Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution met today with over one thousand young academic elites. In his speech in this gathering, the Leader described knowledge as a means of achieving national power and wealth adding: "Scientific and technological progress must be a basic discourse in our country today."
His Eminence also said that Iran is 150 years behind in science and technology. "Despite this backwardness, the Iranian nation enjoys many potentialities and intellectual capabilities. Thanks to these potentialities, our nation is currently able to accomplish great achievements, and it can make up for this backwardness," he added.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution touched upon the national scientific movement during the last 12 years, further reiterating: "There have been many wonderful achievements in the past 12 years, but this must not make us feel complacent."
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that all these achievements have been accomplished relying on national potentialities and that there has been no foreign assistance in this regard. "Though they were disadvantaged and single-handed, by relying on their national self-confidence our intelligent youth managed to boost science, which was in its infancy in the beginning."
His Eminence described wealth as a prerequisite for scientific progress. He said: "We must achieve a high level of capability so that we can produce wealth through knowledge and use the wealth to generate further knowledge."
He said that scientific movement and progress must be accompanied by a spiritual orientation, adding: "Unfortunately, Western countries have engaged themselves in obscurantism. They have exploited science in order to oppose the interests of humanity and human values."
Elsewhere in his address, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed the need for valuing national scientific elites. He said that the main responsibility in this regard has to be shouldered by the national media. "The IRIB must pay more attention to our scientific elites," he noted.
He also added: "I support professional sports and sportsmen. I am an advocate of national sports champions. But the IRIB must not pay excessive attention to sportsmen and artists at the cost of sidelining the scientific elites."
His Eminence said that serving the nation through science is an honor. "Knowledge that is gained with the aim of serving the nation and helping it achieve grandeur definitely constitutes an act of worship and a righteous deed."
At the end of this address, the young academic elites said their prayers led by the Leader.