Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani, one of the Marajeh (the highest ranking clerics) in Qum, requested that all people to withstand against what he described as division from the principle of Islamic Republic. The Grand Ayatollah while described the confrontation in Iran as a confrontation between two ideologies said: “One side is defending the “Islamic Republic” while the other side does not believe in “Republic” at all and interprets the “Islamic” part the way it likes.” He also added that he defends an establishment that has justice, freedom, respect for people’s vote and their rights and all of the Islamic Revolution slogans inside of it. He reiterated that one of the reasons behind the 1978 revolution was the fact that authorities had not learned from the past and added: “Unfortunately after a not very long period we are simply being caught by the same bitter historical experience again.”
