In a meeting with thousands of outstanding youth on Wednesday morning, Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed that in order to reach the peaks of progress and glory, Iran needs scientists and outstanding figures who love the country and its people and are concerned about the identity and destiny of the people.After listening to the comments of the outstanding figures concerning academic, scientific, cultural, social, economic and political issues, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated: "With their sense of spiritual commitment to the country and the nation, outstanding figures of the country should make efforts and sacrifices in their respective areas. This is because outstanding personalities cannot have a genuine and pioneering effect on their society in the absence of love and concern for the destiny of the country and the nation."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution referred to certain historical and contemporary experiences and said that power which is not founded on religion results in oppression and brutality. He stressed that if a nation wants to protect itself against the military, soft, cultural and ethical invasion of global centers of power, it needs prominent figures who are exclusively focused on bringing about progress and glory for their nation. He added that faith is the most important factor that can create this feeling.
His Eminence said that the advances made by the Iranian nation over the past 33 years were the result of prominent people's religious faith and their sense of commitment to the country. "In spite of comprehensive pressure by foreigners, hundreds of prominent figures like Shahid Shahriyari [martyred nuclear scientist] are making sacrifices and doing prominent and timeless work."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that it is unacceptable to have an aggressive attitude towards foreigners as far as scholarly issues are concerned and added: "As we have repeatedly pointed out, we are prepared to be their students and learn from them, but we must not stay a student forever. Rather, we want the Iranian nation to reach a point where others would come and learn from us."
Ayatollah Khamenei said that politicians of the Pahlavi regime were suffering from a sense of inferiority against the west and added: "When faced with the west, they used to completely discount Iran in spite of its brilliant historical background and its massive intellectual and cultural assets. But the Revolution destroyed this reactionary thought and by Allah's favor, the country will achieve further advances thanks to the sense of responsibility and firm determination of the Iranian people and prominent figures."
Elsewhere in his statements, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the need to support domestic producers and industrialists and called on government officials to make increasing investments on production of knowledge and scientific innovation. He reiterated: "This necessary action should be accompanied by managerial improvement in universities and scientific centers of the country so that it can produce brilliant results."
Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the quality of domestic products in certain areas and added: "The President should order governmental organizations to completely avoid purchasing foreign products in these areas."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that the recent scientific movement in the country is the result of the scientific discourse that has been established in the country over the past 10 years. He expressed his satisfaction with the qualitative and quantitative growth of scholarly articles published by Iranian scholars, but added: "We must not aim for quantitative growth of scholarly articles. Rather, the basic principle should be the quality of our articles and, more importantly, their orientation towards fulfilling the needs of the country."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said that dynamic and faithful youth are a precious asset for the country. He welcomed the criticisms voiced by prominent figures and reiterated: "The Iranian nation and government officials have started a difficult path towards a great goal and the existence of weak points and problems are natural on this path, but we must never waver on the path towards its goal and towards continual progress because of such issues."
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that through thinking, writing and reflecting their ideas in designated academic forums, the youth of the country should create a new discourse.