Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei delivered  a speech at Imam Reza (AS) shrine in Mashhad on the occasion of the first day of Nowruz (the start of the Iranian year of 1402).

In his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that what the enemy is seeking and dubs "transformation", is in fact "changing the identity of the Islamic Republic of Iran".

"Their (the enemies') goal is to remove everything that reminds people of the (Islamic) Revolution and Islam," Leader stressed, adding that the enemies are looking for transforming Islamic democracy into a government that pleases arrogance.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the Iranians' strong faith and self-esteem in confronting consecutive foreign hostilities for several decades.

Turning to recent riots in Iran, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed that several Western presidents openly supported the internal riots in Iran while several other western governments supported the unrest not only verbally but by providing weapons and financial aid. "But what happened on the scene was the opposite of what they wanted. The Islamic Republic (of Iran) showed that it is strong," he emphasized.

"Westerners tried to isolate Iran earlier. What happened had the opposite result. Yes, our relationship with the West weakened, but we made our relationship with Asia one hundred percent stronger," Ayatollah Khamenei underlined, adding that the country will follow this track after on.

"We continue political, economic, technical, and scientific relations with the important part of Asian countries. We became a member of some of the important treaties. The enemy wanted to isolate us and failed. Our relations with the nations and governments of the region were strengthened."

Saying that Tehran seeks to establish strong connections with Africa and Latin America, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that Iran is also ready to work with any of the European governments and countries if they do not blindly follow the US policies.