated Iran's military development.

"We have transformed from a country that imported and stored other countries' weapons to a country that produces and exports weapons," he said, adding that the region and the world recognize Iran's enhanced military capability, especially in terms of training and equipment.

Raeisi said Iran has now acquired significant deterrent power, which has deterred its adversaries from invading Iran or even imagining confronting its armed forces.

The Iranian president also said Iran has no intention to wage wars on other countries and that its military might be defensive in nature.

"Today, war and domination have no place in Iran's military doctrine, but [pursuing] a defensive approach [to ensure] sustainable security and assuring deterrence is a definite policy," he said.

He emphasized his administration's policy of prioritizing the neighborhood, saying that the country has sought cooperation with its neighbors in defense, as well as trade, technology and other fields.

The president said that regional countries should work together to end the presence of foreign forces in the region, especially in the Persian Gulf.

Raeisi said the presence of foreign military forces is not a solution to the regional problems, but rather a source of them.

He also hailed as a “positive step” Iraq's recent announcement that it has moved armed anti-Iran groups away from the areas near the Iran-Iraq border to other regions.

He vowed that Iran would not allow any separatist group to have weapons and create unrest against Iran near its borders.

The president said that Iran needed to send experts to Iraq to ensure that these groups have been disarmed according to a March agreement between Iran and Iraq on the relocation of armed groups.

He also commented on Israel's normalization deals with several Arab countries, saying that no Arab country could truly normalize its relations with the regime, as the Muslim world and other nations hate the regime.

Raeisi said that such normalization deals would not make Israel more secure, as the whole region hated the regime with all their hearts.

He condemned the normalization deals as a “stab in the back of Palestinians” and stressed that the oppressed people would not forgive those who normalized with the regime.

The Iranian president said that the Palestinian issue could not be resolved through normalization deals, and reiterated Iran's proposal for a referendum on the fate of the Palestinian lands involving all the original inhabitants of those lands.

MNA/5891487