Statements in Meeting with Representatives and Staff of the Islamic Consultative Assembly

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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and infallible progeny, especially the Awaited Savior on earth.

I extend my warm welcome to dear brothers and sisters, esteemed representatives; this year's meeting is distinguished by the presence of the staff from various sectors of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who are here today. We welcome all of you, thank you for your efforts, and we ask the Almighty God for an increase in His blessings for you and for ourselves in the path of guidance and reform.

Firstly, on the occasion of these days, having just distanced ourselves from the month of Ramadan, and while you are still in the Ramadan spirit, God willing, I would like to say a few words. The spirit of service is a means of drawing closer to God; all the work you do, whether in the Assembly, in committees, or in the institutions related to the Assembly—all of these services—if they are done for God and in the way of God, are true service and a means of drawing closer to God. Truly, there is no worship that equals such services, provided they are done for God. If this spiritual and divine spirit prevails over our activities, our actions, our speech, and our silence, its effect will elevate society and bring people closer to their true essence, which is desired by the divine prophets. We are all captives of materialism; our gaze, our eyes only see the manifestations and signs of materialism; that is why we become attached to these things, and the material beauties attract us. Our eyes do not see beyond this when they become trapped in a material environment. If we increase spirituality, elevate the purity of the heart, take the proximity to God seriously, practice working for God, and move forward, that pure spirit that arises within you will open your eyes to more beautiful, higher, and superior vistas than what we observe of worldly beauties and desires in our world.

If one day you rise from this lowly earth, you will see that the heavens and the worlds belong to that otherworldly kingdom.

By the "kingdom of that otherworld," I do not mean only paradise or the Day of Resurrection; there have been individuals in this world who, with a vision of truth and a spiritual outlook, saw realities in this world and lived a happy life by looking at those spiritual and divine vistas and the superior blessings of God; they were often indifferent to the things we cling to and did not pay attention to them. It is possible to move in this direction; we can all move forward; this is not a rocky and difficult path; if we observe in our actions that this action we want to take, this speech we want to make, this law we want to pass, this advisory opinion we want to give, this service we are performing is for God, is pleasing to God, we should act accordingly, and if we feel it is not pleasing to God, we should refrain from acting; this consideration, this precision is within the reach of all of us. If we act, gradually it will advance us, it will purify us, and it will increase our clarity.

Now, let us turn to the issues of the Assembly. I have noted a few points that I would like to convey to the esteemed representatives. Of course, in past sessions, we have expressed what we deemed necessary and useful, so some of it may be repetitive, while some may not be; in any case, we will convey what we find necessary.

It seems that in every term, the representatives of the Assembly and the senior officials of the Assembly should strive to earn greater distinction, to achieve superiority, and to enhance the quality of the Assembly. Well, if we want to earn greater distinction, the way is to do more work, to do better work; the field of work and service is like this; we must work, we must strive; superior work is necessary, action is necessary, fundamental action is necessary.

Of course, Mr. Larijani (may God protect him) - the esteemed president - presented a good list - he had previously sent a written report that I studied and paid attention to - well, thanks be to God, a lot of work has been done, but an important point is that a quantitative index for evaluation is not sufficient; that we have passed a certain number of resolutions is not enough; it must be specified how much weight these resolutions have in managing the country; because you are the managers of the country and the lawmakers of the country and the rail-layers of the executive movement, this important part of management is in your hands; how much what has been approved has impacted the resolution of problems, the advancement of the country, and the consideration of the general public's interests; therefore, mere quantity is not sufficient; quality must be considered; of course, there are other conditions that we will mention; other things are also necessary beyond this meaning.

In general, I would like to say this: the Assembly must be a manifestation of national dignity and a symbol of the power and stability of the system; this is what the Assembly is; why? Because the Assembly is elected by the general public of the country in various places who have come with a motivation to elect this person - this brother, this sister. Imam said that the Assembly is the essence of the virtues of the nation; this point is very important; pay attention: the essence of virtues, not the essence of all traits! Some traits are not part of virtues. The Assembly must be the essence of the virtues of the nation. The virtues of this nation are very abundant. The Assembly should not be a symbol of doubt, a symbol of self-deprecation; it should not be a symbol of despair and hopelessness or a symbol of indifference and negligence towards the issues of the country. The Assembly should not show that its view of national capacities and capabilities is a hopeless one; these virtues of the nation that must be gathered here are these things.

