In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad, and his Pure Progeny, particularly the Vestige of God remaining on earth.
You are very welcome here. I am truly grateful to the scientists, officials, and those who are active in this industry for organizing this good meeting and this excellent exhibition for us today. It was a very good exhibition. It was very pleasing, encouraging, and promising. I will be talking about a few points that I have prepared.
The first point is about the importance of the nuclear industry. Of course, you know and are familiar with the importance of this industry, [but] many people don’t know this and they don’t know the importance of the nuclear industry., the diverse and extensive dimensions of this industry and the effect it has on people's lives and on the development of the country. I have noted this here and I will speak about this in my remarks. I have also told these dear brothers several times in this exhibition that it is your [own] fault that you don’t speak to the people and tell them about what you are doing. You don’t tell them about how this organization is making progress and moving forward. You know about this, but the people don’t. So I will talk briefly about this.
In general, it can be said that this industry is important both in terms of the country's progress and the country's capabilities in technical, economic, health, and other fields — which bring honor to the country and improve people’s lives — and in terms of its global and international political weight for the country. In other words, when you are making progress in different fields in this industry and you are working and solving issues, the world's intelligence centers, many of the world’s politicians, and perhaps many scientists and scholars understand this and this is an honor for the country. Therefore, making progress in this industry is important from an international point of view and in terms of its weight, position, and national honor. So, this was two different aspects.
The third aspect is in terms of the spirit of the nation’s self-confidence. As you can see, various propaganda apparatuses of the enemies are working hard to make it look like the country doesn’t have a future. They try to discourage the youth — this can be seen clearly in the social media, on television, and in [their] political statements. What you are doing is the exact opposite of what the enemy is doing.
In other words, you are injecting a spirit of hope and a spirit of confidence into the nation. People, the youth, and the educated elite all come to know what fundamental, important fields they can discover, take over, and move forward in.
I mentioned these three aspects to show the importance of the nuclear industry. Considering these aspects, everyone should acknowledge that the nuclear industry is one of the fundamental, important components of the country's credibility, strength, and power. If you want a strong Iran — whoever loves Iran, whoever loves the Islamic Republic, and whoever loves the [Iranian] nation and wants this country to be strong — should care about and realize the importance of the scientific, research, and industrial endeavors that are taking place here.
What I’m saying is that this is the very reason why our enemies are focusing on [our] nuclear energy. This is why we have faced challenges for 20 years now. We have faced challenges in the nuclear sciences for 20 years now. Why have the enemies created these challenges? Why do they keep insisting on this? Are we the only ones in the world working in the field of nuclear energy? Of course, they claim that they are afraid of [our access to] nuclear weapons. They are lying, they know very well that we aren’t pursuing nuclear weapons. The US intelligence community has stated on numerous occasions that Iran isn’t pursuing nuclear weapons. Just a few months ago, in two instances they admitted that there are no signs that Iran is moving toward the construction of nuclear weapons. They are right. Of course it isn’t that we are afraid of them or that it is because of them [that we don’t pursue nuclear weapons]. We believe that nuclear weapons are used for mass destruction. We are against mass destruction. It is contradictory to religion, and it is contradictory to Islam. And it doesn’t matter whether it is using atomic, chemical, or any other possible type of weaponry.
In the wars that were fought during the time of the Prophet (pbuh), Imam Ali (pbuh), and the early days of Islam, instructions were given to be careful not to block people’s access to water. At that time, the common practice against the general public was to block access to water. There wasn’t chemical [warfare] or things of that sort. Based on our Islamic principles, we don’t wish to pursue such weapons. Otherwise, if it weren’t for our belief and if we had wished to pursue these, they wouldn’t have been able to stop us, in the same way that they haven’t been able to stop our nuclear development up until now. And they won’t be able to do so in the future! If we had wanted to build nuclear weapons, we would have done so. They too know this. So this excuse about nuclear weapons is a lie. That’s not the issue. The issue is something else.
