Statements in Meeting with a Group of Students and Representatives of Student Organizations

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 on earth.

My expectation from this meeting was that precise words would be presented with good rhetoric, and thanks be to God, that happened. I may not agree with some of the points you raised, but I am deeply pleased with the quality of expression and the organization of the topics, and I thank God for that. Well, it is the end of Ramadan, and you have had the opportunity to sit, think, study, and organize your thoughts. If there were more time, I would have no objection to ten more people speaking; however, it is gradually approaching iftar, and the discussions will remain unfinished, and the meeting will be half-done.

Before I begin my remarks, I would like to address a couple of points regarding the topics you mentioned. First, some have sent me greetings; I kindly ask you to convey my greetings to those brothers and sisters who sent their regards through you, especially the families of the martyrs. Regarding the birth of this humble servant, it is not worth mentioning; it is a very insignificant and minor event. The points raised as objections, criticisms, or suggestions are open for discussion; it is not so clear and definitive; ultimately, they are subject to challenge and debate. I believe that if we can refer your suggestions to the Planning and Budget Organization—which apparently has found some new momentum—to address them, that would be a good thing; you can convey your thoughts to them, or we can act as intermediaries, and our office can facilitate the communication and ask you to go and discuss, and God willing, reach an acceptable and common point.

Regarding the issue of privatization that some friends mentioned and repeated, and those outside are saying the same, the logic you presented is not correct. Now, they may have acted poorly; yes, any good law can be poorly implemented. The idea that we should hand over the country's resources, production facilities, and factories—those that were functioning well—to the government, which cannot manage large production units; the government cannot do it; problems arise, corruption occurs; how many issues have arisen in recent years. The only solution to these problems was privatization; truly, there was no other alternative. And this work did not happen suddenly; it was carried out with thought, study, foresight, and hours of discussion. Yes, I admit that the expectations I had from privatization have not been met so far, but good work has also been done. The claim that a state-owned enterprise has been handed over to the private sector and does not return its dollars to the government is incorrect. The one that does not return the dollars is the currently state-owned enterprise; this is an issue that I have recently mentioned to the government officials, repeated, and raised several times; that is, it is those state-owned enterprises that trade, operate, and deal with foreign entities, but do not return their dollars to the central bank; it is not related to the private sector. Of course, the private sector also has its issues; it requires oversight, precision, and adherence; these are necessary; there is no doubt about that.

Regarding the economic meeting of the heads of the branches, first, this is not a permanent matter; it is a temporary one; secondly, it is for specific purposes; I have identified four issues and told them: one is the budget issue; organizing the budget and reforming the budget structure, which is one of our major problems; and three other issues; the goal of this meeting has been this. Of course, so far, it has not progressed as it should, but the remedy is not to suspend it; the remedy is to pursue it until these tasks are accomplished. Some issues arise from the lack of agreement among high-level officials; well, how do we solve this? The solution is to say, gather together, discuss, make a unified decision, and take action; this [formation of a council] is a result of that.

In any case, we hope that, God willing, what you want and say—and I know you speak from the heart, what you say is truly your belief—God grants success for what I am responsible for to be accomplished, and that which other officials are responsible for, God willing, will also be accomplished. The rhetoric of today's speeches was excellent; it was completely good and measured. And I emphasize the issue of "expressing matters with good rhetoric"; this has an impact.

Well, Ramadan is the spring of spirituality and worship that is coming to an end, but God willing, you have many more Ramadans ahead; you young people have dozens of Ramadans ahead of you, and you should take advantage of them; the spring of spirituality, the spring of worship. Youth is also spring, the spring of life. Thus, youth in Ramadan has a double spring, spring within spring; take advantage of this. There is a significant difference between the benefit you can derive from the Night of Destiny compared to someone of my age and those like me; you can benefit much more; cherish this.

