In this country, there was a day when our engineers did not dare speak about building an electric power plant. They did not dare mention building dams; they did not dare mention building airports: all these things had to be done by foreigners.
The best an Iranian engineer could do was to work on a project that had been given to a foreign company or a foreign engineer. And this depended on whether or not they accepted him because in certain cases Iranian engineers were not even allowed to participate in the project.
Three-four years ago, I gave an interview about the Karkheh Dam, and I explained this issue in detail. I compared the Karun-3 Dam - and not the Karkheh Dam - with the Dez Dam. The Dez Dam was built during the time of taghut, but the Karun-3 Dam was constructed under the Islamic Republic. They are similar to one another: two concrete dams with similar capacities in terms of water and electricity. When building the Dez Dam, they insulted Iranians, incessantly. They humiliated us so much. They dishonored Iranian engineers and investors.
However, in the case of the Karun-3 Dam, it was Iranian youth and engineers who undertook this complicated task. This was while in the case of the Karun-3 Dam, the work involved more subtle and sensitive technical work in terms of building concrete blocks and attaching them to the mountain walls.
It was young Iranian engineers who built the power plant. It was young Iranian engineers who built the dam. It was young Iranian engineers who reconstructed the roadways damaged by flood waters. It was young Iranian engineers who constructed the long suspension bridge. They accomplished all these things with pride and honor. They had to work hard, but they could proudly hold up their heads. This is no small feat. You can extend and apply this to everything else as well.
Today, Iranian engineers, Iranian graduates, Iranian doctors, and members of the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps believe that they are capable of construction and innovation. They believe that they are capable of outperforming foreigners. At that time, they could not even imagine this, but today there are many examples that prove their capabilities. This shows the competence and efficiency of the Islamic Republic. It was the Islamic Republic that did these things.
The Islamic Republic revived Iran's agriculture, which had been destroyed. The Islamic Republic helped the primitive industry of this country reach the level of the sensitive and complicated work involved in producing nuclear energy. Just as the President explained, the Islamic Republic is moving abreast of the world in the area of new technologies such as nanotechnology - which are considered new technologies worldwide. These accomplishments show that the Islamic Republic is competent and effective.
Ayatollah Khamenei, Sep 22, 2007
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