Baku, Azerbaijan, March 6
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed concerns about current cultural issues in the country, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on March 6.
Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting with Iran's Expert Assembly chief and members in Tehran on March 6. He went on to say that the officials should pay attention to the "religious and revolutionary culture."
The 15th session of the Expert Assembly wound up its work on March 5 with a final statement.
The statement emphasizes due efforts by all servants of the Islamic system to preserve Islamic culture at a time when the global dominant power is sparing no efforts to sow the seeds of scepticism towards the national and religious beliefs and sanctities.
Commenting on the statement, Khamanei underlined that as members of the assembly, he is also concerned about cultural issues. Some conservatives in Iran criticize President Hassan Rouhani`s cultural policy, saying the policies are violating Islamic values.
It should be noted that the culture minister, Ali Jannati was questioned in the Iranian parliament on Jan. 7, by a hard-line lawmaker over some of his comments against the closure of newspapers and defending the solo singing of women. Hardliners accuse Jannati of showing tolerance toward the insulting of religious sanctities and for not being strict enough regarding religious principles.
Khameni also described international sanctions against Iran as ineffective saying a resistant economy will thwart enemy plots. He named Iranian enemies as "most notorious" in the world.
"The U.S. government is considered as a liar by Americans and a violator of human rights in the world," he argued.