Khamenei.ir

Speaking in a meeting with thousands of enthusiastic students of Yazd universities Thursday morning January 3rd, 2008, Ayatollah Khamenei the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran described the boosting of national self-confidence as necessary and a major factor contributing to the development of the country. And explicating the three factors undermining national self-confidence, he stressed, “following their extensive failures against the Iranian nation, the enemies are looking for new methods and machinations and people, especially the elites, must be fully alert and prepared to eliminate the debilitating factors and pursue the process of building up the national self-confidence.

Expressing his great satisfaction over attending the lively, enthusiastic, convivial and intimate meeting with the young students, the leader referred to Islamic Revolution, victory in the Sacred Defense era, the effect of the unparallel personality of the late Imam Khomeini and success in various arenas, especially the nuclear technology, as the factors contributing to Iranian nation’s attainment of a reasonable degree of self-confidence and added, “the Iranian nation is half-way through to the achievement of its goals and ideals. It is involved in a regional and international race for development and at the end of the implementation of the 20-Year Prospective Document it should have the last word on various issues in the region. Achieving this goal requires the boosting of national self-confidence and accelerating the developmental process of the country.”

Explicating the reasons behind the hostility of the world’s domineering powers towards the Iranian nation, the leader of the Islamic Revolution stated that “the government of the united states, that is the personification of Satan, and other domineering superpowers have come up against a serious obstacle called Islamic awakening and Iranian nation’s resistance and this is the major cause of the struggle between the West and the Islamic republic of Iran. That is because they consider the Islamic system as the main cause of their failures in the Middle East and the revelation of the genuine nature of their empty slogans about supporting democracy and fighting terrorism.”

Referring to the frustration of the US to thwart the Iranian nuclear advancement, he added, “The Americans who were once not prepared to tolerate the existence of even five centrifuges in Iran until a couple of months ago insisted that Iran should suspend its nuclear activities, but with the nation’s resistance, they are now forced to say that Iran should stop here and not go any further.”

Ayatollah Khamenei described the enemies’ attempts at finding new ways to deal blows to the Iranian nation as the natural consequence their failures.“

The need for national self-confidence today is greater than ever before and the nation, especially students, elites and administrators, should detect and predict the aliens’ new schemes to weaken Islamic Iran so that they can foil their new plots.” He said.

Explicating the positive effects of the national self-confidence, His Eminence told the audience, “If a nation does not posses this fundamental characteristic, it will always stay backward and wait for assistance from the others, but enjoying public self-confidence, raises the thought of fulfilling the needs of the nation in the elites’ minds, results in the flouring and using of talents, and entails accomplishments each of which prepares the ground for a cluster of further accomplishments. The Iranian nation has experienced this fact in the Sacred Defense era.”

He described the generation of despair, misuse of talents and the threats of a military assault as the three main factors that the enemies use to undermine the Iranian people’s self-confidence. He underscored the need for alertness on the part of the nation, especially the intellectuals, to these factors and added that “the aliens try to engender despair and passivity among the people, especially the youngsters, by generating despair, denying their advances, highlighting the distance between the Iranian nation and the developed nations, and portraying the future prospects as dim; however, the nation will continue to move towards the summits of growth and development by realizing the facts, recognizing the capabilities of its youngsters, and relying on the successful experiences of the past three decades in fulfilling national needs.”

Criticizing the harmonious attitude of some people inside the country with the wave of disappointing foreign propaganda, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “regarding the nuclear energy issue some individuals claimed that the construction and operation of the centrifuges in Iran was not true, but when this capability of the nation’s scientists was proven to everybody, they claimed that trying to utilize the nuclear energy is not profitable and cost-effective which is another false claim.” He went on to say, “The Iranian nation must obtain at least twenty thousand megawatts of electricity within twenty years, otherwise it should give up the process of development; therefore, even now the government may have been too late to make endeavors to utilize nuclear energy.”

The leader of the Islamic Revolution, touching upon the claim that Iranian youngsters and scientists are incapable of building a nuclear reactor, noted, “These remarks originate  in having been influenced by the propaganda broadcast by the opponents of Iran’s development. But a nation that has managed to build enormous enrichment centers relying on its youngsters will certainly be able to build a nuclear reactor with its capable hands and minds and will not permit any hesitations.”

Commenting on the remarks made by the US president George W. Bush that Russia provides the nuclear fuel for Iran and thus, Iranians should give up uranium enrichment, his Eminence added, “This ridiculous remark is analogous to telling a country that is rich in petroleum resources to fulfill its petroleum requirements by importing it from abroad.”

“Will the nation not be forced to give in to the suppliers of nuclear fuel if they one day, for any reasons, deprive Iran of this product or lay down strict conditions for it?”  Ayatollah Khamenei asked further in his statements.