This beautiful duality, the convergence of two springs, also occurred at another time during the Sacred Defense; there, two opportunities for elevation and ascension were jointly placed side by side. Well, the front of defense means the front of giving one's life; that is, someone who goes there is generally prepared to sacrifice their life or health; this is a great act of selflessness. All those who enter this selflessness are elevated and experience spiritual peaks, but for those who went—who were mostly young—the situation was different for them. The young people who entered the battlefield, their movement and ascension were such that a person like the late Imam, Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified), who had experienced years of spirituality and mysticism, envied them! I do not know if you read the biographies of the martyrs or not; I read them and shed tears and benefit from them; for me, it truly has value. I believe one of the things you should do is to read the biographies of these dear martyrs, especially some of them who have great spirituality; they benefited. In my opinion, you should take advantage of Ramadan; now there are only a few days left, but in the future, you have many years ahead, God willing, prepare yourselves for the next Ramadan.

Well, I have repeatedly given a piece of advice, and fortunately, I saw two or three of the friends who spoke here repeated the same, which I fully endorse—and that is that the student community and student organizations need a solid foundational thought. This is their absolute necessity; this has been my constant advice; I want to emphasize this again. If the epistemological foundations of a young person, especially a student, are solid, their heart becomes assured, their steps become firm, their movement continues, and there is no fatigue. The assurance of the heart leads to an increase in faith, and faith itself brings assurance; the assurance of the heart and tranquility of the heart also increases faith. He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they might increase in faith along with their faith; previously, they were believers, but when God Almighty granted them this heart's tranquility due to reliance on spiritual and divine realities, their faith increases.

Well, now what are these epistemological foundations? In Islam, there are personal, heartfelt, social, political, and international epistemological foundations; all of these exist in Islam; the issue of freedom is one of the epistemological foundations that is raised in Islam; the issue of justice is one of the most important epistemological matters. These must be resolved; the student must think about these, work on them, and reach depth. Read books, read Nahj al-Balagha, reflect on the recitation of the Quran. Now, suppose we consider justice; of course, an important instance of justice is addressing economic and social inequalities and similar issues, but it is not limited to this; this is a major aspect of it. Justice begins with our personal judgments; justice starts from our personal actions, our speech, our judgments about individuals, about actions. And let not the hatred of a people incite you to act unjustly; be just; that is nearer to piety; if you have enmity with someone, if you have animosity, if you have ideological differences, you should not be unjust to them. The most tragic matters are when a disbeliever holds me accountable on the Day of Resurrection, saying, "You wronged me in such and such a place"; I mean, there is nothing harder than this! Or a foe of God finds a right against me on the Day of Resurrection, holds me accountable, and says, "You wronged me." I mean, justice is like this. International justice; this struggle against global arrogance that we constantly repeat is one of the most important instances of justice. Some seek justice but do not think that the struggle against global arrogance, America, and Zionism is also part of justice-seeking; it is.

This is how it is.

Freedom; freedom is very important. The most important part of the theory of freedom in Islam is freedom from this material framework. The materialistic view says you were born one day, live for a few years, and then you perish; all of us are condemned to perish. In this material cage, they give you some freedoms; the freedom of lust, the freedom of anger, the freedom of oppression, all kinds of freedom; this is not freedom. Freedom is Islamic freedom; Islam does not confine us within the material framework. You were created for permanence, not for annihilation; you do not perish, you do not vanish. Mawlavi says: When the time of death comes and you escape from the flow, All that is perishable except His face.

Dying is not the end; dying is the beginning of a new stage, and in fact, the main stage. When you look at it this way, then you can soar, and there is no limit to your movement, your progress, your elevation; this is freedom. All freedoms in life, including personal freedom, freedom of belief, liberation from the shackles of stagnation, inertia, and various backwardness, and liberation from the domination of superpowers and liberation from the tyranny of dictators, stem from this basis of Islamic freedom; you must think about these, you must work on these. The solution is not that I come and talk to you for half an hour; you must work yourselves; you must think, read books.

