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Special Dispatch |3545|January 28, 2011 Iran Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami in Friday Sermon: A New Islam-Based Middle East Is In the Making; Unrest Is Aftershock of 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran In his sermon today, Tehran interim Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said that in contrast to the U.S.'s dream of a new Middle East under its domination, a new Middle East based on Islamic principles is now taking shape. Stating that the popular uprisings in the Arab world herald the creation of "an Islamic Middle East" based on the religion and religious democracy – in contrast to claims by former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that a new Middle East would be developed under the leadership of the U.S. and Israel – he underlined that this ongoing unrest is the aftershock of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. He added that the recent uprisings in the Arab world have Islamic support, as people poured into the streets with the slogan of "Allahu Akhbar (Allah is the Greatest)." Addressing worshipers at the Tehran University campus, Ayatollah Khatami noted the events unfolding in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen, and pointed out that while the Western countries have, in their media, denied the roots of the Islamic Revolution and these revolutions' religious nature, the fate of the Tunisian dictator demonstrated the divine tradition that those who oppose the sacred religion of Islam are doomed to failure. Referring to the ongoing rallies in Yemen, he said that such developments are inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He also noted that Tunisians were holding their first Friday prayers since the departure of their dictator to demonstrate the Islamic Revolution's influence on their protests. On recent developments in Lebanon, Khatami said that the Lebanese nation is demanding the foiling of the enemies' insidious plots and conspiracies there, because they wish to make their own decisions. He congratulated Hizbullah, and said that the incoming Lebanese government is causing intense concern to the usurper Zionist regime and the U.S. Elsewhere in his sermon, he noted that on the eve of the 32nd anniversary of the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution, the 10-Day Dawn (i.e. the national celebration of the anniversary) serves as the symbol of the Iranian nation's freedom and independence, which revived Islam and gave the sacred religion of Islam its grandeur.[1] [1] IRIBnews, Fars, Press TV, IRNA, Mehr, Lenziran.com (Iran), January 28, 2011