Statements in Meeting with the Chairman and Members of the Assembly of Experts

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 among the earth's inhabitants. God, the Wise, has said in His Book: "He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith to their faith. And to God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and God is Knowing and Wise."

I extend my warm greetings to dear brothers, esteemed gentlemen; and I thank you for your kindness in illuminating and perfuming our workplace with your presence. The importance of the Assembly and its members is such that one truly feels that your presence, God willing, will be a source of blessing wherever it may be. The Assembly of Experts can be a complete manifestation of this divine tranquility; because this divine tranquility is one of the signs of faith: "He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith to their faith." This divine tranquility is a means of increasing faith and strengthening belief. The meaning of tranquility is also calmness in the face of turbulence; various events, diverse news, hostilities, and different situations naturally create turbulence in the souls of human beings. This calmness often serves as a foundation for stability of thought and mind and steadfastness on the path. The Almighty God grants this tranquility, this calmness to the believers by virtue of their faith and assures them that "And to God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth." What should a person fear? All the forces of the earth and the heavens, all the laws of nature, are divine soldiers and belong to God; if we are believers, if we are servants of God, these forces will be at the service of the believers. This is the calmness that a person finds. Again, in one or two verses later, it is stated: "And to God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and God is Exalted in Might and Wise." This divine honor and power is a sign of the same "to God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth." The believers move, live, and breathe in such a world. The Assembly of Experts is one of the places that can be a source and origin of such tranquility.

Two important elections take place in this Assembly: one is the election by the people, where they determine and elect their representatives, and the main task of these representatives is also the election they will later conduct; the second election is the leadership election. There are two elections here; that is, the Assembly of Experts is a manifestation of the presence of the people and a representation of the people's involvement and opinions; we do not have any other institution that has two elections within it that reflects independent wills and intentions. The second election is the leadership election; here the criterion and standard is jurisprudence; that is, Islamic values. Therefore, their election is for the governance of Islamic values, for the implementation of Islamic laws, for the realization of Islam in the reality of life. Divine religions have not come to remain only in minds; they must be realized in the reality of life. Well, this requires tools and means; here, this tool is the Assembly of Experts, which ensures the governance of divine values and the implementation of divine laws and the governance of God's religion and the governance of Islam. Therefore, this Assembly is also a manifestation of the people's opinions and religious democracy or Islamic democracy; that is, the complete and total manifestation of Islamic democracy is this Assembly; the importance of the Assembly lies here. When this Assembly is formed and shows its readiness, intellectual independence, and awareness, it brings tranquility and calmness to the hearts of the believers; in fact, this divine tranquility overflows from this Assembly into society. Therefore, it is important that in both elections, careful attention must be paid; both the people's election of the Experts and the Experts' election of the Leader; necessary diligence and intellectual independence must be fully observed. Now, regarding the elections, we have remarks that we will present later; we do not want to enter that topic here.

The Assembly of Experts must have intellectual independence, and now I will explain on what basis this intellectual independence is founded. The main point is that it should not become captive to the imposed clichés of the system of domination. Certain thoughts and concepts are being disseminated worldwide by the extensive propaganda of the system of domination, day and night; one of the most important issues is that we must not become captives. This advice is not only for the Assembly of Experts; it is advice for all the officials of the country, for all the pillars of the system, but rather advice for all thinkers - political thinkers, social thinkers, religious thinkers - to be vigilant: "And if you obey most of those on earth, they will mislead you from the way of God." They should know this. It is not the case that because there is a massive volume of propaganda focusing on a particular issue, emphasizing it, repeating it, and expressing it in various languages, we must inevitably conform to the crowd and present the same thing, repeat the same thing; no, we have our own foundations, we have our own thoughts.

