Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Meeting with Employees of the Sirjan Copper Complex

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

Today has been a very good day for me; because we visited the vast Sirjan Copper Complex up close and became acquainted with the activities and efforts of the workers, managers, engineers, and experts in this field. Your meeting, dear brothers and sisters, is also a pleasant conclusion to our program today, and I am very pleased to see you dear ones.

What we observed today indicates that scholarly effort combined with high ambition and hope for great work, along with good management and optimal performance in this complex, has been able to shape one of the honors of our country. In this honor, all of you are partners; the workers, engineers, and managers.

Our Islam has commanded us to utilize the vast wealth of the earth for the benefit of humanity; "and He made you its inhabitants". The Almighty God has placed this earth - which contains all the goodness and vital resources for humanity - at the disposal of man and asks him to cultivate it and extract the vital resources for the benefit of human life.

If Muslim societies lag behind in the caravan of knowledge, construction, and innovation, it is because they did not act according to Islamic directives. Today, our claim is that we want to fully adhere to this Islamic command. Your work - extracting this mine and processing the product, which has become increasingly important in life; namely copper - is one of the significant examples of acting upon this Quranic command. The other resources also have the same characteristic and role in their own places; agricultural work has the same role.

The earth is a source of abundant resources for creating a good human life; we want to secure this for our country; we want to act according to the command of Islam. Where the land is cultivated, if done in accordance with divine limits and regulations, human life will also be prosperous.

If you observe societies that are backward and poor, and sometimes the land they live on is a source of immense wealth, yet they themselves are naked and hungry, it is because this duty has not been fulfilled. In this backwardness, two things have played a role: one is the negligence and laziness of those nations themselves, and the other is the insidious and domineering interventions of transnational and international powers in the form of colonialism and various cultural and economic interventions, etc.

The Islamic Iran wants to free itself from this false enchantment. Our claim is that we want our country, land, and territory to be managed and extracted by the people themselves and for their benefit. Those who today harbor enmity and hostility towards Islamic Iran do not want this; they do not wish for the home, land, and soil of this nation to be in the hands of the nation itself; they want to come and take advantage and humiliate the nation.

Before the revolution, one day in this very Sirjan, first the British and then the Americans were busy working and planning. You see how humiliating it is for a nation that cannot utilize the immense treasure beneath its soil; others come and look down on it in a humiliating manner and say you cannot; we are the ones who can; they take the greater share of the benefits. Before the revolution, this was the situation in this country; all statistics show this; all the realities that we have seen with our own eyes or are aware of confirm this.

The Islamic Republic does not accept this humiliation; it says that the hands of the faithful and Muslim worker, and the thought and innovation of the Iranian and Muslim scholar can extract the treasures within this land; it can place it at the disposal of the nation and develop the country; this is part of our fundamental work, and we will advance this path with strength and power, despite the will of global arrogance.

The global and international expansionist powers want to claim the entire world as their own; they are averse to the knowledge, literacy, innovation, and creativity of nations; so that the reins of work remain in their own hands. The primary duty of nations in any part of the world that are still lagging behind in the caravan of knowledge and civilization is to think about knowledge, technology, innovation, and creativity; to work and strive and spend their days and nights to create dignity for their country and nation. The duty of the country's officials is also to encourage and facilitate this movement and remove the obstacles from its path, and to arrange for the products of this effort to be available to all the nation; all segments of society should benefit and profit from it; the field of work and effort should be open, and various talents should be able to enter the field.

I strongly advise all the youth and all those who are moving towards knowledge not to abandon the field of science, research, and innovation, and to revive the spirit of initiative, creativity, and true inner creation. Activity, initiative, innovation, and creativity are the foundation of human progress and human life. The agents of the power apparatus in the past in our country and today in many dependent countries in this region try to replace imitation with activity and initiative. You see a factory is given to a country - of course, they also take a huge amount of money from that country - but the initiative remains in their hands; they do not allow growth, creativity, and innovation; just as it was in our past tyrannical Iran; they did not allow talented internal forces to grow and develop in these fields.

Today, the tables have turned; the Islamic system has opened the field for growth for all. It is us and our determination, it is us and our efforts, it is us and our initiative and creativity that can achieve. If we strive, we will reach the result; this is the divine promise that cannot be broken. If we do not strive, if we fall short, if we forget the spiritual and moral lines in material progress, certainly divine mercy will be taken away from us. We must attract divine mercy for ourselves.

You dear brothers and sisters, most of whom live in the Sirjan Copper Complex and some may have come from outside this complex, are the audience of this divine message and statement that "God's mercy is upon the one who does a deed and perfects it"; God's mercy encompasses those who perform a task and complete it with precision, do not leave it half-finished, and do not act carelessly in it. All of us, in whatever field we are working, are the audience of this address. Government officials, country authorities, high-ranking managers, and various segments in every sector - one corner of which is the industry or mining sector - if they pursue work seriously and apply initiative and innovation in it and utilize knowledge in it, God's mercy will encompass them.

Wherever we find knowledge, we will take it from them. We do not shy away from acquiring knowledge from others. It does not shame us to be students of others' knowledge; but it does shame us to remain students forever. We learn and acquire knowledge; but we add to knowledge; this is the ultimate goal of scientific work in our country.

We must increase the scope of knowledge. We are a talented nation; our history and cultural heritage testify to this. The fact that we can increase production capacities, raise quantities, improve qualities day by day, and identify the unknown aspects in the sectors of industry, mining, agriculture, knowledge, techniques, and other sectors of human life more and more each day is a sign of divine mercy and success. If we continue this effort, divine mercy will continue, and we have a firm determination to follow this path to the end.

God willing, the dust of backwardness will be completely wiped from the face of this country; and this will be achieved by the blessing of Islam and the faith of you people. The faith and firm determination of this nation can be the most important guarantee for the continuation of this path.

The fact that you chant "Death to America" means that the realization of this slogan in the realm of reality is the very work you are doing here. We have enmity with no nation. "Death to America" means death to the interventionist and arrogant powers. A nation that practically brings its independence, identity, and power to the forefront and utilizes its initiative is, in fact, saying "death to global arrogance" and "death to the interventionist powers".

Today was a good day, and its pleasant conclusion was your meeting, dear brothers and sisters. O Lord! Bestow Your mercy and grace upon these brothers and sisters and upon our dear people. O Lord! Increase the successes of the active individuals in the industry and other fields of life in this country day by day. O Lord! Inspire us with what pleases You; grant us success and support in advancing that work, and make the sacred heart of the Awaited One (may our souls be sacrificed for him) pleased and satisfied with us.

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