Statements in Meeting with Scientific Elites and Top Talents at Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) Hosseiniyeh

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

The meeting with this group of young elites is truly joyful and hopeful. Of course, I am happy even if I do not see you in person; because I know of your existence, your efforts, and the great movement that has begun in the country for nurturing elites. However, seeing you naturally brings us more joy; I am very grateful to you for coming today, and I thank the Almighty God for granting us this opportunity today; it creates great hope in a person. I am the same regarding hope; I have never been hopeless and, God willing, I will not be. But when one sees you up close and hears the very good words that have been said here, naturally, one's hope increases.

I have noted a few points to present: one discussion is about elites, another is about universities, and if time permits, a discussion about the general issues of the country. Let me first say that some of the points made here are one hundred percent accepted and approved by me; of course, some of the remarks were specialized and outside my field of knowledge, but some of the points made by friends here—gentlemen and ladies—were very solid and valid, and some of them are directed at us, which God willing, we will follow up on. Some of them are directed at the esteemed officials present in the meeting—esteemed ministers, the esteemed Vice President of the Republic are the audience for these remarks—especially the grievances expressed by this young person at the end of the discussion; these are important matters; they must be taken seriously. We do not want to generalize—of course, this young person generalizes these matters—but the reality is that such issues exist, and our dear officials must, God willing, pursue them seriously.

Regarding elites; the perspective on elites is approached from several angles. One perspective is one of satisfaction, pride, and a sense of hope; in fact, it provides a correct image of the state of the country; that is, when one looks and sees tens of thousands of elites across the country engaged in various sectors, this perspective corrects one's image of the country's issues and gives a true picture. One view of elites is that it shows encouraging realities to a person.

Another perspective is the viewpoint of planning for the country's issues; well, at times, there are no active and thinking minds in the country, and one plans for the country's issues in a certain way; but at other times, there are thousands of young, energetic, elite individuals with lofty thoughts, and certainly among them, some possess management skills—because lofty thought is not always accompanied by management ability—and considering these, one wants to plan for the country. Thus, the perspective on elites is also of concern in this regard and is a fundamental point; the impact of elites on planning for the country's issues. For instance, consider the transformation of an oil-based economy into an independent economy, a knowledge-based economy, a resilient economy. If we do not have elite, active, devoted, and energetic elements, we will not take action to change our economy; but when capable, active, interested individuals are at the disposal of the country's decision-making system, naturally, action will be taken. There are times when we do not have the intellectual and software capabilities, for example, in petroleum engineering, and we say, very well, we will use the oil wells as we have until now; but at other times, we have made extraordinary advancements in engineering, including in the oil sector, and we can initiate a new plan for utilizing oil; this is a reminder I have given to the country's oil officials; when this new plan for oil transactions was proposed last year, we said, come and discuss the matters with our youth, with our specialists, and say, for example, our extraction from the oil well is thirty percent; we want to raise this to sixty percent; let them work; give them two years, three years; and we will certainly reach this point. Thus, the existence of elites impacts our planning system. This is the second perspective.

The third perspective, the third viewpoint, is the issue of the scientific advancement of the country. We need to advance scientifically; this is our definite need. If we do not advance scientifically, the threats from our civilizational enemies and cultural and political adversaries will be a permanent threat; that threat will cease or diminish only when we advance scientifically. I have emphasized this issue many times. For nearly twenty years, I have been stressing this, and I have often recited this noble hadith that "Knowledge is power"; (2) from this perspective, the view of elites becomes significant. Elites can advance the country's science and elevate the country to a position of power and dignity that reduces its vulnerabilities. This is the third viewpoint.

The fourth viewpoint is advancing the frontiers of knowledge. Today, knowledge at the human level—not at the country level—is at specific frontiers; well, we must play our part in breaking these frontiers and moving forward, expanding the boundaries. In this regard, our share in recent centuries has been very minimal; we can have a share. The steam power was discovered by others, the electric power was discovered by others, new inventions were initiated by others; we must also have a share; we must open the frontiers of knowledge in our country and move forward. This God-given nature has very many forces. Our elites should sit down and think, discover the new forces of nature. This electricity has existed since the creation of this world; we did not know it, humans did not know it, and did not use it; then, coincidentally, a superior mind, a talented thought discovered it; now it has become the axis of all human civilization; what is the harm in thinking that there are ten or twenty other forces in nature that can equally impact human life, human advancement, and human happiness? Well, some of these hidden forces and hidden potentials must be discovered by our elites. We must expand the frontiers of discovery and knowledge; thus, we also view elites from this perspective. You see! The reason I value and respect elites is due to these perspectives. Our elite can be influential in the state of life, in the state of planning, in the state of the country's advancement, and in the state of human advancement.