Now I must express my regret that unfortunately, the study of history among our youth, our people is somewhat weak and faint; otherwise, if one knows history, one sees that this nation is prominent in history, both in the past and in the present. In history, our nation is a symbol of faith, a symbol of knowledge, a symbol of self-confidence, a symbol of pride in its possessions, and a symbol of perseverance; this is how it is in history. I will mention one or two examples briefly; look, the Seljuks came to Iran in the fifth and sixth centuries Hijri; some came from the south towards Iran, and some went from the north towards Asia Minor. Those who went to Asia Minor changed their language, changed their civilization, changed their culture, changed everything; they transformed the ancient Anatolia of the Byzantine state into what their own culture was. Those who came from the south - who are the same Seljuks of Iran - were absorbed into Iranian civilization and culture; they were the same, but they were absorbed here; not only were they absorbed into Iranian civilization and culture, but they also became the propagators and promoters of Iranian culture. Look at the Seljuk period; our art, our architecture, our poetry, our prose were at their peak! They were not Iranians - they were Seljuks, foreigners - but Iran absorbed them into itself; this is the meaning of the power of a nation and the stability of a nation.

The same thing happened with the Mongols; the Mongols came here as invaders and did the notorious things; but what was the result? The Mongols could not impose their civilization, their culture, their Yassa on this country, but this civilization, this culture absorbed them, and they became promoters of faith, promoters of religion, promoters of culture, promoters of art, one of the distinguished periods of our art history is the period of Mongol rule in Iran. This is Iran; this is our history.

To say even more; the Muslim warriors who gave us the dear religion of Islam - one gave us the precious religion - when they went to countries like North Africa - I mention that place as an example - their language changed, their culture changed; when they came to Iran, our language did not change. The Persian language has grown and elevated more during the Islamic period than before Islam. What signs of the Persian language do you have from before Islam? But look at the Islamic period and see what elevation it has; how much poetry, how much prose, how much culture! These are very important; we must pay attention to these. This is from the past.

In our own time, for forty years, the most severe hostilities have been directed against this nation, what could be more severe than this?! Truly, no nation has faced such hostility; comprehensive and universal hostility. A strange coalition of parties, like the battle of the parties in the early Islam, has formed against the Islamic Republic, in dimensions several million times greater, and they have done everything they could; they have imposed sanctions, conducted propaganda, waged war, and executed security plots; they have done everything they could. Compare the present of this nation with forty years ago, at the beginning of the revolution; the power of this nation, the greatness of this nation, the progress of this nation, the knowledge of this nation, the strong international presence of this nation cannot be compared to the beginning [of the revolution]. Day by day, it has progressed; this nation is what it is. You are the essence of the virtues of this nation; so see, know how you should behave. This nation is a nation of faith, of knowledge, of self-confidence, independent, aware of its privileges, and stands firm on these privileges. Forty years have passed since the revolution.

Now, we cannot elaborate on history here; among the great revolutions of the world in the last two centuries, there are two or three events; one is the Great French Revolution, one is the Great Soviet Revolution, and one is the independence movement of America, all of which are almost in this two-hundred-year period; that is, the independence movement of America occurred about two hundred and thirty or forty years ago - around 1783 AD - a few years later, the Great French Revolution occurred, and about a hundred years later, the Soviet Revolution occurred; these are from a period close to us. If you examine the history of these revolutions, compare the first forty years of them with the first forty years of the Islamic Revolution, one is astonished by the greatness of this revolution, the progress of this revolution, the speed of this revolution. They could never advance with this speed, with this intensity, with this strength; this is not related to the transformations of the times and such things; it is influenced by other factors. The Iranian nation is such a thing, and you are the essence of the virtues of this nation; you must look at yourselves with this perspective, look at the Assembly with this perspective, and adjust your expectations from the Assembly with this perspective, and God willing, fulfill them. Well, that was the first point.

The next point is that legislation, the laying of rails which is the basis of work in the Assembly - of course, there is also oversight, but the main thing is legislation - must improve in quality day by day; day by day; that is, each term, or rather each year, the quality of legislation must be better than the previous term and the previous year. Now I will mention some points regarding this legislation.

Firstly, priority; Mr. Larijani pointed out that in these laws, the priorities of the country have been observed; well, this is very important. Look and see what the priority is; some laws may be raised, take the time of the Assembly, and create an issue in the social environment of the country while having no priority; these must be set aside; that is, like money that one does not need and spends lavishly, the time of the Assembly should not be spent like this. The time of the Assembly is limited; you have only four years, you must use every moment of this time. Therefore, only priority topics should be raised.

Practicality; sometimes a law is passed that it is clear is not practical, meaning that expert analysis does not show that if this law is realized, it will be operational; this should be set aside.

Or sometimes, it is against the interests of the country, which is not usually done intentionally in the Assembly. Here, I would like to refer to these conventions and international treaties. See; these international treaties, which are referred to in foreign terminology as conventions, are essentially cooked up at a point where the surrounding parties, for example, those 100 or 150 countries that later join, have no effect on that initial cooking. At some point, several major powers sit in their think tanks - as they call it, their think tank - for interests and benefits they have defined for themselves, they cook something, and then this is approved by governments that are aligned with them or are intimidated by them or follow them and have little interest in this work; if an independent government arises - like the Islamic Republic - that says, for example, "I do not accept this; I do not accept this convention, this international treaty," they bombard it with, "Sir! 120 countries, 150 countries, 200 countries have accepted this; how can you not accept it?" Conventions are often like this.

