Leader meets with President and Cabinet members

 Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, met Tuesday afternoon with President Rouhani and cabinet members. Speaking at the meeting, His Eminence highlighted the Commander of the Faithful's (a.s.) command to Malik al-Ashtar on how to lead the people, saying: "Having a mental, spiritual and intellectual source of support is the main factor in solving all problems and deliberating on the Leader of the Pious' Nahjul Balaghah provides such a source of support."

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution cited the Commander of the Faithful's (a.s.) command to Malik al-Ashtar in explaining the responsibilities of officials, stressing: "Collecting taxes from the people, asking them to carry out their duties towards the government, defending the people and their country and drawing society towards the welfare, happiness, development and construction of the country are four major missions that the Leader of the Pious entrusts - in his letter to Malik - to rulers."

"Taking great and rigorous care of oneself so as to avoid deviation" and "preferring divine obligations to any other thing" were two other pieces of advice that Ayatollah Khamenei referred to, citing the Commander of the Faithful's (a.s.) letter. He stressed: "Our late magnificent Imam (r.a.) was the manifestation of acting on these divine advices."

Preceding the Leader's statements, President Rouhani pointed to the achievements of the nuclear talks and thanked His Eminence for his support of and guidance to the administration and the negotiating team. The President expressed hope that this issue would provide the ground for ending the pressures on the Islamic Republic, dismissing unfounded accusations against Iran and creating a new movement on the path of the progress of the country.

He stated that establishing close relations with neighboring countries and continuing the nuclear negotiations are among the most important measures that the administration has adopted until today. He added: "While the region is tackling chaos and terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran is supporting regional countries, which are suffering from terrorism, and it will continue this path."

Rouhani described rebounding out of recession, turning negative economic growth into positive economic growth, controlling inflation, reducing wheat imports and increasing non-oil exports as the achievements of the administration, reiterating: "We need investment and technology in order to resolve the problems related to unemployment and economic growth."

The President stressed that the administration would use all its power to solve the people's problems, saying: "We need the cooperation of the three branches of government in order to solve problems. This will help us take the remaining steps at a faster rate."