Iranian leader says people foiled "enemy plots".

Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i has said that people of Iran have many times thwarted plots hatched by the country's enemies. Addressing a group of people from the northern province of Gilan who had come to Tehran to meet him on 29 December, Khamene'i said: "Leaders of arrogant governments headed by America are making comments against our nation, they are hatching plots. Sometimes they chant slogans, sometimes they make deceitful comments, sometimes they blatantly show hostility and sometimes they do so discreetly. This is all because they do not have a correct analysis about Iran's issues and they do not have a good understanding of the Iranian nation." The meeting took place on the eve of the anniversary of nationwide pro-government demonstrations after the election of President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad. The following is text of the recorded speech by state-run Iranian radio on the same day; subheadings inserted editorially:

Welcomes people of Gilan

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Welcome to you dear brothers and sisters, various strata of the dear and warm-blooded people of Gilan. I welcome you all, particularly the esteemed families of martyrs and the war-disabled and well-natured youth. Thank you for troubling yourselves, this large and packed group of people from Gilan and Rasht who are attending this meeting.

We have seen many cases in history in which people of Gilan have made their best efforts. We have seen examples of this both in the distant history as well as in the contemporary history.

In my opinion, the biggest task undertaken by the people of Gilan was that, despite the verbal and other promises of the Taghut regime [of the former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] for many years, which were aimed at …