Global arrogance seeks to impose its desired clichés on all the people of the world; both on individuals of nations and especially on the officials and influencers of countries; that is, governments, representatives of parliaments, decision-makers, decision-shapers, what they call think tanks, they want to impose their clichés on all of these and introduce them into their minds and mental spaces. They want everyone to see the world from their perspective; to recognize and understand the concepts they emphasize with their own approach and viewpoint. This approach is a domineering one; with this domineering approach, they either fabricate or manipulate concepts and meanings and want everyone to understand and utilize these concepts according to their meanings and use them in their literature. For example, terrorism is a concept that global arrogance uses in a specific sense; or human rights or democracy. For instance, six months of bombing Yemen and destroying homes, schools, hospitals, and so on is not terrorism; repeatedly attacking Palestinian areas in Gaza and elsewhere and killing hundreds, even thousands of innocent children, women, and defenseless people is not terrorism; the fact that the people of Bahrain say that we should each have one vote in this country has nothing to do with human rights, this is not a demand for human rights; but the defense of the resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon is terrorism; the groups that resist in Lebanon or Palestine, fighting against the occupier, defending their land and homes, are labeled as terrorists! What happens in the despotic countries - which are considered part of the close circle of domination and America in this region - is not against human rights; but suppose a much smaller incident occurs in Lebanon or elsewhere, and they convene a Security Council meeting for it! This is how they view global issues; they manipulate concepts, impose meanings, and expect everyone, including us in the Islamic Republic, to understand according to their interpretations, to see from their perspective, to speak in their literature; they expect this from us; this is one of the clear signs and manifestations of domination and global arrogance; while the Islamic Revolution itself has a coherent ideological system.

The importance of this revolution and the reason it created a quake in the world was not that it overthrew a government; no, the reason was that it presented a new ideological system to the world, and today, this ideological system continues to progress across the globe. Despite the efforts to conceal and suppress it, this ideological system is being passed from hand to hand, and many hearts in the world - both in the Islamic world and to a lesser extent outside of it - are attracted to it; hearts are still aware of this system, and this ideological system continues to maintain its freshness and vitality.

One of the important components of this ideological system, which is very attractive, is the denial of oppression, denial of global arrogance, denial of despotism - despotism also includes the oppression that rulers and governments impose on their own people, and the despotism and dictatorship that the system of domination creates at the global level - this is part of this ideological system. The dignity of nations, national dignity, and in Islamic countries, Islamic dignity; the self-sufficiency of nations from relying on others and being dependent on powers; these are part of the intellectual framework of Islam. Comprehensive independence - independence is a very important matter - intellectual independence, political independence, economic independence, which is the most important, and intellectual independence can bring about the rest of these independences; these are part of what exists in the Islamic intellectual system and that ideological framework, and these are what provide attraction; and these are fresh, they do not become outdated, they do not come to an end.

This famous slogan "Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic" is almost a movement from the specific to the general, meaning the general mention follows the specific; first we say "independence," then we say "freedom." Independence is part of freedom; that is, if we consider individual freedom, this is one side of the coin, but freedom from the domination of powers and superpowers is the other side of the coin; this is also freedom; therefore, independence is part of freedom, and those who seek freedom, if they deny independence - which unfortunately sometimes we see some pseudo-intellectuals deny the concept of independence and its instances with seemingly logical sophistries that are in fact anti-logic - are actually opposing freedom. Independence is an inseparable part of freedom; it is a component of freedom. A part of the concept of freedom is the independence of a country; freedom on the scale of a nation; this is the meaning of independence. Then all of this is part of the Islamic Republic; that is, the Islamic Republic is not only freedom, not only independence, but also includes these and many other teachings. When we explain these to our audience, we see that they have attraction; these attract hearts.

The result of these ideological perspectives is that the nation gains self-confidence, which our nation has fortunately gained today. This self-confidence in our country, thanks be to God, is increasing day by day. Despite the constant obstacles created, the continuous attacks, and the various ways in which it has been hindered, fortunately, self-confidence in our country is growing day by day. There is self-confidence, there is intellectual freedom, there is practical freedom - that is, individual freedom not in the logic of Western and American individual freedom; they are against freedom; freedom in the true sense of the word - there is an Islamic lifestyle, there is innovation, there is national unity. These are things that, with these thoughts, are realized in the mentality of society, in the actions of society, in the reality of society, and all of these are in the direction of Islamic values. Well, these things develop a nation. When a nation has an independent intellectual outlook, national self-confidence exists, innovation exists, effort and work exist, and there is a unity of word among all forces, a continuous movement exists, these characteristics cause a nation to grow. And our nation has fortunately grown. And of course, there have been many obstacles that I will mention.

