election was held, in late march, i told people that the enemy is repeatedly whispering into ears that voter fraud is on the way, that vote rigging is underway. then i told our great friends inside the country. i gave them a warning, not to echo what the people want to inculcate in people's minds. the islamic establishment is trusted by the people. this is not engage easily. for 30 years, the establishment, -- this is not done easily.

it has managed to keep this confidence. the third point is the issue of rivalry. competition or rivalry they were free and at the same time transparent. everyone was witness to that. the campaigns and the debates that you saw, they were to the point, straight so much so that some people oppose them and i will tell you that they were somewhat right at times.

some problems or also created. you can see the consequences. i should tell you hear that we had this assumption, and we still assumes that the competition between the four presidential candidates -- i should tell you here that we had this assumption. enemies try through various media, and some of those media belong to some of them, they try to make believe in those media that there is a fight between the supporters of the islamic establishment and the opposition. no, that is not true.

that. that is not true. the four presidential contenders who entered the election race, they all belong to the islamic establishment. they have been, and they still are. one of these people is the president of our country. the president, the hard-working president, who is serving everyone. one of those candidates used to be the prime minister eight years when i was president myself. he was prime minister at the time i was president, for eight years. one of the candidates was the commander of an islamic organization for years and one

of the major commanders during the course of the iran war, and one of those people for two terms had been in charge of the legislature. he had been the speaker at our parliament. these are the elements of the islamic establishment. they all belong to the establishment. of course, they have differences of opinion. they have various kinds of plants and projects which differ from her one another -- from one another, but they all belong to this islamic establishment. this competition was made within the establishment. it was not a competition between inside and outside this establishment. regardless of some radio and some media in the u.k. and the u.s.

they have been trying to say otherwise, that this has been a competition from inside and outside the establishment. no, that is not true. it has been in competition with in this establishment. -- within this establishment. i know them all very closely. i know their tastes well. i am familiar with their personal traits. i have worked with all of them closely. i know them well. of course, i do not approve of all of their viewpoints, not all of their viewpoints do i approve of. some of their attitudes and approaches could be criticized, without a doubt. some of them i consider more appropriate to serve the nation

as officials, but it has been up to the people to decide, and that is what happens. people have picked to they wanted. -- and that is what happened. my will was never told to the public. what i wanted was never publicized, and people had their own criteria, and they acted based on those, millions here, millions outside the country. they decided for themselves. therefore, this is something that is an internal issue of the islamic establishment. changing the reality is purely treacherous. it is not an inside and outside world. it is not revolutionary. that is not true. it is only differences of opinion within the framework of

the establishment. and the people who voted for these four candidates, the people did trust in the establishment. they thought it is better for the establishment, and they voted for that person. they tried to choose the one they found most appropriate to service establishment, so the people have also acted -- to serve this establishment. the debate was an important initiative. it was an interesting initiative. it was to the point. it was serious. it was transparent. the televised debates, they actually nullified all of the campaign of those people outside

that this was only a show. they saw otherwise. they saw that they were serious. candidates or sitting there, discussing issues, and they were exchanging their viewpoints seriously -- candidates were sitting there. these debates at the positive. there have been some positive points, and there have been some-complications, too, which i will mention later. a positive aspect was in these debates, and a televised discussion sessions, -- and in the televised discussion sessions, they spoke was on their mind. everyone had to respond. they were criticized, and they

had to make a response, and they defended themselves the stances -- defended themselves. the stances, without ambiguity, they were put forth for the public eye, naked and honestly. they talked about their plans, their commitments, their projects. all of this was publicized for everyone. people could judge for themselves this way. people felt that in the islamic establishment, they are not looked upon as strangers, as outsiders. there is no inside and outside in the islamic establishment. that means everything is cleared for the whole nation.

-- that means everything is clear. it turned out that the people's vote stems from the same contemplation. people's vote is not ceremonial in nature. the vote, the right of vote, does belong to the people. people want to have their own pick. this is what the televised debate indicated. for sure, one reason for an increased turnout, 10 million, compared to the previous election rounds has been the fact that people's thoughts and mentalities were involved. they came to the scene, and identify the person they wanted, and they voted. these televised debates -- they

found their way into homes this strengthens people's right to choose. this helps them nurture their minds and their thoughts, and gives them a better decision making power, which is favored by the islamic establishment. i should add the point here that such talks and debate should not lead to the point that results in carrying a grudge against one another. if it was the same way as it was that day, that would be good, but if it is going to be turned into argument, then gradually,

it will turn into a grudge with itself and hard feelings. such debates should be conducted at different managerial levels. they should continue, of course, by putting aside as--- putting aside as negative ones. individuals should note that they are being criticized, and they should feel responsible to come up with their own answers and feel responsible. if one individual is criticized at a time, this is an opportunity for him to enlightened people's minds and to reveal the facts and the trades -- troops -- truths.

this is, of course, devoid of the problems i will talk about later. at the time of election, when such debates are seeing, you will not see an explosive excitement -- when such debates are held, you will not see an explosive excitement. these are the positive aspects of these televised debates, but there have been some deficiencies which need to be removed. in some cases, you could see in these debates that the logical point in these debates where kind of undermined -- the logical point in these debates were kind of undermined, and the destructive aspects would prevail at times.

