Millions of Iranians have held mass rallies nationwide to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations have kicked off in more than 1000 Iranian cities and towns as well as 5,000 villages across the country.

This year's rallies are expected to be one of the greatest ever, as the event has coincided with the growing popular movements across the globe, including the ongoing Islamic Awakening in the Arab world, which according to many political observers are inspired by Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Meanwhile, the Iranians are set to renew their allegiance to the values of the Islamic revolution, in the face of the West’s escalating war rhetoric and sanction policies against Tehran over its peaceful nuclear program.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mohammad Hassan Khani, professor at Imam Sadeq University, to share his opinion on this issue.

The following is a transcript of the interview:

Press TV: One point that was raised as you know by the Iranian President during the speech was the fact that Iran has made scientific progress, Iran has made technological progress. And this is coming at a very crucial time for Iran when we are seeing the sanctions imposed, the sanctions intensifying; we are seeing threats of even a military strike, what has been the effect of the sanctions specially the recently intensified sanctions?

Khani: As you rightly mentioned the issue of sanctions and the whole pressure that is coming from the Western countries including United States toward Iran and Iranian government to surrender or to give up the nuclear technology, it shows that they have very specific agenda.

And what we have seen today, I mean these massive demonstrations not only in Tehran but throughout the country, it is a good manifestation that Iranian nation know exactly what has been the message from the West and they are sending out their own messages to the enemy.

In 1979 a revolution was born which is now approaching its mid 30’s so after 33-34 years of revolution what we have been witnessing today in Tehran’s streets was a sign that the revolution is alive and is enjoying a healthy and dynamic life.

So in that sense I think there are a lot of lessons that the Western politicians and specifically Americans can take. By imposing the sanctions, I mean in the past few weeks and few months we had been witnessing a huge pressure coming from the outside in order not only to somehow put pressure on Iranian government but also to send a message to the Iranian nation and it is clear.

I mean they are saying that clearly that what we want to achieve is that to make the Iranian nation to distance themselves from the government and to turn the nation because of the pressures, I mean the sanctions bring with them some of the hardships and difficulties.

So their goal has been and still is to turn the Iranian nation against Islamic state, against government and somehow maybe in their analysis that could lead to the toppling or overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran but the message that today was sent out to the Western countries was something totally different.

I mean it shows that Iranian nation is standing firmly behind its elected government and it is not going to somehow be deceived by the propaganda, by this huge psychological warfare that is coming through many tens of satellite channels and there are a war of media waging against Iran and Iranian nation.

So in that sense I think what we have seen today was extremely important in that context.

Press TV: Now Mr. Khani, referring to the remarks made by the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, what he said was there is a link between the Iranian revolution and the wave of Arab uprisings so what he calls the Islamic Awakening movement in the region.

Of course he did say in his remarks that we are not saying Iran was behind those uprisings but it would be rather illogical to say that Iran’s revolution has not had an influence on these uprisings.

Do you think then Mr. Marandi [the other guest of the program] was suggesting there that these movements along with the Islamic Revolution means we are going to see a change in the geopolitical balance specially in the region when it comes to the interest of the US and the Israel?

Khani: Sure, that is the case and to have a better understanding of the impacts of the Iranian Revolution at this anniversary I would like to portray a wider picture of what happened. If someone asks us okay can you give us a very clear answer to this question that what have been the accomplishment and the achievements of the revolution so far after 33 years, we can categorize and classify the impacts in four levels.

The first level is what I call it the national level which was mentioned previously, I mean the independence was one of the most important achievements of the revolution in national level. Self reliance, that sense of self confidence, all those scientific achievements that Iranian scientists have been made, had been a result of that sense of self confidence and self reliance.

I mean the nuclear technology, nanotechnology, cloning, the military defense technology, all these are a product and the result of that self reliance which was one of the most important issues that the revolution contributed to Iran and Iranian history in a whether long term.

So the other level which I call it the regional level is exactly what is happening now. I mean after the revolution there were many countries that were saying okay it was an Iranian revolution, it was a Shia revolution. It has nothing to do with the rest of the world.

But the message went through. In that sense we can compare Iranian revolution with the French revolution. I mean it took some decades before the French revolution’s message can go throughout the Europe and we can see the effects on the whole map of the Europe in terms of the 1840’s revolution or the spring of revolutions in Europe.

So in that sense we can see that the Iranian revolution was a source of hope, a source of inspiration for the region in general and the Islamic countries, the Muslim countries in particular.

So it was a revival of the political Islam and sending this message to the nations, to the masses, intellectuals, academicians throughout the Middle East from Cairo to Khartoum, from Islamabad to Kuala Lumpur, I mean the whole Muslim nations that okay, maybe if we return to Islam and to principles of Islam we can solve our problems much better than the prescription that comes from the outside world, from the Western world.

So in that sense there is a very clear undeniable connection between what happened in 1979 in Tehran and what we have been witnessing in the past year in Cairo, in Manama, in many capitals of the Arab world and the Islamic world.

One of the other levels by which we can see the effects and the achievements of the Islamic revolution is what I call it the levels in international system. Without any doubt, Islamic Revolution shifted the balance of power in the Middle East and consequently in the world politics, in international politics.

And if we just remember that Fukuyama just a few years after the Islamic revolution, he wrote that article, which later led to the book “The end of history”. He was suggesting that okay, now we are approaching the triumph on the liberal democracy as the sole political ideology.

And what happened then and is now happening in the Islamic world and in the Middle East, it is a show that, that has not been the case. Liberalism and liberal democracy and the political system based on liberal democracy has failed to achieve the goals and has failed to meet the promises that make human being happier, human being after a century.

So the alternatives now are there and one of the most important alternatives is the political Islam which is now coming through in many countries in the Middle East.