Or the issue of "waiting for relief"; one of the important foundations of our thought and religion is waiting for relief. Waiting for relief means that all hardships can be removed and resolved. It does not mean sitting and waiting; rather, your heart should be alert. Just as it was said to the mother of Moses: We will return him to you and make him one of the messengers; this child will be returned to you and will also be made one of the messengers and will save you; this strengthened the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel in Pharaoh's Egypt resisted for many years; of course, they later fell, but they resisted for years. It was this resistance that brought Moses and initiated his movement, and they followed him, leading to the destruction of Pharaoh and the Pharaohs; this is waiting for relief. Waiting for relief means waiting for the removal of all the deficiencies you just mentioned; there are ten times more deficiencies that you did not mention. Waiting for relief means being prepared, thinking, not considering it a dead end; thinking of dead ends is very bad. This is the meaning of waiting for relief; these must be kept in mind.

Of course, God Almighty has repeatedly said in the Quran; God has decreed that I and My messengers will prevail. "God has decreed" means it is a definitive law of God that the path of the prophets will prevail, and there is no doubt about it. Indeed, God defends those who believe; there is no doubt about this. Or "And We wish to bestow Our grace upon those who have been oppressed in the land and make them leaders"; there is no doubt about this; this is the word of God Almighty. We have also seen the realities; now we used to narrate these from the Quran, Nahj al-Balagha, and Sahifa Sajjadiyya, but we have seen them in our lives. Now you are still very young, and God willing, as much as I have aged, (I mean, ten or twenty years more), you will see many instances. We have seen in our own age; we witnessed the victory of the revolution, which was the triumph of truth over falsehood. No one thought it would happen; no one imagined it. The late Mr. Taleghani told me; he said that the day Imam said, "The Shah must go," we said, "What kind of talk is this!" Well, Mr. Taleghani was not a small figure; I mean, someone like the late Ayatollah Taleghani, a deeply experienced and seasoned fighter, was not hopeful, but it happened; the revolution triumphed; I and My messengers will prevail.

Or the imposed war; well, you were not there, you did not see it. The imposed war was a strange event; everyone was against us; America was against us, the Soviet Union was against us, NATO was against us, Muslim countries were against us, our neighbor Turkey was against us; everyone! But we triumphed. In such a war where everyone was against us, we emerged victorious. Therefore, our experiences also show this. Waiting for relief means this. Waiting for relief is not just sitting and praying for God to bring the Imam; of course, this is one of the obligatory acts; we must pray, we must ask, we must pursue; but it is not just this. Waiting for relief means that in all the matters where there are problems, the assumption of the occurrence of the relief we desire must be one of the certainties that exist; a person must be hopeful. Of course, it has conditions; we must work. Waiting for relief involves going to the bakery, buying bread, and bringing it home; otherwise, bread will not come by itself. There must be some movement for waiting for relief to take place. These are the foundations that require work; there are many such foundations; or the foundation of monotheism— the sovereignty of anyone other than God is forbidden; monotheism means negating the sovereignty of anyone other than God—and similar matters that are numerous. You must work on these foundations; especially you organizations must work on these foundations. Do not focus on a limited point; look broadly, see all the issues. In my opinion, the fact that they mentioned the late martyr Motahhari, martyr Beheshti, the late Mr. Mesbah, and others here is good; their books are good books. And the experiences of our youth are also valuable. Now, for example, suppose a young Basij member near Tehran is making efforts, is active, like martyr Mustafa Sadrzadeh. Two or three books have been written about him that I have read; well, there you see how restless he is in working and moving. People should look at these and move forward. This was the first point I wanted to make.