Well, there is a point I cannot omit here, and that is a look at the bitter two-hundred-year past of our country. You young people—especially those engaged in scientific fields and the like—are less informed about this; because unfortunately, you usually do not read history; we have lagged behind the world of science for two hundred years; due to neglecting elites and neglecting Iranian talent. Well, this talent that you see today in the country did not come into existence spontaneously; it has been present throughout history; the reason is the existence of Farabi, Ibn Sina, Khwarizmi, and hundreds of renowned historical scholars—not just us—from Iran. So this talent has existed; why should we lag behind in the last two hundred years, during which science has advanced at this speed, to the extent that in the recent Qajar era and the Pahlavi era, we became one of the most backward countries in terms of modern knowledge? This bitter past is very strange.

Note that we are approximately one percent of the world's population—our country's population is approximately one percent of the world's population; in the decades before the revolution, it was somewhat similar; a little less, a little more; we are about one percent—therefore, our share of the collective human efforts should at least be one percent. The production of science at the end of the Pahlavi era—that is, at the end of these two hundred years that culminated in 1979, when the blessed Islamic Revolution occurred—was one-tenth of a percent; in our country, the production of science in the year 1979, which is the year of the revolution, was one-tenth of a percent; see how far behind we were! This was due to the incompetence of the rulers; there is no other reason. Incompetent, materialistic, dependent, inept rulers; they sold arrogance, displayed vanity, but bent over backward before the foreigner and did not think about the interests of their nation; this was the state of our country. Now, these were bitter statistics; of course, thanks to God, today we produce more than our share of science in the world, meaning we are approximately twice our share. That is, we should have one percent of the production of science; now it is approximately two percent; we have 1.9 percent of the production of science, which is good. Of course, we are not satisfied; we must have more than this, but this is our share; some of these statistics were mentioned by Dr. Gholami, and some were mentioned by others, and I might, if time permits, present some things.

In Bahman 1313—these are things you should pay attention to; you good, faithful, thoughtful, and intelligent young people should know these about your country—the University of Tehran, that is, the first university in the country, was established. Forty-four years later, in 1979, before the revolution, the total number of students in the country was 150,000. A number also graduated in proportion, but after the country had 44 years of university, the total number of students was 150,000! Today, 40 years after the revolution, our student population is over four million; we have several million graduates; that is, see, there are two types of governance and two types of systems, and this shows itself here. This is our dark and bitter past regarding science and the story of science and elites in our country. Elites were not nurtured; if someone like Amir Kabir emerged, they would treat him that way. The situation was worse during the Pahlavi era, but they pretended; scientific backwardness, cultural backwardness, moral backwardness, political backwardness. We must be grateful to the Islamic Republic and the revolution and to Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) for this great movement.

Well, I want to present a few recommendations regarding elites. One issue is that there must be a mutual interaction between elites and the management system of the country; this mutual interaction must exist. Of course, they are seeking to do this; this was mentioned in the remarks of Mr. Dr. Sattari, but we must act more seriously in this matter, which I may later explain in more detail; mutual interaction.

The meaning of this mutual interaction from the side of elites is that they must employ all their capabilities for the advancement of the country; of course, sometimes they can do this personally, and sometimes the government must assist; thus, the role of the elite is to advance their country; they must put their capabilities, talents, and capacities at the service of their country. The role of the government and the management system of the country is to provide services, remove obstacles, and not allow the elite to fall behind in their role; if our elite falls behind in their role, the country will fall behind. The elite must be active, must advance; otherwise, merely being an elite is not enough; a dynamic, progressive, active elite is a tremendous asset for the country. This is one point.

