This morning—Thursday September 6, 2018—the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, met with the chairman and the members of the Assembly of Experts on Leadership on the closing day of the 5th summit of the assembly.
In this meeting Ayatollah Khamenei asserted: Today’s propaganda and media war against Iran existed before too, however, it has accelerated now. Based on the information we have obtained, the intelligence services of the United States and the Zionist regime—with the financial support of the Korahs of the region including the countries around us—have launched a brigade of media war and are persistently plotting and striving to contaminate the media and the thinking atmosphere of the society.
Ayatollah Khamenei further elaborated on the media war against Iran by stating that, “This media war is aimed at creating anxiety, anguish, hopelessness and a feeling of having hit a dead end as well as making the people cynical about one another and about the governing bodies, besides exaggerating and amplifying the economic problems in the minds of the society.”
The Leader of the Revolution pointed to the psychological drawbacks of exaggerated criticism and held: Sometimes when the problems or criticisms are expressed exaggeratedly and this exaggeration leads to the extreme intensification of the anxiety of the public opinion as well as the spread of a virus of pessimism in the society.
Ayatollah Khamenei advised against pessimism while embracing criticism and protests and said: I have always—since the beginning of my duty as the leader—criticized or objected to the governments on various subjects, among which there have been harsh criticism, too. I favor criticism—rather than compromise—when dealing with the problems and the responsible sectors; however, I insist that the manner in which it is expressed or carried out should not be in a way that would afflict the people with the disease of pessimism.
Ayatollah Khamenei warned that a negative media atmosphere in the country would harm the nation and stated: The general atmosphere of the country should not turn into a condition where the positive measures and promotions turn unbelievable while the false words of the enemy become believable; because this situation would be very dangerous.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution suggested that criticism should emerge out of benevolence, adding: Benevolent criticism is aimed at improving the essential affairs. Sometimes criticism should be made publicly and not secretly; however, talking in a way that creates anxiety in the hearts of the audience, making them feel we have lost everything is not a proper act.
“The remedy to the problems of the country is not to leave the government alone and express opposition to the activities of the sectors in charge; the remedy is to create a healthy relation between the public opinion and the government sectors; the remedy is speaking out and criticizing while at the same time offering intellectual assistance and aid to realize it [the desired change],” Said Ayatollah Khamenei among members of the assembly of experts.
Ayatollah Khamenei urged government officials to benefit from public suggestions and criticism and mentioned: The government officials should benefit from people’s ideas and the solution offered by economy experts including the ones on the value of the national currency and directing the liquidity. The duty of the governmental officials is to use the opinion of the experts and make an effort to solve the problems.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution then described the responsibility of the leadership as “Our duty is to guide the governmental officials towards using the advice of the experts, solving the problems and making the people positive and optimistic about their efforts.
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the private meetings with he has with the officials of the various sectors and held: My private meetings with the governmental, judiciary and armed forces officials have happened 10 times more than the public ones covered by the media. At these private meetings various issues are raised and discussed, but the public does not know about these meetings.
He went on to say: The way to improve is not to dispute, just as creating organizations to carry out tasks parallel to those of the governments is not expedient and will not succeed. Experience has proved that efforts should be made by the officials through lawful channels.
Finally, Ayatollah Khamenei offered help and support to the officials and said: The officials should make efforts in a jihadi manner [selflessly]; of course on particular matters like the recent letter by the head of the Judiciary—wherein the law may not be able to respond and there is need for a permission by the leader—we will certainly assist and cooperate with them.
