Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you very much for joining us today to celebrate our National Day and the 43rd Anniversary of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Unfortunately, this is the second year in a raw that we are not able to celebrate it in person and share our joy and happiness with you in our usual way. Forty-three years ago in this very day, Iranian people celebrated victory of their revolt against oppression, tyranny, arrogance, and external interference. In less than two months they also held their first nationwide referendum to establish an Islamic republic. Over 98% of the voters voted in favor. But our nation’s struggle to safeguard its revolutionary aspirations, particularly freedom from outside interference, didn’t end at that time. It had to defend its territorial integrity against foreign aggression and to resist against inhumane economic sanctions from the time of inception of the new republic. Military aggression lasted 8 years and claimed lives of tens of thousands of young combatants and innocent civilians but sanctions which started almost immediately after the revolution have been continuing since then and constantly becoming stricter and stricter. The sanctions are indiscriminately targeting the whole population, even young Butterfly Children and those who are suffering from Thalassemia. The U.S. unilateral sanctions have been nothing short of a crime against humanity. They are indeed an organized and widespread crime committed against a nation in slow motion and in cold-blood.  Against all the odds, aggressions, pressures and sanctions, Iranian nation has proudly thrived in many fronts in the past decades. To name a few, Iran now ranks first in scientific and technology growth rate worldwide, fourth in nontechnology, sixteenth in scientific output, eighth in bio-engineering, third in world’s largest universities enrolments, second and third in book titles published in technology and philosophy, respectively. Iran has also successfully developed an indigenous defense capability to prevent re-occurrence of war of aggression as we witnessed in early years of the revolution. As a matter of fact, in a region, like Middle East, where the total annual military expenditure exceeds 180 billion dollars, or a fabricated regime like Israel receives 4 billion dollars in military aid only from the United States, and in the Persian Gulf region where some tiny countries spend individually over 25 billion dollars each year on purchasing military equipment from Western countries, there is no option for a country like Iran but to rely on its own people’s talent and perseverance to create a positive balance of power. That is why Iran’s missile and drone programs are not up for negotiation. Distinguished colleagues and guests,  For the third year, the world is grappling with the recurring variants of COVID-19 and yet many countries are either unprepared or unequipped to counter the menace. The COVID pandemic was a bitter reality check of the mother nature of the claim of solidarity and human conscience that our generation was always boasting of. We unfortunately failed the test miserably. It is a real fiasco that while affluent parts of the world are about to finish third dose of vaccination, and yet have excessive surplus shots, only 10% of people in low income countries have received at least one dose. It is evident that along with the existing global cleavages, like digital gap, economic inequality and industrial gap, we are now facing another newly emerged global cleavage, namely vaccination gap. Terms like “vaccine nationalism” and “vaccine apartheid” reveal that humanitarianism is still smothered by particularism and nationalism. COVID-19 is a global threat which will not respond to parochial national solutions. Any ultimate solution for the pandemic starts with a common understanding that no one is immune until everybody is immune and these include people who are living in other continents or thousands of miles away from us. I wish the affluent countries arrive at this understanding soon and well before it is too late for deprived nations, as well as for themselves. I also hope that next year we will be able to celebrate our National Day in a world free from COVID-19.   Once again thank you very much for joining us today in celebrating the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Thank you!