I want to mention a few points about students. (I must speak quickly so that we can cover all these.) The first point is this, you should know that my definite and certain view is this: student activities, like the students themselves, are an opportunity for the country. The fact that some feel threatened by student activities or any kind of activity that is being carried out—of course, healthy activities; now I will point out some of its pitfalls—is a mistake; student activity is an opportunity for the country; student demands are an opportunity; the voice of the student is an opportunity; this sense of responsibility that students have regarding the events of the country is an opportunity. The fact that you come here with enthusiasm and diligence and mention a certain issue is an opportunity for the country, it is a value for the country. The enthusiasm that the student community and young students have for addressing the disarray is an opportunity. The vibrant presence of students in various events, whether in natural disasters or political events like the rallies—Quds Day, the 22nd of Bahman, and similar events—all of these are important opportunities. The opinions expressed on political and economic issues, in some decisions, these are opportunities. These expressions of opinion are opportunities. I am not saying they are correct; be careful. Some may be correct, some may not be, but the very act of expressing opinions, thinking about issues, is an opportunity for the country. Of course, there are also pitfalls; student activity should not fall into pitfalls; be cautious. Of course, young people do not believe that the elderly were once young, but we have experienced it, and we know what youth is like.

Mistakes and errors in youth are not unlikely; they are quite likely, various cases arise; be careful. The pitfalls of student activities must be addressed; they must be made healthy.

There should not be a polarization; student activities should not polarize the student community, nor should they polarize the country; this is one of the very important issues. This polarization is the desire of the enemy.

It must be realistic. Now, for example, you come here and provide a prescription; well, this prescription takes time, costs money; its cost may not be feasible, may not be readily available; these must be taken into account. That is, student activity, student demands must be accompanied by realism.

As much as possible, it should be accompanied by providing scientific and practical solutions; first, scientific solutions, meaning knowledgeable, thoughtful; secondly, practical, meaning it should not just be on paper; it should be something that can be done. Each of you entering the field of action—some of you have requested why young people are not brought into intermediate environments, which of course they should be brought—your perspective will differ from now; because you will see the realities, you will see the problems, you will see the difficulties of the work.

Once, someone had referred to the Imam during his blessed life; there was a complaint against the government. The Imam listened to that person's words—as they conveyed to us—and then in response, he said only one word; he said: "Sir! Governing the country is hard." It truly is hard. (If we want to just argue back and forth, nothing will progress.) The words of the people must be listened to. Where is the voice of the people? Well, people do not have a voice in all matters; besides, they do not have just one voice; they must think, study. The voice of the people has a mechanism. The voice of the people is what exists now; that is, one person is elected as president; this is the voice of the people. A number of people are elected as representatives of the parliament; this is the voice of the people. The voice of the people can be understood this way.

Now one of the brothers mentioned a referendum; they said that if you had conducted a referendum on all issues from the beginning, now there would not be such sensitivity towards referendums. Where in the world do they do this? Are the various issues of the country subject to a referendum? Do all the people who must participate in the referendum have the ability to analyze that issue? What kind of talk is this? How can a referendum be conducted when discussions are held, and opinions are expressed from all sides? A country is engaged in debate and discussion for six months to conduct a referendum on a certain issue. Should we conduct referendums on all issues? It is not that simple.

One of the pitfalls is hastiness. Hastiness should not occur. The voice of the student should not be merely a loudspeaker for problems. I am not saying do not mention problems, but do not only mention problems. There are good bright spots in the country; students should mention those as well; they should mention that as well, and this as well; it should not be that they are merely disseminating these issues [and problems]. There should not be harshness. There should not be superficiality. A local problem should not be made national. For example, sometimes an incident occurs in one corner of the country, and a certain student organization comes and turns it into a national issue; this is a mistake; this is detrimental to the country. This is not escaping from the burden of the problem or not responding to the problem; this is detrimental to the country to turn a local problem into a national problem.

The intention of the student should not be to be seen; see! I emphasize this. Neither the student nor the student organization should speak just to be seen; this makes the work unblessed; it makes the words unblessed, ineffective; and of course, it has harm.