Another point that must be considered is that today it has been proven that nothing affects the advancement of a country as much as human resources; this is clear. If there are significant and good human resources, the country will advance; otherwise, it will not. Thus, human resources are a treasure and a great wealth for every country, including ours. Well, now that this treasure exists, now that it is wealth, like any other wealth, it is subject to plunder and looting, and the enemy seeks to take this wealth from the country. Of course, this is not specific to us—perhaps it is more intense in our beloved country—but the system of domination, the system of domination, seeks to take this wealth from the hands of nations. Now, why do they want to take it away? To use it themselves? No, that is not the whole issue. Of course, if they can use it, they will, but their main goal is monopoly; the system of domination seeks monopoly: scientific monopoly, technological monopoly, monopoly of wealth-generating assets, monopoly of power-generating assets; they are after this. Hence, you see that in a country, they come and assassinate scientists—our nuclear scientists were assassinated—because they want this wealth not to be in this country. I said, this is not specific to us; in Iraq, during that three to four-year period when the Americans directly took charge of Iraq after Saddam's departure, dozens of Iraqi scientists were assassinated; the Americans knew that if these scientists remained without Saddam, they would advance the country; thus, they identified and assassinated the scientists one by one. It is the same in other places; monopoly, pay attention! Thus, the elite is at risk. I do not want to scare you; I want you to be aware that the arrogant powers and the system of domination oppose the existence of elites in a country—who are the source of that country's advancement and are considered the greatest wealth of a country. They try by any means to take this elite from this country: either through physical elimination or through cultural and soft elimination or by making them unemployed or by preoccupying them with personal issues unrelated to the country and so on; you must pay attention to this.

What does the system of domination mean? The system of domination—which has been introduced into our political and international literature for years and is a very strong and eloquent expression—its leaders are those who have the tools of power, but do not have the tools to control power. The tools of power are politics, media, weapons, money, audacity—these are the tools of power—but the tools to control power are religion, ethics, honor; which they do not have! Therefore, they do whatever they can. The system of domination means dividing the world into dominators and the dominated; its managers are those I mentioned. Be cautious of the system of domination.

The point following this statement is that the way to prevent the deception and seduction of the enemy regarding the country's elites is to strengthen national identity and enhance idealism among the elites. National identity must be strengthened among the elites of the country; they must feel that they are Iranian Muslims; they must take pride in being Iranian Muslims; this must be strengthened in them; they must take pride in being the continuation of a very honorable and valuable history; our knowledge once dominated the world, our philosophy was once the best philosophy in the world, our scholars, our rights, our jurisprudence were the same; we are the continuation of that history. Of course, a disconnection has occurred—I said that at least two hundred years of disconnection has taken place—but after the victory of the revolution, that great historical movement has continued and has advanced despite all the problems and all the sabotage. We must take pride; national identity and ideals.

A heavy burden rests on your shoulders, elites. Your talent and elite status give you responsibility; of course, this responsibility, like all responsibilities, is a source of honor and pride and dignity in this world and the hereafter; both in this world and in the hereafter, God willing, you will be honored. Know this! One of the enemy's actions is to strip ideals and identities; this is one of their actions; be aware of this point of the enemy's attack.

The next point; the manifestation of elitism is, of course, specialization, which is very valuable, and all the various specializations necessary for managing the country and managing human societies are important—this is a high value; without any doubt—but the elite community should not be satisfied with this. The elite community must also be aware of higher goals; there are higher goals: the elite should not become so immersed in their specialization that they neglect the surrounding environment, the society, and the people; this must not happen. The elite must not forget the issues of humanity; they must not forget the major and important issues of their nation, independence, justice, advancement, and the major social issues. The elite must not focus solely on the knowledge in which they are elite. If you carry out your elite work under the banner of justice-seeking, its value multiplies; if you do it under the banner of national independence and identity, its value multiplies; there is an economic, political, and security war against us; you cannot be indifferent in this war; you cannot. When they came to surround Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and insisted that you must accept the caliphate, he said: "If it were not for the presence of the present and the establishment of the proof by the existence of the supporter and what God has taken from the scholars that they should not agree to the excesses of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed"; (7) if it were not for these responsibilities, I would not have accepted, but this responsibility exists. What is this responsibility? That they should not agree to the excesses of the oppressor; "Kizah" in Arabic means the excessive greed and gluttony that prevents a person from acting—of course, this is a metaphor; it is not about eating in the sense of consuming food; it means enjoying, that is, astronomical rewards, astronomical salaries—these must not exist; and the hunger of the oppressed—"Saghb" means hunger—Amir al-Mu'minin says if my concern and my worry about responsibility regarding the gluttons, the special privilege holders on one side and the deprived on the other side did not exist, I would not have accepted; then he says: "And what God has taken from the scholars"; that is, your responsibility as scholars is not just to teach and study and research; one of your responsibilities is also that "they should not agree to the excesses of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed"; do you understand? This is another matter.