They know that advancement in the nuclear industry is actually the key to making scientific progress in many fields in the country. They don’t want that to happen. They don't want us to make significant, inspiring progress in various fields. Whatever progress the Iranian nation makes, the Iranian nation's mindset, the Iranian nation's path of action, and the Iranian nation's democracy will affect other nations. They don't want this. They are afraid of this. Their goal is to prevent our country’s progress in one of the most important scientific fields, which is the field of nuclear science.
Well, this challenge that we have faced with our enemies over the nuclear issue for 20 years has made some facts clear. This 20-year-long challenge has made several facts clear. The first fact is that it showed the extraordinary ability and talent of our youth. These things that we see here today — and of course the reality of the situation is much more than just these [things shown in the exhibition] — were all achieved in the midst of sanctions and threats. Our scientists were constantly threatened, and our scientists were assassinated. Some were assassinated, and others were threatened with assassination, but, despite all this, these advancements have been made. So, we are extraordinary in terms of our human resources. In terms of human resources, we are in a much better situation than many other countries in the world. We are above average in the world, this was also demonstrated in other sectors. This was clearly shown with regard to the atomic issue and in our nuclear industry. This is one fact.
Another fact that was seen was the inhuman, unfair, and coercive logic of those who oppose Iran’s progress. Their behavior is coercive. In other words, their expectations from our country are beyond the safeguards agreements that are commonplace in the world. They use coercive language. [They say,] “Don't do this, don’t do that, don't go lower than the level of the earth, don’t go more than such and such a distance over there with your structures!” Why? If you’re not sick, if you don’t have any ulterior motives, if you don’t want to threaten us, why are you scared that we may have facilities in a certain impregnable location? Their inhuman, unfair logic was revealed. This is another fact that was seen in this challenge.
Another fact [that was revealed] is the unreliability of the other parties and those who are against us with regard to their promises. So far during these many years — now those of you who have more experience in the nuclear field understand what I am referring to — both the [foreign] governments that were on the opposing side of negotiations and the IAEA itself made promises on numerous occasions in different areas; [however,] they did not fulfill those promises. Their promises were left unfulfilled. Therefore, one of the achievements of this 20-year-long challenge was that we realized we cannot trust their promises and their words — distrust! These are important achievements. Understand that these are important matters.
We have suffered setbacks in many areas because of these [types of] misplaced trusts. It is very important for a nation and the officials of a country to realize and understand when they should trust someone, and when they shouldn’t trust somebody. This is very important! We have come to realize this. Over the last 20 years, we have come to realize who is trustworthy and who isn’t trustworthy. So, this was what I had to say about the importance of the nuclear issue. As I said, you probably know these things more than we do, but I want the people to know about this as well.
The second issue that I want to outline is about the advancements that have been made in this industry in our country. Of course, I am not an expert in technical matters and don’t have enough information in this area to speak about this. It is your job to shed light on these advancements, [but] I would like to speak about this matter in general. I would like to say one thing about this first. In our political language, we have words such as “mustazaf” [oppressed, underprivileged] and “istizaf” [weakness]. We say, [for example] “such and such a nation is a mustazaf nation” or “we were a mustazaf nation before the Revolution.” The word “mustazaf” is a profound, meaningful word.
What is the meaning of “mustazaf?” It refers to someone who has been kept weak. “Mustazaf” is different from “Zaif” [weak]. Zaif means someone who is weak, but mustazaf is someone who “has been kept weak.” Being kept weak, which is the meaning of the word mustazaf is of two types. There is a time when a world power comes, dominates a country, and keeps it weak. For example, there were colonial powers that kept the colonized countries weak, [such as] Britain. It kept the countries in the Indian subcontinent weak for many years.
If you refer to the book Glimpses of World History, written by [Jawaharlal] Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India who was an informed, scholarly man, he explains what India was like before the arrival of the British and what happened after their arrival. He explains how India deteriorated, and how impoverished it became. This is colonialism. Therefore, one type of istizaf [weakness] is when a world power holds a nation back, which is a bad thing. It is dangerous. What’s even more dangerous is the second type of istizaf and that is when a nation itself believes that is weak, when it believes that is incapable and [that it] cannot do anything. This is very dangerous!
