Leader says Iran progressed despite Western restrictions

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says conditions set by Western countries for supplying Iran with nuclear fuel prompted the country’s young scientists to produce the fuel on Iran’s soil.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with heads of Iranian universities and higher education centers in Tehran on Wednesday.

“For selling 20-percent [nuclear] fuel [to Iran], Westerners set humiliating conditions. Of course, this ended in our favor and our youth made effort and produced it [inside the country],” the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei stated that the success of the Iranian youths in producing nuclear fuel inside the country put Western countries “on edge.”

The Leader noted that according to the latest figures, Iran has gone down two notches in terms of the pace of its scientific progress. “This is bad. With this pace of scientific progress we are way behind. We have been kept behind for many long years.”

Noting that the United States started its scientific progress 140 years ahead of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The issue that amazed the world is the speed of our progress. They said the speed of the Islamic Republic’s scientific growth is 13 times that of the world’s [scientific] growth figure.”

Criticizing occasional un-Islamic moves in some universities, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “Some people have mistaken cultural work in universities for mixed concerts and camps.”

Ayatollah Khamenei underlined that cultural activities should train students who are “creative, revolutionary, believing in [religious] ideals, loving their country and the Establishment, with insight, with self-confidence” and full of hope.

The Leader also told officials to give enough latitude to “faithful and revolutionary” youth for their activities.

Advising Iran’s academic community to fight off the feeling of humiliation, the Leader said, “The feeling of humiliation is very dangerous. The entire world says that Iran is a dignified and powerful country and enemies are dismayed at Iran’s [rising] influence, then some [people] in universities or in [their] newspaper say due to a sense of low esteem that ‘we are nothing and are isolated’. Now, if you underestimate yourself, why underestimate the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic Establishment?”