On the fourth day of his trip to North Khorasan province, Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution met with the people of Esfarayen. At the meeting, His Eminence stressed that preserving vibrancy and enthusiasm of the people is necessary for continuing the path of progress in the country, adding: "We must not allow different factors to undermine and destroy this widespread enthusiasm and vibrancy."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed the need for justice and national self-confidence and added: "Our nation is faced with obstacles in a great arena. And in this arena, our country does not feel weak. We do not feel helpless. We feel powerful. We know that we can remove all these obstacles if we make efforts... In this battle of wills, the resolve and insight of you dear people can play a determining role."
Ayatollah Khamenei stated: "Unity of our people, solidarity of our government officials, cooperation between different organizations of the country and sense of responsibility of the people can help us achieve more advances."
His Eminence said that the main goal of the western news empire is to instill despair into the Iranian people and youth. "They are trying to extinguish the flames of the existing enthusiasm and vibrancy. We must not let the enemies achieve this malicious and hostile goal."
Ayatollah Khamenei stated: "It is necessary to constantly move forward. The Iranian nation has the capacity to make so much progress that it becomes a role model in the world."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that the enemies of the Iranian nation have tried to instill lack of self-confidence into the minds of the Iranian people, further adding: "The enemies had convinced us that westerners were pioneers and that we had to follow them. History shows that there was a day when the opposite was correct. We used to be pioneers in the world."
Ayatollah Khamenei stated: "Our young students should try to reach such a position in the world that those who want to have access to the latest scientific findings are forced to learn Farsi."
His Eminence stressed: "Our youth should have this goal in mind and work towards it. They should be sure that this future awaits us. Our outstanding scientific, political and cultural personalities should move forward and make plans with this goal in mind and they should not become satisfied with any level of progress."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution highlighted the necessity of national self-confidence and stated: "One of the standards of progress for a nation is having national dignity and self-confidence. I believe that as far as this standard is concerned, our nation has made a lot of progress."
His Eminence stressed: "It is Islam that has given us this sense of self-confidence. The more we become familiar with Islam and Quranic teachings, the more this sense of national self-confidence will become."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that justice is another standard of progress and added that from an Islamic point of view, progress that is not accompanied by justice is not genuine progress.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the kind of progress that the western world has made is superficial and stressed that capitalism and liberal democracy have created a widening gap between different social classes in the west.
His Eminence said that the Islamic Republic has made a lot of progress in administration of justice. "If we compare our conditions with the conditions that existed before the Islamic Revolution, we have made progress. If we compare our conditions with the conditions of other countries with different systems of government, we have made progress. But if we compare our current conditions with what Islam has demanded from us, there is a long way to go and we need to make a lot of efforts."
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the enemies of Iran are making widespread efforts to put an end to the progress of the Iranian nation. He stressed: "Our enemies should rest assured that they will fail in all of their conspiracies, plots and deceptions, just as we have shown them since the first day of the Revolution."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that the enemies of the Islamic Republic have failed to bring the Iranian nation to its knees and added that the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation have become more powerful on a daily basis over the past 33 years. He cautioned: "Of course, we must not feel too proud. I would say that becoming arrogant and neglecting the enemy's machinations will cause great dangers."
At the end of his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the need for consuming domestic products and reiterated: "It is wrong to go after foreign brands... When domestic production increases, inflation decreases, prices go down and unemployment is reduced: all of these things are connected to one another."
His Eminence said that the people can play role in boosting domestic production by consuming domestic products. "We should choose what we want to consume from among our domestic products."