depicting the status quo, looking on the dark side of things, it could be seen during these debates and also casting doubt on the performance of the previous government's -- previous governments. they were never approved anywhere. sometimes, they relied on rumors and sometimes unjust remarks were made, both regarding this government, with all of the services it has rendered, and sometimes unjust comments regarding the performance of the previous governments over the past 30 years.

the candidates kind of lost their temper during the discussion. and it is some positive points, they also raised some unpleasant issues and-points -- amid some positive points, the also raised some unpleasant issues and negative points. i enjoyed the freedom of expression and watched it. in those debates. and the fact that the islamic establishment has managed to go to the help of the people and help them to decide better. this is what i enjoyed. but the parts, the deficiency, made me sad. for supporters of the candidates, again, there are the

negative actions that i mentioned. the supporters did not like those parts either. and it was done on both sides. here, at this friday prayers, on this platform, as part of the prayers, i should reveal the facts. both sides, both candidates, in the debates had their own problems and deficiencies, unfortunately. on one hand, there are the most current president of the country. even two or three months before the debates, their speeches were given to me, and i could see for myself, and there have been allegations and insults'.

-- and insults. this was to a president of the country. they made wrong -- to him. they accused him of lying. this is no good. they fabricated some documents of government performance, and they handed them out here and there, and we can see. we know what is happening in this country, and we know that these are all against the facts. they are not true. they swore and they called the president superstitious, and they called him names, which is embarrassing. they forgot about morality and

law. (yon the other hand, as the same story, almost the same thing happened by the other candidate. the performance of the past 30 years, it was undermined. some people's names were mentioned, the people among the great personalities of this establishment. they are the same people who spent most of their life for the cause of this revolution. i have never mentioned people in front of the service, mentioned names, but here, because i have to mention some names here, specifically [mentioning names]

-- of course, nobody has accused them of corruption. regarding the relatives and family members, if anyone has any claims, any complaints, they should refer to judicial sources. you cannot raise such issues before they are approved. -- they are approved -- prove d. you cannot raises such claims. once there are mansions, and then miss understanding happens -- you cannot raise such claims. once they are mentioned, then misunderstanding happens. everyone knows this one man.

i know him. not only after the islamic revolution. i have known him for 52 years, closely. he is one of the main elements and supporters of the revolution before the islamic revolution and after the revolution, he was one of the most effective political figures alongside the late imam, and after the departure of the late imam, he has been alongside the

leadership to date. several times, on several occasions, he nearly got assassinated. and before the revolution, he gave away his belongings for the cause of the resolution -- revolution. our use should know these facts. after the revolution, he had different responsibilities -- our youth should know these facts. all through this time, i do not know of one incident in which he i do not know anything like that. these are the facts. everyone should know. at the most sensitive periods,

he was at the service of the revolution and the establishment. in numerous cases, of course, we have a difference of opinion. it is natural. -- we have differences of opinion. but we should not create misunderstandings for people. of course, between him and the president's -- president, they have had their difference of opinion since the president came to office. they have had their difference of opinion in foreign policy, in the manner of spreading social justice, as well as in some cultural issues. at president thinks the

president's ideas are closer to those of mine. [crowd speaking] -- and the president thinks that. it is the same story in regarding the other man. he has also served this resolution -- revolution. he cares a lot regarding the establishment. no doubt about it. live television debates are good, but the shortcomings should be removed. after the debates, i talked to

the president and warned him, because i knew he would listen to me. regarding fighting, corruption. the stance of this government is a clear one. in issues related to social justice, we have a clear-cut stance. corruption should be fought anywhere in is. -- anywhere it is. [crowd speaking] i want to mention the point here -- we do not claim that in our establishment there is no corruption, no financial or

economic corruption. yes, there is, or else i would not write to that eight-point letter that was in -- i would not write that 8-point letter. yes, we have that kind of corruption, but the islamic establishment is one of the soundest and healthiest establishments in the world over today. attributing to some zionist it reports -- zionist reports, interpreting based on those reports, accusing the government of the country of corruption is not the right thing to do, and the question and the credibility -- and questioning

the credibility is not the right thing to do either. it must be fought against seriously, both in the judiciary, in the executive, and the legislative branches of government. everyone is obliged to fight corruption. if corruption is not brought under control, it will spread further, as you can see in many world countries, in western countries, who are claiming of campaigning money laundering and such issues. they are up to their years immersed in such corruption. -- up to their ears. you heard the u.k. officials. there scandal goes way beyond what is publicized. -- teir scandal -- their scandal goes way beyond what is publicized.

the friday election was an epic. the epic is historical. it affected the world. some of the enemies in different parts of the world depended on depicting this definitive victory -- and they wanted to indicate it as a doubtful victory. some even wanted it to show this was a national defeat -- wanted to show this was a national defense. -- a national defeat. they wanted to give a bad taste in the mouth. the highest turnout in the world. that happened.

they cannot manipulate it anymore. [crowd speaking] well, the tougher competition is over -- the time for competition is over. all of the people who voted for the candidates, they will have their rewards from god almighty. they have all fought in the battle front of this establishment. they belong to this establishment. this might be considered as worship for some of these people, depending on their intention.

40 million people have voted for the revolution. it is not only 24 million that went to be president. 40 million votes were cast in favor of the revolution. people trust. they have their trust, but some supporters of some candidates should also know, should be sure, that the islamic administration will never manipulate the people's votes and commit mistreatment. [crowd speaking] >> [speaking foreign language]