Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei met with the Austrian President Thomas Klestil here Monday.
During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that Klestil's trip to Iran would help deepen Tehran-Vienna ties day by day through a suitable planning.
The Leader lauded Austria's independent stances on various international issues and praised the Austrian government for its favorable manner toward Muslims.
Referring to the history of the positive bilateral ties between Iran and Austria, Ayatollah Khamenei added that Austria's sympathy toward the quake-stricken people of Bam highly influenced the Iranian nation and officials.
He described the attempt for the dialogue among different religious followers as another common point in Iran-Austria relations.
Highlighting the international need for religious dialogue, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that the issue would largely help nations to reach mutual understanding.
He added that religious dialogue would relate nations more closely, saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran believes the continuation of religious dialogues is very useful and logical.
The Leader described Austria as the center for exchanges of opinions among various religious followers, adding that the movements in some European countries against Hijab run counter to this issue.
Asked by Klestil what relationship exists between religion, "policy, and democracy", Ayatollah Khamenei said that in Islam there is no conflict between regarding Islamic and spiritual values and people's will in determining the government.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has succeeded to display a new experience to the international community by preserving people's participation in political and social spheres besides sustaining spiritual values," he said.
Referring to the various free elections held in Iran since the Islamic Revolution, the Leader stressed that the Shah's dictatorship in Iran, which was supported by the U.S. and England, never allowed the Iranian nation to truly participate in elections.
"However, Iran has held 23 popular and free elections since the inception of the Islamic Revolution 25 years ago," he said.
The U.S. and British administrations who now talk of human rights and democracy supported the despotic regime of the deposed Shah for decades. Therefore, the Iranian nation has the legitimate right to avoid believing such slogans by these two governments.
Pointing to the U.S. and Zionist propaganda against Iran, the Leader added that the main reasons behind the heinous propaganda are that the Iranian nation and government are not liable to capitulate to U.S. domination.
Calling real democracy in Iran as an undeniable fact, the Leader said the realities should be taken into considerations in evaluating Iran. The real point is that the leader, president, the representatives of the parliament are all elected by people and that Iran boasts of this new form which is a combination of republicanism and Islam, the Leader underlined.
Usually, the Zionist-run media aggrandize the current issues of the anti-U.S. countries, the leader said, adding that current issues in Iran are moving on its legal course.
He said there are different interpretations of a law in different countries and that this is not something unusual, but those centers, which exaggerate such issues are seeking certain aims and Iran is quite aware of such ill intent.
The Iranian nation has been tackling with real problems such as war (the Iraqi imposed war against Iran) and none of these problems could have forced the nation and the elite to retreat in the face of enemies, the Ayatollah pointed out.
The U.S. is a center for producing and exporting ‘evil, violence, and hatred' across the world, underlined the leader, noting that due to its illogical policies and actions, the U.S. has faced many different crises especially in Iraq and Afghanistan and these crises will not end.
In the meeting attended by President Mohammad Khatami, Austrian president expressed his great joy for meeting the leader of the Islamic Revolution and called his visit here one of his most useful foreign trips.
Klestil said the biggest ever Austrian trade delegation is accompanying him and this shows the great significance Vienna attaches to its ties with Iran.
Klestil described his talks with Khatami as very constructive, saying the Tehran-Vienna ties have entered a new phase because of this visit and this is also very important for the European Union.
Unlike the U.S., which has branded Iran as an axis of evil, Austria considers Iran as a center of peace and friendship.