Well, there is also the issue of enemy image-making; now there is a very fierce propaganda and media war against us, just like the imposed war. In the imposed war, at the beginning of the war, we did not even have RPGs; RPG! Well, large armored units were lined up against us; I was in Ahvaz when these armored units, enemy armored divisions were coming one after another; well, these [weapons] needed anti-tank capabilities; we did not even have the ordinary organizational weapons of the army; we did not even have that. At that time, the enemy was equipped with various types of weapons; now it has become the same. Now our media and propaganda capabilities against the enemy are like our capabilities at that time against the enemy; of course, at that time we overcame the enemy, today we will also overcome; without a doubt, we will overcome, but this is the situation. With those vast capabilities, the most important thing the enemy wants to do is to create a false image of the state of the country; not only to deceive the public opinion of the world but even to deceive the public opinion inside the country; even inside the country! That is, they speak so that you and I, who are breathing in this atmosphere, assume something other than the reality that exists. Well, this war exists; if we cannot play a role in this war, if the elite cannot play a role, they have not fulfilled their duty. Therefore, the last point I mentioned and scientific efforts under the banner of justice-seeking, breaking monopolies, fighting oppression, addressing the various issues of the people surrounding the elite, are among the necessary tasks. This is regarding the issues of elites.

Of course, the Elite Foundation is another discussion; I must thank the Elite Foundation. They must work around the clock. Mr. Sattari mentioned Operation Fajr 8 here, where our system and our military managed to shoot down eighty advanced military aircraft in a matter of days; the one who was the pivot of these efforts was his father; the late martyr Brigadier General Sattari. They did not have sleep; I knew, I was completely aware; perhaps about 48 hours would pass, and they would not find an opportunity to sleep. They had divided the HAAG into two sections so that the enemy could not track them and hit our anti-aircraft; here they would activate the HAAG, launch the missile, and immediately collect it and move it several kilometers away so that the enemy could not counter; they performed such a heavy task. They worked around the clock so that we could, as he said—and it is indeed the case—shoot down eighty to ninety modern enemy warplanes. The same efforts are needed now; Mr. Sorena Sattari—who is the son of that martyr—and his friends and colleagues must not know day or night; they must work; work to identify the elite, attract the elite, guide the elite, organize the elite, listen to the elite's words, and address the elite's pain so that a young taekwondo athlete does not come here to stand and complain; that is, they must work day and night, God willing.

Another point is that those who are engaged in guiding elites—especially the Elite Foundation—must ensure that their work does not turn into a habitual daily task. A person starts a task with enthusiasm and interest, then—after a while—it becomes a routine task; this state must not occur. There must always be new work and innovation; methods and approaches must be renewed; and if necessary, organizations.

For the issue of "national identity" that I mentioned, the Elite Foundation must certainly plan and also utilize the office of the Supreme Leader's representative in universities, which will help them.

They must pay attention to knowledge-based companies. I heard that the regulations for these companies—which I had previously advised not to let the regulations for knowledge-based companies decline—have declined; of course, this is a report, and you must follow this up, do not let the regulations for knowledge-based companies decline. Do not be overly pleased with numbers; of course, there is no doubt that if we have thirty thousand knowledge-based companies instead of three thousand, it is better, but only if they are truly knowledge-based and the necessary regulations are observed in them.

And the last point regarding elites: strive to utilize elites in the management structure of the country; mid-level management needs these young people. Now, you might say, "This young person does not have experience in top-level management," but mid-level management can be performed by these young people, and you should utilize them; especially those who are religious and pursue religious and Islamic matters, and thankfully, their number is very high; perhaps most of them are of this kind.

Let me say a few words about universities; time is running out. In the past four decades, universities have served the country. Some criticize universities for only pursuing ISI articles and such; yes, this is a flaw of mine as well. I have said this many times that do not look at what someone who wants your article or demands the top one percent from you wants; look at what the country needs! We have said this many times, and I emphasize it now; however, it should not be said and assumed that the universities of the country have not served the country's issues; no, so much important construction work has been done in the country, who has done these? The university students have done them, mostly the youth have done them. I have noted here, dam industries, power plant industries, bridge industries, road industries; these are phenomena in the country; who did these? It was the young students.

