TEHRAN The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, in a meeting with members of the Experts Assembly, called the assembly a symbol of the religious democracy practiced in Iran.

Referring to the brusque remarks made by the "enemy" against the Iranian religious democracy, the Leader called on officials and scholars of the Islamic Republic to defend the pillars of the system, saying, "Despite the illusions of the enemy, the

[Iranian] nation likes the system and any attempt of the enemy is doomed to failure."

Commenting on religious democracy and its differences with Western-style democracy, he called the Islamic Republic a unique reality and said that in such a system, people's rights were observed according to divine commands and religious rules.

Stressing the significance of the fact that the members of the assembly are elected by the people, the Leader added, "The Experts Assembly is one of the most sensitive centers of an Islamic system, which has proven its importance in various decisive situations."

"Today, the enemies are openly expressing the hostility they have harbored in their hearts against the Islamic Republic over the years," he said in an apparent reference to the remarks of U.S. President George W. Bush, who said the Iranian government was unelected.

The Leader stated that one of the objectives of such propaganda is to frighten and threaten the system's officials. Therefore, he asked officials to be patient and to counter such propaganda.

He also called on the elements of the system to defend it against such threats with unity and urged the system's officials not to magnify differences of taste among themselves.