A group of officials from various government sectors met with Ayatollah Khamenei this afternoon--Monday, April 10, 2017--for Norooz. At this meeting the Leader of the Revolution stressed on the necessity of appreciating the opportunity to serve the people, leading the society and its youth towards happiness by improving production, employment opportunities, and serious supervision of any progress. He added, "The import of goods that lead to domestic factories shutting down should be stopped."
Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated the nation as well as the officials and their families on Norooz and the blessed birth anniversary of Imam Ali (as) stating, "A wise and farsighted man grasps every moment and every hour as an opportunity to serve the people and perform good deeds."
His Eminence tapped on the opportunity the Islamic government has provided to serve the people and said, "Such an opportunity was not available before the revolution. Today, however, the success and failure of the country is in our hands, the authorities: and it is we who can take proper actions or make good decisions, thus paving the way for the people to achieve prosperity and end up in heaven."
Ayatollah Khamenei advised everyone to recite Quran, in order to benefit from the blessed month of Rajab, and the recommended supplications this month to get closer to God. He further added, "the officials can gain closeness to God by serving the people through performing their political, economic, and cultural duties.
The Leader of the Revolution offered his attention towards the precious sacrifices that have been made to establish and protect the Islamic Republic, asserting that today the major front of vicious enemies are trying to confront the Islamic establishment; they all seek to perish or empty out the Islamic Republic from the inside. Hence, any effort to tackle the enemies’ plots, meant to weaken the establishment, is in fact an attempt to get closer to the Divine Almighty.
The Leader of the Revolution said that the sacrifices of the people, in various fields of the Islamic Revolution, were coupled with religious inspiration: "Had it not been based on Islamic inspirations, such vast numbers of young individuals would have never volunteered to take part in the holy defense, giving up their comfortable lives with their families. Today, too, some young individuals follow the same sacred motives, taking part in the fight against the extremist takfiri movement, insisting that they defend the holy shrines. This is one sign the people are ahead of the officials in making sacrifices," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Ayatollah Khamenei described the common goal of all prophets (pbut) as making sincere efforts to establish pious systems and stand for justice. He said, "In the Islamic establishment, the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic laws should be carried out: the society’s culture should be one based on Quranic teachings from all aspects."
Ayatollah Khamenei commented on terming the new year as the Year of the Economy of Resistance--Production and Employment: "They said we should focus on production and employment, this cannot be achieved merely by the order of the senior officials. This requires a serious supervision and follow up."
His Eminence criticized certain misinterpretations of his remarks on the new Iranian year about preventing import of goods, to that, he added,"to prevent import does not mean to prevent import of goods that are not domestically produced at a sufficient quantity or goods that would be a model for domestic production; it is meant for preventing import of goods that would lead to the shutdown of domestic production and internal factories."
The Leader of the Revolution described his outlook on the import of goods as being derived from a positive outlook on domestic production. He added, "Everyone needs to know that if domestic factories and productions do not promote, employment opportunities won’t be created and the outcome would be unemployment, social predicaments such as addiction, corruption, family problems and dissatisfaction towards the government."
At this meeting the afternoon prayers were held, led by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