Most of you didn’t see or experience the period before the Revolution. We lived for many years during that period and are familiar with the issues of that time. You too can come to know about it today. If you study and pay attention, you can understand what took place during those days. I am frank with you: we had both kinds of istizaf [weaknesses] in the period prior to the Revolution! First, they kept us weak. [Nuclear scientists], such as [Martyrs] Rezai-Nejad, Shahriari, Fakhrizadeh were all trained in the era of the Islamic Revolution. There were young men like them before the Revolution, but they never reached the same level as these men. They wouldn’t let them [improve]. They used to humiliate the Iranian nation and hinder the people’s progress.
Back in those years, in a meeting that I had with one of the officials of the [Pahlavi] regime by chance — because I wasn’t in contact with them — I mean, I sat in a meeting and he happened to be there by chance. I started criticizing some things. I was young then and had the patience to talk, discuss matters, and do similar things. That official’s response was, “Man! What are you talking about? We are sitting here while the Europeans and others are working for us like servants! They bring and manufacture different products for us to use.” Do you see what kind of logic they had? Their rationale was that others make things and we use them, [thus] they are our servants! The Europeans would take our oil, they took over our markets, and they interfered in our policies to the maximum extent. This foolish person who was talking with me considered such a thing to be something that the nation should be proud of! This is what I mean when I say that a nation has been held back. This is one method [for weakening a nation].
The second method was to instill the belief “we cannot” in people and in the youth. During the period when Iran’s oil industry was nationalized, at the time of Mohammad Mosaddeq, the Iranian National Parliament discussed nationalizing the oil industry so that they could take it out of the clutches of the British. The prime minister in the Shah’s regime — Haj-Ali Razmara, who was a lieutenant general in the army — came to the Parliament. I believe this is what he said, what I remember is that he came and said, “What are these things you are saying about nationalizing the oil industry and managing the Abadan refinery [at that time the largest oil refinery in the world]? Are we capable of doing that? An Iranian can’t even make a ‘lule-hang!’”
You may not know what a “lule-hang” is, you haven’t seen one. A lule-hang is a ewer made out of clay. You’ve seen what a ewer looks like [audience laughs]. They used to make ewers from tin, copper, and the like. There was also another type of ewer in remote areas that I had seen. They used to make those out of baked clay. In other words, it was the most lowly, primitive thing that a person could make. He [Razmara] said that an Iranian isn’t even capable of making a lule-hang and that is the most that it is possible for an Iranian to produce! That is how they brainwashed people.
This is the meaning of “istizaf.” They wanted to make the nation believe, “You, an Iranian, are incapable of doing things. Why are you insisting on this for no reason? Why are you even trying?” So during the reign of the Pahlavi regime, during its final years, when they were on relatively better terms with the Soviet Union, they bought wheat from the United States and the Soviet Union built the silos for them! In other words, they weren’t even capable of building silos, let alone dams, highways, and such things. That is how the situation was.
Well, the logic of the pro-Western people of that day was that Iranians cannot, they are incapable, and that Iranians aren’t competent enough to build. Now, compare that view to the reality that exists today, to what our young people have done in the same field of nuclear energy that you are involved in and are aware of. There are other fields as well. Similar progress has also been made in other fields. Similar progress has been made in various sectors — in defense sectors, in nano[-technology] sectors, and in many other important scientific fields. Compare today’s spirit, today’s hope, today’s enthusiasm for work, and today’s actualized ability to the situation that existed that day.
Back then, pro-Western people used to humiliate the nation, and today the nation is humiliating people who are pro-Western. Today, our nation is humiliating those individuals who have such thoughts and illusions. How do they humiliate them? With these things that you have constructed and shown us here. This is humiliating people who are pro-Western. This shows the big mistake of those who wanted people to believe that the Iranian nation is incapable. For 20 years, the West has been focusing on our nuclear capabilities. Today, our nuclear facilities and progress — that is, our nuclear supplies — are more than a hundred times what they were 20 years ago. That is, today we have more than a hundred times the nuclear supplies that we had in 2003, which was the beginning of our nuclear challenge with the West — the continuous sanctions and the like.