[It is said] now what should we do? Some of these international treaties and conventions have useful provisions. Very well, that is fine; I also said regarding the things that have recently been raised in the Assembly in recent months, that the Assembly should independently pass its own law. Suppose [the topic] is combating terrorism or money laundering; very well, the Islamic Consultative Assembly is a wise, rational, and mature Assembly and has very good work backing; they should sit down and pass a law; this law, the law of combating money laundering, has no problem, it has many conditions, and the work you want to do is included in this law; this is important. There is no need for us to accept things that we do not know what is behind them or even know that they have problems, for the sake of their positive aspects and positive aspects.

Well, the law must be aimed at solving the problems of the people; it must observe domestic priorities; primarily, it should aim to solve the problems of the weak and lower classes. In the country, there are classes that are weak or middle-class or below the average; the law should focus more on solving the problems of these people. Of course, the law is for everyone and seeks the good of all classes of the country - it does not matter - but this is a priority because the issue of the weak classes is the current problems of life; the law should aim to eliminate these problems. The main thing is that the law should not be a tool in the hands of the owners of wealth and power; this is important; it should not be a tool in their hands. Now, sometimes you enact a law that if, for example, someone puts a ladder against someone else's house and climbs up, the law is that this should be punished in this way; it does not matter whose house the ladder is placed against; whether it is a poor person, a rich person, an upper-class person, or a lower-class person, it does not matter; everyone benefits from this law. The law is for everyone, but there are priorities; we must not allow the law to be in the hands of those who use wealth and power.

In drafting and passing laws, the expert aspects must be strictly observed. Fortunately, the Research Center of the Assembly is a good center; the reports I receive from this Research Center convey good news to us; there is a good expert capacity concentrated there; maximum use should be made of it; in addition to this - which is a powerful expert arm of the Assembly and should be utilized - we must also use experts outside the Assembly environment. Sometimes you notice in a specific issue, in a specialized field, someone has worked and thought for several years; if you consult with him in this specialized field, sometimes with a short word, with a line, he can provide a great solution; this is how it is; sometimes the help of experts is such that their small suggestion can provide a great solution.

We said the law should aim to solve real problems; I have noticed that some of the laws related to family that are being discussed or passed in the Assembly, one feels that they are influenced by Western customs; this should be avoided. The Westerners have no regard for the family; it is not that they do not want to, but the conditions and lifestyle of the West are opposed to family in the true sense of the word; they themselves have been saying this for years and are struggling with it; now they want to remedy it but cannot; that is, the foundation of family, the institution of family in the West has been severely weakened. Now we come to introduce things that they have, for example, regarding women, youth, children, and parents in their own customs, into family matters! No, this is not on the agenda. We must establish a law for the family that truly solves the problems of families - if there are problems, it should solve these problems - and should not be influenced by that region.

An important point is that the law should address economic dilemmas. As has been pointed out, a session has been held, thanks be to God, in which the heads of the branches and elements from the three branches participate, to seriously address economic issues and make decisions and cut through and open the way; it is very important that this session is now being held. The Assembly must take serious action in this regard. Today, the economic dilemmas of the country are a priority; these dilemmas must be solved in the true sense of the word. The enemy also wants to take advantage of this weakness; we must not allow such a thing to happen.

Another point is the renewal of laws. The logic of some laws has expired; this is the issue of the purification of laws that I have repeatedly mentioned before. Yes, a few years ago, a law was passed in the Islamic Republic or before the Islamic Republic; it is a law, but now this law has no logic, this law should be removed; that is, the Islamic Consultative Assembly can do this, no other body can. A law that has no logic and whose rationale has expired must be abandoned. Some laws also cause contradictions and problems in carrying out tasks and so on. Truly pursue this issue of the purification of laws. Some laws are problematic; they must be removed. I heard, and I mentioned it in a conversation the other day, that the Ministry of Economy is removing some regulations that hinder the improvement of the business situation in the country; this is very good work. Some tasks can be done by a government official, but some tasks cannot be done by him; only the Assembly can do this; this is another matter.

