Substitute Friday prayers leader of Tehran Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani here Friday called on the Iranian nation to vote to the most competent individuals in the 8th Majlis elections.
"People should send the best and most qualified candidates to Majlis. We should bear in mind that presently elections is the most important issue of the country. One of our duties is sending the best persons to Majlis," said Ayatollah Kashani in his second Friday prayers sermon in Tehran University campus.
Ayatollah Kashani quoted father of the Islamic Revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic the late Imam Khomeini as advising Majlis deputies to think of the oppressed and try to solve problems with an aim to win divine pleasure.
The cleric also called on Iranians to massively participate in Bahman 22 rallies, marking the triumph anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
He said people would in the Bahman 22 rallies give a crushing response to crimes of the Israeli regime and the US -- the Jewish and Christian Zionists -- and of global arrogance in Palestine.
"The Jewish Zionists and Christian Zionists, i.e. Israel and the US, have joined hands to bring the Palestinian people to their knees," said the Ayatollah.
Ayatollah Kashani then touched on the US Congress ratification of a war budget despite the country's ailing economy.
"The US congress has passed a war budget despite ailing economy of the country. The budget means the US rulers think of bloodshed and crimes."
Elsewhere in his sermon, Ayatollah Kashani condemned the US President George W. Bush's "deceitful" claims that pressure on Iran for stopping uranium enrichment aimed at restoration of peace and security in the region.
"Iran's nuclear activities are for peaceful, industrial and scientific purposes," said the Ayatollah, stressing unity and integrity in the world of Islam.
"Muslim Ummah should follow the path of God and should maintain unity. Bush's claims should be taken as a danger bell by Muslim states," he added.
He said that in case of unity among Muslim states there will be no trace of crime in Palestine by the US and Israel.
Warning nations against the Israeli and US conspiracies against them, Ayatollah Kashani said, "Right is eventually victorious. We are now witnessing signs of victory in the world; The US and Israel think that the world is a village and they are its master."
© IRNA 2008
