Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution met today with Friday prayer leaders from across the country. During the meeting, His Eminence referred to the important position of Friday prayers in personal, social, political, religious and international arenas and delineated the most important duties of the country's Friday prayer leaders.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the enemies have focused their attention on the youth of the country and said: "The youth of the country are the most important target of the enemies because they are the driving force behind the progress of the country."
His Eminence stated that the arrogant powers and the greedy powers of the world want all power and wealth for a limited number of people who are closely connected with them. "Comparing the living conditions of ordinary people with that of the US leaders would provide an obvious example of this fact."
Ayatollah Khamenei referred to some shocking statistics regarding the living condition of the people in the US and said: "Of course the honorable President revealed some of these facts and statistics in his active and fruitful visit to the UN. The existence of millions of homeless people and tens of millions of people living below the poverty line are part of the bitter facts of the US society. "
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the Iranian nation has stood up to the greedy motives of those who seek to dominate the world and will not give in to bullying. He further added that the Iranian nation clearly announces its support for the Muslim nations of the world, especially the innocent people of Palestine.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the anger of the domineering powers and their threats against the Iranian nation are not unexpected and unnatural and added: "One should either give in to these threats or stand up to the greedy powers by relying on strong faith and connection with God."
Ayatollah Khamenei said that it is the duty of Friday prayer leaders to be aware of the latest issues and the realities of society.
His Eminence said that paying attention to the enemies' plots is one of the important duties of Friday prayer leaders and said: "During the recent years, some authors have tried to make the people forget the importance of identifying the enemies. They even mixed up the issues in certain cases and said that the Islamic Republic raises the issue of foreign enemies in order to avoid taking responsibility for the country's internal problems."
Ayatollah Khamenei said that such claims are fundamentally wrong. "No one can deny the negligence of officials in some of the problems which happened during the past thirty years. But this does not mean that one should ignore the enemies."
His Eminence reiterated that the officials should be vigilant about the enemies' moves and know how to counter them.