Hundreds of thousands of Iranian people gathered at Tehran's famous Azadi Square on Sunday to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution while showing their support of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's nuclear rights.

Held annually, the "Ten Day Dawn" ceremony seemed quite unusual at the last day of this year's celebration amid mounting nuclear tensions between Iran and the international community.

Holding national flags, singing a revolutionary hymn "My Country," more than 20,000 Iranian Basij (volunteer militia) students formed a chorus in front of the activity's main stage, on which agitative slogans were constantly hailed by a compere on the platform.

The government also distributed the outer wear with catchword of "Peaceful nuclear energy is our legitimate right" on it to students and children who attended the gathering.

After waiting of more than two hours, President Ahmadinejad showed up at the gathering and delivered his key speech to the rally.

The hard-line president reiterated Iran's nuclear rights, defying again on the UN sanction resolution of 1737 which was passed delivered his key speech to the large rally around him. He kept defiance on the UN sanction resolution of 1737 passed in last December urging Iran to suspend its all enrichment-related activities.

"Iran would never abandon its undeniable right and the country deserves to have the full nuclear fuel cycle within international regulations and rules," Ahmadinejad said in his speech.

Condemning the unfair pressure imposed on Iran by Western countries, the president also vowed to declare new achievements on nuclear technology by April 9.

Ahmadinejad's promise on nuclear research was fanatically hailed by the audience, who echoed him with slogans of "freedom, independence and Islamic republic" and "down with the USA."

"Nobody can deprive Iranian nations' nuclear rights, which are totally peaceful, the president is the source of our confidence to resist inequitable pressures," said Tehrani Mohseni Fairhatt who is in his 50s.

"Ahmadinejad's government is capable to protect the people and we trust him very much," said Bigan Rezai, a clerk who showed his firm support to the president like most of the Iranians at the gathering locale.

Although Ahmadinejad's speech on Sunday sounded very inspiring for his supporters, no significant announcement was made on big progress of Iran's nuclear research as what had been previously expected by many observers.

Some observers and analysts had considered that Iran probably had started installing 3,000 centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear plant for enrichment program.

On Jan. 27, a senior Iranian lawmaker announced that the Islamic Republic is installing 3,000 centrifuges, drawing the world concerns immediately.

Although Iranian nuclear official denied the announcement given by the lawmaker later in the day, it still aroused speculations on the process of Iran's nuclear project.

However, the speculations and threats imposed by the West seemed hard to weaken the determination of Iranians, on the contrary strengthened it to some extent.

Iran's senior officials have said the rally of Sunday would prove the Western pressure and threat meaningless and show world the power of Iranian nation.

Similar gatherings also took place in some other Iranian major cities, such as Isfahan and Mashhad.

Sunday's gatherings across Iran definitely impressed the international community as the Iranians united again behind President Ahmadinejad, who has been criticized by reformers and conservatives over his domestic policies and hardline stance toward nuclear issue.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1737 on Dec. 23, 2006, demanding Iran to "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, and work on all heavy water-related projects."

However, Iran has rejected the resolution as an "illegal measure" and vowed to continue the country's nuclear programs.

The West has long accused Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons under a civilian cover, a charge denied by Tehran.

Source: Xinhua