At the beginning of the war, I went to the military region; I was visiting. There, the Jihad youths came to me and said we are building a silo. A silo is a complex structure; contrary to its appearance, which one might think is just a column, it is a complex and important technical structure. They said we are building a silo; I asked, can you do it? They said yes, I said, well then go build it; we will help you do this work. And we became one of the prominent silo builders in the region! Do you understand? They were a few young students. This is while before the revolution, we bought our wheat from America, and our silos were built by the Soviets. This was one of the things we always said in our criticism of the regime; American wheat, Soviet (or Russian) silos. We did not even have the power to do this; the youths dared and went ahead [to build]. So much work has been done, so many advanced roads, so many beautiful and strong bridges, in Tehran one way, in the cities another way, in some roads another way! Who built these? These were built by the university students.

Defense industries; our defense industries are outstanding. Fortunately, one of the very good sectors of cooperation with the university is our defense industries, meaning they cooperate with the university; unfortunately, other sectors—government sectors—cooperate less; they cooperate well; defense industries, missiles, drones, etc. The important nuclear industry with its various dimensions. A few years ago—when our nuclear power was still our undeniable right—here in this very Hosseiniyeh, a comprehensive exhibition was held; they were mostly young! I entered and perhaps spent one or two hours wandering around this exhibition; all were young people! These were created by university students, graduates. Radar technology, aerospace industries, biological sciences, biotechnology, dozens of advanced products in the production of recombinant drugs, biological products, very important knowledge and industry of stem cells, which were created by the late martyr Kazemi (may God have mercy on him), and they turned scientific findings into technology, and they used that technology for treatment; now stem cells are one of the important works of the country and are doing great work, and their scientists are among the top scientists globally. And so on; all these are the services of universities. Therefore, universities should not be accused of not serving the country; no, universities have indeed served the country. Of course, there are many deficiencies in the work of universities; some of these were mentioned by the dear brothers or sisters who spoke here in their remarks.

I recommend emphasizing research at all levels; give importance to research. Take the relationship with industry seriously; the relationship between universities and the industrial sector—including agricultural industries and the like—is a very important issue; it is a great boon for both the university and the industry. Work must reach a point where every thesis that a student prepares in various scientific fields has a supporter from the very beginning, whether from the private sector or the public sector; we must reach this point, just as it is in many countries around the world; at the defense session of students, the owners of industries related to that thesis come and sit, and right there, the student defending their thesis is scouted, contracts are signed right there, and they go to use them. The industry can benefit greatly from the university, and the university can benefit greatly from the industry; this work has not yet been done as we have desired and stated.

The comprehensive scientific map must be updated after nine years. Of course, the comprehensive scientific map has been very well prepared, but now nine years have passed; this must be revised, updated, and new issues must be included, and everyone must certainly give importance to it.

The scientific relationship with countries that are on the path of leap growth—namely, Asian countries—should primarily be directed towards the East; looking towards the West and Europe and such brings us nothing but wasting time, trouble, and humiliation. We must look towards the East; there are countries that can help us, we can face them as equals, we can help them, and they can help us, and we can have scientific exchanges with them.

Interaction with the government regarding understanding needs and priorities; that is, the interaction of the university must be such with the government and must carry out the tasks that the government needs. The work that several groups of professors recently did regarding economic issues truly made me happy; this was a very good work. Now, I do not know whether the government acts on those recommendations, does not act, how much it acts, how much it does not—this is another discussion—but the fact that the professors of the country, the economists of the country feel responsible [is good]. Various groups, especially Basij professors, have written numerous letters to us—we also send them to the government; they must take action—written to the government, to the esteemed President, regarding banking issues, liquidity issues, currency issues, whether collectively or individually; a number of young elites and thinkers have individually provided solutions and recommendations, which we have all asked to be reviewed, summarized, and sent to the executive officials of the country for their use; these are very good; this "defining the relationship between the university and the government" is one of the important issues. Well, this discussion is over.

(I think time is up, meaning I guess the call to prayer is about to happen.) I had written some things regarding the issues of the country, the summary of which in one word is that the enemy wants to present a false and ugly image of the country; this is exactly the opposite of reality. The country has a delightful and beautiful image from various aspects; from all aspects; now, for a few days, the currency price rises, falls, and there are livelihood problems for the people; these exist, we know these, but the image that the enemy wants to impose and convey does not exist, to his dismay; rather, the opposite of that image exists. (The call to prayer has happened, and naturally, our discussion ends.) After the call to prayer is lunch! (After the call to prayer, there is prayer and lunch.) The issues of the country, if we are alive and see you again, we may talk together. May God, God willing, support and protect you; all of you today are beautiful and green saplings, God willing, you will turn into fruitful and pure trees and be beneficial for your country.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.