Imagine the day when Iran is at the forefront of material progress among today's advanced countries; in terms of science, technology, and wealth creation. A country with these characteristics: with advanced science, with advanced industry, with a population of 150 million or 200 million, and endowed with spirituality, meaning it does not seek domination, does not seek bullying, does not seek to impose its words on others, helps the oppressed, and stands against the bullying of the world's bullies; imagine such a country; see how heavy this is for global arrogance! All the efforts being made today in confronting the Islamic Republic are to prevent such a day from coming; to prevent this future from being realized for the Islamic Republic: a developed country with all the indicators of material advancement and at the same time endowed with spirituality, with a pure spiritual essence, with an Islamic lifestyle, with brotherhood, national unity, and national synergy, and without encroachment and aggression against others; they want such a day not to come for Islamic Iran, and all activities, all efforts, all conspiracies are for such a thing; this is the conflict. The conflict is over whether an Islamic country with these characteristics can come into existence; if it does, the system of arrogance will be dismantled, the system of disbelief will be dismantled. A country that can progress in this way, secure such material appearances for itself, while being reliant on the Almighty God, remembering God, thanking God, worshiping God, prostrating to God, and being submissive and humble before divine laws, you know what attraction, what magnetism it creates in the world and how it draws the hearts of nations! They want this not to happen; the conflicts are over this. If they are opposing our scientific progress, if they are opposing our political presence in countries - which they explicitly say that Iran has influence in the region, has influence in countries, has influence on nations - if they impose these economic pressures, it is to prevent such a situation from arising; to prevent such a day from coming.

We are the opposite of that; we are the nation of Iran, we are the youth, we are the innovators, we are the scholars of religion, we are the university intellectuals. We are the ones who must advance our fundamental movement around the axis of that ideological system in the face of this movement. Everyone must strive, everyone must work, and everyone must know what the enemy wants to do; they must all be vigilant. This is the sensitivity that I want to instill in all the officials of the country, to know what the enemy is doing; to know what the enemy's goal is; with the enemy's smile, with perhaps a short-term assistance from the enemy in a matter, or suppose an assistance they provided somewhere, a cooperation they engaged in, or a word they might say - which is very unlikely - in favor of the Islamic Republic, we should not be deceived by these words; we must know what the enemy wants to do.

Today, of course, the enemy is global arrogance. Global arrogance is not an imaginary thing; it is a real matter and has clear manifestations; America is the greatest manifestation of it, and behind the ruling body of America are the companies, trusts, cartels, and world-devouring capitalists, mostly Zionists, who are widespread everywhere; it is not limited to America; they have significant influence in Europe as well, and in some other places similarly; this is the meaning of arrogance. The glass of life for this arrogance will be shattered by such an Islamic movement, which began with the Islamic Revolution, continued with the Islamic Republic, and the continuity of the Islamic Republic's movement along the lines of the revolution is secured, and the future is also moving in this direction. There are things that one observes that truly give hope. Sometimes they bring various exhibitions of progress in different sectors before us - some of which are publicly announced, while others are not announced but we see them up close - truly, the hands of our youth are miraculous hands. Young people, even those who are young, motivated, faithful, capable, with good spirits, and then relying on God, with prayers, with attention, with reading verses of the Quran, are doing great things, are doing good works; and God willing, these advancements await the Islamic Republic.

I mentioned that we are a country with all these resources and wealth. The other day, in a gathering with the esteemed brothers of the government, I said that I received a report indicating that we utilize fourteen percent of the country's mines - which is one of the most important sources of wealth for our country, our underground mines - the esteemed Minister of Industry and Mines confirmed that this report is accurate. Well, we are such a country; we have utilized only fourteen percent of our underground resources so far. The geographical position, various cultural resources, the depth and influence of the culture of Islam and the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt in the world; these are not small matters; these are very significant treasures, and all of these are at our disposal. Well, therefore, my message is that we, the Assembly of Experts, the officials of the country, influential personalities with platforms in the public space - whether in the media, or in centers of speech and expression - those who can speak, can have an impact, must explain this future more and more, direct hearts towards this future, instill hope in hearts, and create the necessary calmness and tranquility in the hearts of the believers so that we can move forward; we are fortunately progressing.

