Iran’s Leader: Encouraging youth to leave country amounts to treason

Ayatollah Khamenei said if a nation neglects its abilities, they will easily be plundered. 

The Leader made the comments in a speech to a group of Iranian university elites. 

Ayatollah Khamenei said that there are people in some universities who encourage young talents to leave Iran. “I clearly say this is treason. This is enmity toward Iran”, the leader said. 

He added that those who encourage migration from Iran are not the youth’s friends. Ayatollah Khamenei also said a key part of the colonialist powers’ soft war is to distract a talented nation, be it Iran or another nation, of its talent and make it become indifferent to its talent or even deny it. 

The Leader said Iran is higher than the world average in terms of mental talent and this is not a claim but is a proven fact. 

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that being a scientific elite is a divine blessing and gift. “Divine blessings should be appreciated. What makes a person an elite is not only mental talent and capacity. There are many who are talented and have mental ability but their talent is wasted”, Ayatollah Khamenei said. 

The Leader also spoke of his decision to ban some imports from abroad. Ayatollah Khamenei said after the imports were banned, prices must not be increased. 

He underlined that all companies including the auto makers must be made science-based. 

Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to artificial intelligence as a key and decisive field. The Leader said artificial intelligence will play an important role in the future and “we must rank among the top ten nations of the world in artificial intelligence”.