Pointing to the deep satisfaction of the Iranian nation with the enormous advances in nuclear technology, the leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “These advances are a source of increased national self-confidence; however, some individuals challenge the government for these very advances and, willy-nilly, make attempts to undermine the national self-confidence, but the nation should take precautions in this regard.”

Touching upon the process of withdrawal in response to the nuclear demands of the enemy in the past few years, the leader stated, “of course, this process convinced the Iranian nation and the global public opinion that western promises are hollow as the voluntary temporary suspension of nuclear activities on Iran's part was abused by the enemies and it almost resulted in the termination of nuclear activities. At that time, I emphasized that if process of continual demands continued, I would personally intervene, which I finally did and turned the process of declining nuclear activities into progressive advancement.”

“Breaking off the relations with America is one of our fundamental policies. Of course, we have never said that these relations will remain suspended for good; however, America's conditions are in a way that make the establishment of these relations detrimental to our nation and thus, we will certainly not pursue that.” Said the Leader, continuing his discussion concerning the penetration of alien elements to undermine the national self-confidence.

 “First of all, these relations do not reduce the danger of an American military attack as the US assaulted Iraq while it still had political relations with the country. Second, the establishment these relations provide America with an opportunity to infiltrate into the country and prepare the ground for the free circulation of American secret agents and spies; therefore, despite what some talkative people claim the establishment of such relations is not currently beneficial to the Iranian nation and certainly the day these relations are perceived beneficial, I will be the first person to approve them.” Said the Leader explicating the negative consequences of establishing relations with the US.

His Eminence also added that “some people accuse us of provoking America's hostility, but this country's animosity towards the Iranian nation is aimed at the principles on which the Iranian nation is based and it has been there since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution.”

Ayatollah Khamenei described unreasonable and constant fault-finding with the decisions and performance of the administrative system of the country, especially the present government, as destructive to the hope and vitality of the people and told the audience, “The present government, like all previous governments, has had its own mistakes and shortcomings which must be pointed out compassionately, but incessant fault-finding is inadvisable.”

Pointing to the diligence of the present government, the leader expressed his satisfaction over the provincial trips of the president and his ministers and stated, “The press, media and all those who have the opportunity to talk to people should not find faults with everything and make people disappointed. It is not good for the country.”

The leader of the Islamic Revolution described spreading gossips as a common method utilized by the western media. “Those who accuse Iran and all their opposing governments of the violation of the human rights have themselves set up the Guantanamo Prison and the Abu Ghoraib torturing camp, which leave every honorable man blushing with embarrassment.”

Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the propaganda about the lack of democracy in Iran as another politico-propagandistic pressure of the West to undermine the self-confidence of the Iranian nation and added, “Almost every year the Iranian people enthusiastically take part in an election and select and vote for the their candidates from among various parties. Does democracy mean something other than this in other countries?”

The leader of the Islamic Revolution described the adverse publicity about women's conditions as another political lever used by the West to exert pressure on the Iranian nation and referring to obvious violation of women's rights and trampling on their honor in the western liberal democracy, he noted, “Western governments, despite their crimes against women's rights, accuse the honorable Iranian people of violating women's rights, but this gossiping will not have any effect inside the country.”

Continuing his discussion about the factors that undermine national self-confidence, the leader touched upon the possibility of a US attack and added, “of course, the possibility of this attack is less than before, but after the victory of the Islamic Republic, especially after the Sacred Defense era, the Iranian nation has always been subject to military threats of the enemies. Anyway, the show of power and national self-confidence is the factor that helps reduce the possibility of an assault. In spite of this reduced possibility, people and administrators should always be vigilant, which, with Allah's assistance, they already are.”

 At the beginning of this meeting, Dr. Meybodi president of the University of Yazd, in a report on the process development of Yazd universities, declared that before the Islamic Revolution there were only 200 university students in Yazd, but now there are more than 59 thousand students studying at various levels and in different fields in around 30 universities and higher education centers including 21 PhD courses.

Then, a number of professors and students of Yazd universities expressed their views about various academic, scientific, cultural, social and political issues the most important of which were as follows:

•           Preparing the ground for a greater role for the students and members of universities in the actualization of the 20-Year Prospective Document

•           Increasing and centralizing the research funds and facilities and comprehensive research management in universities

•           The nation's, especially the students' staying vigilant against the psychological warfare and politico-propagandistic machinations of the enemies

•           Reforming the higher education system

•           Further attention on the part of the administrators to culture as the foundation for the development and prosperity of society

•           Creating job opportunities for students of various majors

•           The need for reinforcing the teacher training centers

•           Solving the problems concerning the university and industry

•           The need for increasing the facilities and funds for Payame-Noor universities and fair distribution of funds and facilities among all universities

•           Complete heed to the role of elite students in the software movement and generation of knowledge

•           More facilities for increasing the opportunities for students' marriage

•           The need for a comprehensive perspective on the students' politico-scientific and cultural activities and issues

•           Active participation of students in parliamentary elections to elect qualified candidates