Those who are skilled in this field and informed say this. This is the reality of our country. Of course, they did everything they could to stop this movement. They also committed crimes, assassinated people, and took these dear scientists from us by way of their atrocities. They thought that if they took Shahriari, Ali Mohammadi, and the rest from us, the work would stop. The work didn’t stop, it wasn’t interrupted, and, thank God, it moved forward. That is, our young people and our scientists proved that this industry has been indigenized, that it belongs to the nation, and that it cannot be taken away from this nation. They now confess to this too.
I would also like to say something beside the main point here. It is something beside the main point but important. You see, about 500 years have passed since the event that is known in the West as “the Renaissance” — the change in the path of the lives of Westerners. During the Renaissance, the most fundamental issue that existed was the confrontation between science and religion. That is, they wanted to say that if you want to progress scientifically, you should put aside religion, spirituality, and the like. This was the most important, or one of the most important, lines of thought of the Westerners' movement in the Renaissance. About 500 years have passed since that movement. Today, in the country of the Islamic Republic [of Iran], which is a country of spirituality and an “Islamic republic,” the most important scientific work is being done in competition with those who have been working in these scientific fields for many years. Who is moving the work forward? The faithful youth, [people like] Fakhrizadeh and Shahriari who were committed to praying the recommended mid-night prayer, they are the ones moving the work forward. That is, science and spirituality are intertwined in this way. This is an important point that must be paid attention to.
The third matter I want to discuss – and time is up too – is a few recommendations. The first recommendation that I have written down here – although with the explanations they have given in this exhibition, I have seen that attention is being paid to this fortunately – [is that] the capabilities gained from nuclear science should be used in different parts of people’s lives. Nuclear science is important for industry, health, agriculture, the environment, desalination, the treatment of diseases, and all areas in society. Fortunately, the Atomic Energy Organization [in Iran] is doing this. It has not stopped at energy, and it pays attention to these fundamental, important tasks. I emphasize and I insist that you pay attention to this, follow up on it, and improve people’s lives by making scientific progress in the nuclear industry.
My next recommendation is that you share this information, this great capacity, with people. What do people know about nuclear energy? With regard to nuclear energy, they only understand energy. They understand that you want to make, for example, a center for the generation of electricity or for the generation of energy. This is not the issue. The issue [is this that] this industry can have an effective, useful presence in all areas of people’s lives. Tell this to the people so that they will appreciate this industry, and when they say, “It is our inalienable right,” they will really understand that it is their inalienable right. Of course, the IRIB has a role to play and so do various bodies, but the one to do the work is you yourselves. Communicate with people in different ways.
Another recommendation is to commercialize nuclear products and services. Of course, the reports they have presented to me [show that] some parts have already been commercialized. This should become more widespread. There is a good demand for our achievements in international markets, and these can truly be used to the benefit of the country’s economy and as a revenue. [We should] cooperate with aligned countries that aren’t opposed to this. Of course, in some of these reports it has been said that there is some cooperation going on. Either they asked for this cooperation or we did. This should be followed up on too. [We should] cooperate and use the world’s existing facilities and scientific progress as much as possible.