[Students] should not drown in cyberspace. Well, now cyberspace, with all the words that are said from this side and that side, ultimately exists in the country; social networks exist, cyberspace exists. Some have sat down to provide a flood of analysis, news, and content to them from cyberspace; this is wrong. You should ride on cyberspace, you should guide cyberspace, and your thoughts and news and analysis should go into cyberspace, not the other way around. These are the pitfalls of student activity. A faithful, concerned student who sometimes asks us what our duty is—sometimes they write, sometimes they come to the office and talk with friends, and one feels they are concerned and want to do something—one of the duties is to cleanse important student activities, student activities that are a valuable opportunity for the country, from their pitfalls.

Another point regarding students: with what I am saying, I do not want to answer your questions now—meaning I am not looking for that, and in this limited space, it cannot be done—I want you to base your movement; that is, adjust your movement with a view to the distant horizons ahead. You are people of movement; that is, the best youth of the country are mostly our students, and you believing students want to move. I want this purpose to be achieved: look to the distant horizons. People ask me what I think the duty of an ideal student with high aspirations and foresight is? My answer is: first, to create transformation in the mind and reality of their society; then, to create transformation in the mind and reality of the world. Are you surprised? Can a student change the reality of the world? It is not surprising. You are students today, but tomorrow, this same student will be a political manager, administering an important part of the country. Those who are now the officials of the country were students like you yesterday, and now they are busy managing the country; they are engaged in political, economic, and diplomatic administration; today’s student is tomorrow’s philosopher, tomorrow’s researcher; today’s active cultural or media student will be an influential figure tomorrow; today’s student will be tomorrow’s leader, tomorrow’s thinker, tomorrow’s influential element. A person is not meant to always remain young and a student; you can prepare the ground today so that when you become those elements I mentioned tomorrow, you can truly make an impact, change both the mind of society and the reality of society. Today, everyone is saying it— we said it, others are saying it— that the world is undergoing transformation; who brings about this transformation? Thinkers, active people, those involved in great works; these are the ones who bring about transformation. You are the ones; you are students today, but tomorrow you are the ones who can bring about that transformation. Therefore, our expectation is that you look to the future in this way.

Of course, the one who can create transformation tomorrow is not necessarily a prominent, pious, faithful person; sometimes some may deviate. You must strive not to deviate; you must strive to move on the right path and the straight path of God; you are heading towards such a future. Strengthen your foundations, your intellectual foundations, your faith foundations, your rational foundations, from today to be prepared for such a future. I think there are four points: faith, intellect, knowledge, and determination. These four things are necessary. A religious foundation, a scientific foundation, a rational foundation, and a firm determination; this determination must be strong; these must be strengthened within you. Whoever engages more in self-building in these matters will have more potential for influence tomorrow. Some may reach the peak; some may not reach the peak, but they will have an impact within certain limits. It depends on how much you prepare yourselves. This is another point.

Another point regarding student organizations. Well, when we say student, the title "student" brings a series of titles to our minds. For example, when we say "student," it evokes thoughts of seeking knowledge, being young, being active, being innovative, having humanitarian feelings such as opposing corruption, opposing injustice, and similar thoughts, but more importantly, in my opinion, is having a solid foundational thought, which I mentioned earlier. You must strengthen and solidify your foundational thought. See; I do not want to say that now you should set aside other programs and go engage in thinking and studying; no, these must be done simultaneously; that is, studying and thinking and self-building have a better chance of progress when done in action than if one goes and sits down, suspends all activities, and only studies good books. Get acquainted with religious sources, connect with deep and trustworthy thinkers. Today, among thoughtful individuals, we have good scholars.

Another point I have noted to mention is that we must be up to date regarding the enemy's map and strategy; we all must be up to date. Of course, some become nervous when we mention the enemy, as if we are shifting the blame to foreign enemies! As if when we say, "We have an enemy," we want to deny our own weaknesses and shortcomings; no, these exist, but we must not forget that the enemy exists, whether we want it or not, whether we understand it or not, the enemy exists, is working, and is constantly active. They spend money, provide resources, and work against the front of truth. Even if we are oblivious, they are not oblivious. "He who sleeps is not free from being watched," says Amir al-Mu'minin in Nahj al-Balagha. He who sleeps is not free from being watched! It is not that if you fall asleep in the trench, the enemy also falls asleep in their trench; no. You may be asleep, but they may be awake. Therefore, the enemy exists, and this cannot be denied.