And now, there are one or two current and important issues that I will briefly mention: one is the issue of the JCPOA, and the other is the issue after the JCPOA, which I believe is more important than the JCPOA itself. Well, regarding the JCPOA, we have expressed our views, what we believe, during these days - both before this agreement was reached and after it was reached. One discussion that exists today is the discussion of the Assembly; the legal and legal status and so on should be examined by those who are knowledgeable in these matters to see what the legal requirements and obligations of this matter are and act accordingly; we will not enter that. However, what I express from a general perspective - which I have also conveyed to the President - is that we believe it is not in our interest to exclude the Assembly from this matter; because it is a matter that, after all, for two years, the country has been fully aware of, and now it has reached certain results; therefore, the Assembly must be involved. Now, what should the Assembly do? I have no recommendations for the Islamic Consultative Assembly on how to act in this matter. First, how should the decision-making be? Should it be in the form of approval or rejection, or should they decide in another way? Should they reject it, should they approve it? I have no recommendations. The prevailing opinion is that of the representatives of the nation in the Assembly, and what the Assembly does or does not do is not something we express. We believe that it is ultimately good not to exclude the Assembly, and the representatives of the nation must decide.

And regarding the issues after the JCPOA. We believe there are some matters that the officials of the country - which of course we also discuss these with our dear and sincere brothers in the government and have done so, and I am informing the gentlemen - must pay attention to. First, although there are apparently six governments opposing us, in reality, the one that is active is one government; and that government is the United States, which is fully engaged in this matter, sweating and working hard. American officials speak very poorly; the nature of these words must be clarified; after all, we are one side of the matter, and the Americans are the other side. One moment they say that the framework of sanctions will be maintained; then why have we been sitting here for a while, what have we been talking about? We spoke to lift the framework of sanctions; it is supposed to be maintained! Now, I do not know what the meaning of "the framework of sanctions will be maintained" is? They may interpret this in some way, but what comes from this statement is directly contrary to the reason we went for negotiations; otherwise, why would we negotiate! We were doing our own work; we had produced nineteen thousand centrifuges, we could have reached fifty thousand or sixty thousand centrifuges in a not too long time; we had no problem doing that; we were producing twenty percent fuel, we could have continued; we were conducting research and development, and we could have continued at the same pace; and so on with the rest of the things. The fact that we sat down to negotiate, in some cases we made concessions, we gave some privileges, was mainly to lift the sanctions; if the sanctions are not to be lifted, then there is no deal, this does not make sense at all. The officials must clarify this and not say that he is saying this to convince his internal rivals. Yes, the conflict in America is a real conflict; I do not believe it is a superficial and apparent conflict; they really have disagreements, and the reason for their disagreements is clear to us; however, what is officially stated requires a response; if a response is not given, it will be established. This is one matter.

The second point is that they talk about the same part of the sanctions that they claim will be lifted, saying it will be suspended or halted; our issue has not been this. It is clear that economic sanctions must be lifted; we said immediately! Now, they interpreted "immediately," and we did not say anything, that is fine; our friends here interpreted that "immediately" in a certain way, they chose an arrangement for it, and we did not oppose it. However, in the end, the sanctions must be lifted; we do not have a suspension of sanctions, we do not have a halt of sanctions; if they suspend, then we will also suspend here; if that is the case, why should we take fundamental action on the ground; therefore, the intention is to lift the sanctions. Of course, in some cases, they said that the lifting is not in the hands of the American government, which is our negotiating partner; they said they would suspend them and use their legal rights and do things like that; however, what is in the hands of the American government or what is in the hands of European governments must be completely lifted.