The next issue is the issue of 20,000 megawatts that I spoke of a few years ago. Take this issue seriously. Assume that, for example, we are using about 1,000 megawatts of nuclear energy now, and there is a plan to increase this. However, the goal should be set at 20,000 megawatts. From approximately 80-90 thousand megawatts which, let’s say, the country will need in the future over the medium-term, 20,000 megawatts must be from nuclear energy, which is financially, biologically, and environmentally efficient. Follow this up seriously and plan for this. As I have written down here and have communicated this to friends [in the exhibition], work should be done on low-power and low-capacity power plants. Now, work has been already done on the technology for power plants with a capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts, and experience has been gained. But this experience can [also be applied] to low-capacity power plants, which I have heard are common in the world today. [Other countries] are mostly working on low-capacity power plants – 200-megawatt [plants], 100, and even less than 100. Three or four years ago, I asked about this from [the head of] one of these countries that has this technology. I said that they have a 30-megawatt power plant, and for them to give it to us. He said, “We don’t have it.” I said, “Yes, I have a report that you do.” Their minister was sitting there. He asked him, and [the minister] answered something. I realized that they acknowledged that they have this, but they didn’t give it to us anyway. I mean it was difficult for them. We need these low-power, low-capacity power plants for different sectors. Follow up on this.
My next recommendation is with regard to the issue of our human resources. Human resources are very important. There are very few students studying in this field (nuclear sciences) now. I don’t want to mention a number, but we must have at least ten times as many students [in this field]. There are certain reasons for this. Well, it is difficult. It has its own difficulties and problems. These difficulties must be compensated for. The existing scientists and experts should be used as much as possible. Their protection should be taken seriously. Anyway, respecting human resources and maintaining human resources is very important in this industry. Of course, the organization’s performance in recruiting human resources and managing these resources is also important. How to manage human resources in terms of various evaluations in different aspects is also important. After all, the enemy is working in these areas, and you have seen this, and friends have tasted the enemy’s blows. They infiltrate places and commit acts of sabotage, which they have done, and we have all seen this. You must be very serious in taking care. Human resources are very valuable. Protect them. In evaluating them use maximum consideration, skill, and accuracy.
There is also a recommendation [about] some of the challenges faced by the organization, for instance communication with the IAEA. I strongly recommend you maintain communications with the Agency. That is, maintain cooperation and interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but, of course, within the framework of safeguards agreements. That is, do not accept to do more than that, and [only] do what we need to do according to the safeguards agreements. From the beginning, my recommendation to these various officials who have come and gone in this industry over the past 20 years has always been the same. I have said that you must work with the IAEA.
[At the same time,] Parliament’s laws must not be violated. This is my next recommendation. Parliament has passed a law (The Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions). This law is in our interest. It is in the interest of the country and in the interest of the nuclear industry. Some people imagine that this law is creating problems for the country. They are wrong. This law is a good law. In any case, it is a law, and the law must be obeyed. There is no room for discussion. The law must not be violated. Whether it is in gaining the access expected from you, or in the information you provide, act according to this law.
Sometimes false claims and coercive demands are made. Do not accept these. The organization must not give in to coercive demands. Stand by your own positions. Do what you need to do, [but] do not give in to what they ask you to do with coercion, and do not accept it. Sometimes they make claims that are untrue. Do not accept these claims. [They say,] “You did such and such thing at such a time.” No, do not give in to their false claims. In particular, a commitment was made last March, and [based on] the report I saw — this report is actually new — the other party did not fulfill those commitments, but we fulfilled ours. The other party in these commitments is the IAEA. I heard it did not fulfill its commitments. Anyway, be careful.
Another important recommendation is that the existing nuclear industry’s infrastructure must not be changed. During these years, the managers, officials, and those who are active in this industry have done important work and built important infrastructures. You may want to reach agreements in some areas. That’s not a problem. You can have agreements. But the infrastructures must not be changed. They must not be harmed. These are the fruits of other people’s endeavors.
Well, you shouted “God is the Greatest” too. May God make all of you successful. Of course, we were prepared to visit this exhibition for 45 minutes. I was given such a timeline, [but] it took twice that time. That is, we looked at the exhibition for an hour and a half. And now we were at your service. May you be successful and assisted (by God), God willing. May God grant you prosperity.
O’ Lord, for the sake of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, bestow Your grace, favor, and protection on our dear young people, our good managers, and our valuable, active people in this industry. Make all of them honorable and proud in this world and the hereafter. O’ Lord, make our intentions in what we say and in what we do divine intentions, and accept them from us.
May God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
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