The enemy's strategy is to make us pessimistic about ourselves. Now, one of the brothers spoke here about hope; of course, it was a good discussion, and I do not reject that discussion, but the idea that hopelessness mainly has internal sources, I do not accept. Yes, there are certainly problems inside, and we know these problems, but it is not that these problems can make a motivated student hopeless. A motivated student becomes hopeless in a different way; [when] a professor or, for example, suppose a certain person who has no commitment sits down with the young person—individually and of course, this is done collectively and widely as well—and says, "What hope do you have studying here? Just give it up!" To the young fighter, they say: "With the dollar priced at such and such, the inflation of so many years at such and such, what hope do you have studying and working here?" Hopelessness enters like this; this has an effect. Of course, the response of a believing, fighting, aware, and intelligent young person is clear and eloquent: "Yes, there are problems in the country, but I study because I intend to live in this country for decades to come, to live, and for my children, grandchildren, and compatriots to live in this country for hundreds of years to come; I want to solve the problems; I study to solve the problems; I fight to solve the problems"; this is the response of a Muslim young person. But they do their work and also have an impact on some. This is just one example.

Another example for making us pessimistic about ourselves is that various malicious media insist on proving that the Iranian nation has turned away from religious beliefs, has turned away from revolutionary sentiments. They insist; they say this repeatedly, and there are some here who also say this; they say it in cyberspace, in newspapers, in various speeches that "the people have turned away from religion." Well, they repeat it, and a person who is negligent and does not think accepts it, believes it; but when the Night of Destiny comes, suddenly you see that this year's gatherings are more fervent than last year's; the supplication and crying and pleading and the presence of young people and their tears in these gatherings are greater than last year; on Quds Day, the crowd is denser than last year; on the 22nd of Bahman, the crowd is double that of last year. This means that what they say is contrary to reality, but they continue their whispers. I said, "From the evil of the whisperer who withdraws, who whispers in the breasts of people, from among jinn and men," the "men" refers to those who are constantly whispering.

Another example; for instance, suppose four wealthy individuals or entrepreneurs have left the country, taking their money and going to another country. They say, "Look! What hope do you have to engage in economic activity here? They are leaving!" Well, yes, four have left, but forty have stayed and are working. Thousands of knowledge-based companies are being established, and young people are being employed; these are the realities of society, but the enemy is trying their best to make everyone hopeless. Well, this is the enemy's design. So, be aware that today the enemy's design is to make us pessimistic about ourselves. [They want] us to become pessimistic about ourselves, about our government, about our student environment, about our people; no, the country is moving, and it is moving well.

[Of course] we have deficiencies; I may have higher expectations from some of you, and I may protest more. Sometimes it is not necessary for a person to speak openly, but we say it, we protest; but we see that we are moving forward; the country is moving forward, thanks be to God. We [previously] did not have this many motivated, active, believing, and thoughtful young people in the country, but today we have them, thanks be to God. Well, this is another point.

One more point is that the young Iranian is the target of the enemies' hatred; let this be known, let our young people know this. Both you, who should be more aware of this than others, and all young people in the country should know: the enemy, global arrogance, the Zionist cartels that dominate Europe and America, undoubtedly have a very bad view of the officials of the Islamic Republic; if they could, they would tear them apart; but they are worse towards the youth; why? Because if you young people and the motivations of the youth of the country do not exist, the officials of the country cannot do anything. In reality, the youth are the ones who carry out the work; movement and progress are in the hands of the youth, so they harbor animosity towards the youth. From the beginning of the revolution until today, it has been the youth who have taken on and advanced great tasks in various fronts and fields. I mention this more so that the officials of the country pay attention, and fortunately, they do pay attention; they utilize many young people, but they must utilize more. In various fields, Iranian youth have worked.