Another matter is that they make statements that are completely outside the scope of the nuclear agreement and such things; things that are completely unrelated to these discussions. The gentlemen and ladies in the ruling body of America speak as if they are from the English of the nineteenth century; that is, they are really two centuries behind the world and history! They speak in a way that one might imagine Lord Curzon spoke at one time in the Persian Gulf regarding Iran or the region; their way of speaking is like this; the world has changed. Today, superpowers do not have such power, such capability, they do not have the ability to do such things; and then the counterpart is the Islamic Republic; the counterpart is not some backward country from some continent that you can say whatever you want; no, it is the Islamic Republic, with capabilities that you know some of these capabilities, and some you may recognize in practice; it is not the case that they sit and constantly threaten; they speak like this.

Among the statements they make that make us sensitive is that they say the JCPOA has provided opportunities - both inside Iran and outside of Iran and in the region - for America; this is what the Americans say and is part of their statements. My message to our friends in the government and in various responsibilities is that do not allow this opportunity-seeking within the country to happen at all; outside as well, strive to ensure that these opportunities do not become available to America. The closer they get to these opportunities, certainly the humiliation of nations and the backwardness and suffering of countries will begin from there; absolutely, we must not allow them to take advantage of these opportunities within the country. We have stated and announced that we will not engage with the Americans in any matter other than the nuclear issue; we have told our foreign policy officials, and we have told the other officials that we will not engage. The reason is that their orientation is exactly opposite to our orientation, we are 180 degrees different. This is one part of the matter.

Another part is the economic aspect; now, our political issues are one part of the matter, economic issues are an important matter. We have asked our brothers in the government to prepare a comprehensive operational and practical program for the realization of resistance economic policies; we have said this both in meetings with the government and to the esteemed President; and we expect that, God willing, this will be prepared. Resistance economy cannot be fragmented so that we say we will implement this part of it; no, it is a whole, a complete set where the components complement each other; it requires a single operational program that addresses all its components. Of course, our brothers in the government have the will and intention for this, they will strive, God willing, and this work will be realized. If this happens, it does not matter to us whether the amount of money that returns to Iran is, for example, one hundred billion dollars or five billion dollars; that is, the importance of this is secondary. Of course, what we are owed from the world, what is in the hands of others - which has been unjustly withheld until now - must be utilized by us, there is no discussion about this, but the importance of realizing resistance economy, which is not dependent on these foreign funds in this way and with this intensity, is more important than all of this. In our view, if we can realize this resistance economy with an operational program - not just in words - and implement it outside, our work will progress well, and the people will help us. We have stated that an active operational headquarters should be established in the government, God willing, to follow up, determine the responsibilities of each agency, which part of the work is assigned to which of the economic and non-service agencies; and schedule it, determine in what duration and at what time this responsibility will be fulfilled by that agency and follow up until, God willing, this work is accomplished and this great and comprehensive national movement is realized.

What I want to say in conclusion is that our faithful forces across the country should know that the movement is towards the goals and ideals of Islam; there is no doubt about this. And everyone should keep themselves ready, everyone should be prepared; the faithful forces, the authentic and committed forces across the country - who, thanks be to God, constitute the vast majority of this country - should be ready for action. Being ready for action does not mean being ready for war; it means being ready for economic work, being ready for cultural work, being ready for political work, being ready to participate in various fields and arenas; they should be prepared, we all must be ready. In the face of these enemy orientations - which our enemies do not recognize day and night - we must also not recognize day and night and all be ready. And God's promise is true; the Almighty God’s promise is true, we should not have any suspicion about God's promise. Once I mentioned here that we must seek refuge in God and not have any suspicion about God's promise. The Almighty God has cursed; "Those who think ill of God, the evil of time will circle around them, and God has become angry with them and cursed them and prepared Hell for them, and what a bad destination it is." This means God has cursed those who have ill thoughts about God. Having good thoughts about God means believing when He says, "If you help God, He will help you," this is having good thoughts about God; when He says, "Indeed, God will help those who help Him," we should believe this. If our intention is truly to support God's religion - the meaning of helping God is the same - we should know that the Almighty God will help, and there should be no doubt in this regard; when a person moves with this spirit, then the tranquility we mentioned will, God willing, descend upon our hearts.

O Lord! Make what we have said and what we have heard and what we do, for You and in Your way, and accept it from us by Your grace, and make the heart of the holy Imam of the Age pleased and satisfied with us.

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