Another issue is the implementation of laws. Well, the esteemed president of the Assembly said some time ago that a certain law has not been implemented by a certain body for two years; my question is, well, in these two years, what have you done as the Assembly? If it has not been implemented, you should follow up. Why should it not be implemented? You spend so much time, life, money, and resources to ensure that this law is passed; now, after all these preparations, this law has been passed, and that official does not implement it! Well, you must think of a solution for it. Now, it has been said that some of these non-implementations have been referred to the judiciary, and they have said that this is not among the criminal titles; well, if you want it to be among the criminal titles, who should do this? Again, the Assembly itself must do this. No, this is not the judiciary's job; the judiciary must pursue criminal titles; who can say this is among the criminal titles? The Islamic Consultative Assembly. The Assembly must do this work. Therefore, you should say that if this violation occurs in this way, it is a crime and has this much punishment, then send it so that they can act; that is, this work is the Assembly's work. Therefore, the issue of following up on laws is also a very important matter that must be pursued.

Another point that is worth mentioning for dear brothers and sisters, the representatives, is the behavior of the representatives. In my opinion, the comprehensive and inclusive term that can be said in this regard is the term "revolutionary spirit." The behavior of the representatives of the Assembly must be revolutionary; the approach must be revolutionary. In the oath you took, you swore to preserve the revolution, the results of the revolution, the products of the revolution, and the products of the Islamic Republic; how can this be possible? It cannot be preserved without being revolutionary. Behavior must be revolutionary; revolutionary behavior does not mean imprudent behavior; it means wise, prudent, and jihadist behavior; a jihadist movement. The fact that we constantly advise managers to have "jihadist management" applies to the Assembly as well; it is revolutionary behavior, revolutionary speech, and revolutionary action. The spirit of faith and revolutionary motivation must dominate all the work of the esteemed representative of the Assembly. Safeguarding the achievements of the revolution and the foundations of the system is part of your representative oath, and if this is not fulfilled, the presence of the representative will face legal and religious issues. If the achievements of the revolution are not respected and the achievements of the system are not considered, this will face problems both constitutionally and religiously.

Another issue that I have repeatedly mentioned to the esteemed representatives in meetings and I mention to you as well is the issue of timely attendance in committees and in the Assembly. The reports that come are not very encouraging in this regard; sometimes it is said that in committees, voting is not possible due to the lack of a quorum of representatives; each representative must consider themselves obliged to be present at all hours and moments when necessary in the Assembly or in the committee.

Another important issue that is not just your issue, but a national issue, is the issue of elitism; the scourge of elitism is a great scourge. For me, a picture of a building that has been constructed with public funds in a certain place was brought, and I was truly astonished at how someone had the audacity, how someone dared to spend public funds on such a thing. If elitism becomes prevalent, if it becomes part of our lifestyle, the consequences and repercussions that arise will have no end; it will make things very difficult; you must keep this in mind.

One issue is also the issue of foreign trips. Foreign trips should be kept to a minimum, dear friends and brothers and sisters should ensure that going on foreign trips is truly necessary and needed; we should not act liberally in this regard.

The issue of oversight over representatives, which we mentioned a few years ago, and the representatives of the Assembly have worked hard to establish a monitoring system for the behavior of representatives, should be strengthened; that is, you must ensure that monitoring is done in the true sense of the word; now, you have oversight over the government and the behaviors of others, this is, in my opinion, more important than that; this is self-monitoring, monitoring oneself, monitoring the health of the Assembly.

What I feel is that, thanks be to God, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which is a fundamental pillar of the Islamic system, has moved well and progressed until today; this movement towards the goals of the revolution should be strengthened as much as possible. Today, the country needs this internal strength of the nation and the pillars of the Islamic system. You see who your enemies are and with what spirit they are moving and with what malice they stand against the Iranian nation; not only against the Iranian nation; this is their essence. Today, the issue of separating thousands of children from their mothers in America is not a small issue; it is a very big issue. One cannot bear to hear the cries of these children on television; how can they be willing to carry out such a barbaric and wrongful act for the sake of a policy, for the sake of an execution, to separate thousands of children from their mothers! This is how they are. These are the same people who come with several major governments armed with advanced weapons and stand in the sea against the people of Yemen to take a port that is the lifeline of the oppressed people of Yemen; they kill without any hesitation. It is not that they are only hostile to the Islamic Republic; they are inherently oppressive people; they are the power structures of oppression. Yes, they are fiercely opposed to the Islamic Republic because it is justice-seeking, because it claims Islam, because it claims to defend the oppressed, and they are carrying out these sabotages. We must stand against them; we must maintain our strength and be assured that, with God's grace, in the sanctity and glory and dignity of God, the Iranian nation will triumph over America and its enemies.

These are truly the Shimmers of this time; these are truly the ones about whom the Quran says, "Indeed, they have no trust in their oaths"; no covenant and promise in them is trustworthy - we see it; this is before our eyes - they are truly extortionists and bullies, and it is clear that the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic system and the esteemed officials of the system will not submit to any extortion or bullying.

May God protect you, grant you success, and give you the ability to fulfill your duties, God willing. Go, God willing, and do what it takes to remain at the top of the table.

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