Here I have noted: in the field of government management—government managers—we had young people like martyr Mousa Kalantari and martyr Tandgouyan; they were ministers, all young; or martyr Ghandi, martyr Abbaspour; they were all martyred; they were young. All of these—those I mention; now I will read some others—were in their twenties and thirties, meaning between 20 and 39 or 40 years old. They were in government management. The late Mousa Kalantari said: I was sitting in the second or third row of Friday prayers; someone was sitting next to me. In the front row, martyr Abbaspour—who was also one of the ministers and was martyred—was sitting. He said: This person who was sitting next to me pointed to Abbaspour and said, "Look, a minister has come to sit in the congregation! Look at where things have come to." It was early in the revolution. The martyr Kalantari, who had a beautiful Turkish accent, said to him: Let me tell you something even more amazing; I am also a minister! These were good ministers, good managers. In the military field, martyrs Hemmat, Kharrazi, Babayi, Hassan Baqeri, Shahid Shiroudi, Shahid Sayed Shirazi—of course, when Sayed was martyred, he was older, but when he was fighting, he was in the same age range I mentioned—these changed the reality of the war; they transformed it into the power of the Islamic Republic against all the allies of reaction and arrogance.

In the field of art and literature, martyr Avini, the late Solhshoor, the late Talebzadeh. Of course, they were older at the end of their lives, but in their youth, they did many things, and there are many others who are not few. In the field of science and research, martyr Tehrani-Moghaddam, the late Kazemi-Ashtiani, martyr Majid Shahriari, martyr Rezai-Nejad, martyr Ahmadie-Roshan. These are our young people. This trend continues to this day, even in your contemporary time, martyr Hajji, Mustafa Sadrzadeh, Arman Ali-Vardi, Rouhollah Ajamian. These are prominent figures, truly outstanding figures. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of responsible Iranian youth exist today; these are the engines of movement, these are the driving forces of the country's movement and the system, each in a specific area. All of you, each one of you, should be like this. I am not saying you should become martyrs; God willing, you will not become martyrs—of course, it is not a problem to become a martyr in old age; when you reach seventy or eighty, then you can become a martyr, but for now, while you are young, we need you; do not become martyrs—but live like martyrs, truly live like them, move like them. With this group, the evil powers are very opposed.

Dear youth! Follow the clear path with seriousness; pursue the clear path of the revolution, Islam, the country, and the system with seriousness; the country needs you. [In this path,] you need aspiration—one of the few things that is truly needed is aspiration—you need hope, you need rationality. This is how it is. Aspiration means that [view towards] distant horizons I mentioned; if this is not there, [movement] is impossible; aspiration is the driving force of movement; hope is the fuel of this engine; if there is no hope, this engine does not move, aspiration remains in the heart, and it grieves if hope does not exist; rationality is the steering wheel of this engine; you must think rationally and exercise wisdom and move forward.

I have much to say about the university; you also made a reference, and your points are correct, your criticisms are valid. I want to say that the lack of a truly comprehensive scientific map is a major deficiency of our university today. We do not know on what basis the distribution of students according to scientific fields is carried out. These scientific fields must be needed by the country; they must be useful for the country. How many students do we need in a certain field? These must be thought out, must be worked on. I ask the esteemed Minister of Science—he must be here—to follow this up, and this is one of the most important tasks you must undertake. Some scientific fields in Iran are not needed; there are no jobs for them; well, what benefit does it have? Some academic works and fields are not necessary at all. We currently have perhaps hundreds of thousands of ready-to-work graduates who can work in various sectors; we bring them into the university, and after a while, we deliver hundreds of thousands of unemployed, entitled, angry graduates to the country! We must think about what we need and move according to our needs. If we have graduates who have no jobs, it is clear that our education and training system has a flaw. If someone studies for the benefit of the country, their job must be ready. If we have graduates but no jobs, it is evident that this student recruitment has not been conducted with a proper system and calculation.

Well, time is up, and there is much more to say; we love you and pray for you.

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