Statements in Meeting with Students and Pupils

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 chosen progeny, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Welcome, dear youth, beloved children of this nation; the new, enthusiastic generation eager for effort and work. Today, thanks be to God, the youth of our country possess these qualities: full of energy, capability, and motivation, ready for any task they feel is their duty to undertake; this is something one observes in the majority of the youth of our country. This is a great treasure, it is very valuable; the existence of a multitude of youth—millions of young people—in a country that has so much capacity for work and effort is a great blessing.

I want to remind you of something I have repeated many times; there is a policy that seeks to deprive the Iranian nation of this blessing; the blessing of having a large and abundant youth population. The result of this population control issue, ten or fifteen years from now, will be that you will no longer see the country filled with young generations; and the reason I repeat this so often, emphasize it, and warn about it is because of this. Some dangers and dangerous actions have effects that will only become apparent after ten or twenty years, at which point it will be too late to do anything. Of course, the respected officials have promised me that they will seriously pursue this issue, resolve the problems, and God willing, they will do this; we will also follow up on the matter.

In any case, the existence of youth, your existence, is a blessing for the country; keep your path straight, maintain your straight path. This country needs you; it truly needs you. You must build this country; you must advance this country; the young generation must do this. Of course, from that youth who is involved in trivial material issues and drugs, there is no expectation; it is the motivated youth, the feeling youth, the youth who feel a sense of responsibility—that is you, the religious youth of the country—who will build the future.

Today, I want to say something about America—because the occasion of our meeting and visit is related to an issue concerning America—and later, God willing, if there is time, I will discuss our internal issues, the issues of the country.

Regarding America, I want to tell you that since November 1964, when the American puppet regime in Iran exiled our dear Imam, until November 2019, there has been no change; America is the same America; the same wolf-like nature of that day exists today in America; the same global dictatorship and international tyranny exists today in America. Back then, America was an international dictator and had gendarmes in various parts of the world; its gendarme and mercenary in this region was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and there were others in other places; today, that same dictatorship exists, albeit with newer methods and tools; the same wolf-like nature, the same international dictatorship, the same wickedness, the same lack of boundaries—they recognize no limits—America is the same America. Yes, today America has become weaker; since 1964, America has weakened, but at the same time, it has also become more savage and more brazen; this is America.

America has been hostile to Iran; throughout the history of America's relationship with Iran, America has always been hostile to Iran; even during that tyrannical regime. America's enmity with Iran before the revolution was characterized by the overthrow of a national government in 1953 through a coup; an American agent came to Tehran with a suitcase full of dollars, hid in the British embassy, and from there began distributing money, hiring people, and orchestrating a coup to overthrow the national government; of course, that government also had its faults—their fault was that they trusted America too much—but they did this and established a corrupt regime dependent on themselves in the country; there is no greater enmity than this. They dominated our armed forces, they dominated our oil, they dominated our country's policies, they dominated our culture, complete domination. From 1953, when the coup of August 28 occurred, until the revolution in 1979, this situation continued. This was the enmity of that period with the Iranian nation and our country; after the revolution, it is clear that until today, it has been either threats or sanctions or slander or creating problems or infiltration; they have constantly done harm to Iran and Iranians.

Some distort history; the Americans do this; the year I was president and went to the United Nations, a well-known American journalist interviewed me and attributed the beginning of the disputes between Iran and America to the embassy incident—the den of espionage—saying that yes, since your youth took over the embassy, the dispute between Iran and America began; this is a distortion of history; the issue is not like that. The dispute between the Iranian nation and America began on August 28, even before August 28; it peaked on August 28, 1953. They were the ones who acted treacherously, they acted wickedly, and they subjected the Iranian nation to a corrupt regime dependent on them; this is no joke; for many years, this country struggled under the pressure of the regime dependent on America. Therefore, the origin of the hostilities is from August 28, 1953; from that time. Of course, there were plans before that, Truman's plans—which are from our teenage years; I somewhat remember—had a friendly appearance but a hostile essence, but in the case of August 28, everything was clear and obvious; the Americans came into the field and in an independent country with a government that was national and popular and had trusted them—Mossadegh trusted the Americans and paid the price—they orchestrated a coup in such a country and brought a corrupt, wicked, and ruthless regime to power. During those days, the Iranian nation took a heartfelt and true stance against America. Look; our great Imam in 1963, ten years after the August 28 coup, when the Islamic and popular struggles had begun, said that no one in the world is more despised by the Iranian nation than the President of the United States; this means that the Imam knew his nation; such a situation existed.

The Islamic Revolution was fundamentally against America; you dear youth must know this! This Islamic Revolution, which in 1979 was led by the Imam and with the presence of the general public who entered the field and overthrew the corrupt monarchy and established the Islamic Republic, was fundamentally against America; the slogans of the people, the slogans of the groups that marched in the streets and put themselves at risk were anti-American slogans; America has done everything it could in enmity against the Iranian nation during this period—from 1979 to today, which is 41 years—every action it could take against the Iranian nation, it has taken; from coups, provocations, separatism, blockades, and so on; you see, thank God, today's youth are intelligent; in our youth, young people were not as aware and familiar with the situation as you are today. You see that every action the Americans have been able to take during this period, especially against the institutions arising from the revolution, including the Islamic system itself; the Islamic Republic, which arose from the revolution, has faced enmity from them in every way possible. Of course, we have not been idle on our side; we have also done everything we could against America, and in many cases, we have cornered them; they have not been able to defend themselves properly, this is completely clear, and the whole world sees it.

But the most important response that the Islamic Republic has given to America's conspiracies—this is what I want you young people to pay attention to—has been that it has closed the door to America's renewed political infiltration into the country; the Islamic Republic has closed the door to America's re-entry into the country and its infiltration into the pillars of the country. This prohibition on negotiations, which is said, "Do not negotiate, do not negotiate," is one of the means and tools of this prevention and closing the door to America. For the Americans, this is very difficult. The arrogant America that imposes itself on the heads of countries and officials to sit down and talk with them has insisted for years that it wants to negotiate with the leaders of the Islamic Republic, and the Islamic Republic refuses; this is very difficult for America. This means that there exists a nation and a government in the world that does not accept America's usurping power and its tyrannical power and international dictatorship and does not yield to it. This prohibition on negotiations is not merely an emotional act; there is a solid logic behind it; it closes the enemy's infiltration path, shows the power of the Islamic Republic and its grandeur to the world, and shatters the hollow grandeur of the opposite side in front of the eyes of all the world, because it does not sit at the political negotiation table with them.

Some think that negotiating with America will solve the country's problems; this is a big mistake, they are completely mistaken. The opposite side sees our sitting at the negotiation table and Iran's acceptance of negotiations as a sign of bringing the Islamic Republic to its knees; they want to say that we have finally managed to bring Iran to its knees through economic pressure and severe sanctions so that it comes to sit at the negotiation table with us. They want to convey this to the world; they want to prove that the policy of "maximum pressure" is a correct policy and that this policy worked, and the Islamic Republic was finally brought to the negotiation table; then they will not give any concessions; I tell you this. Certainly and undoubtedly, if the officials of the Islamic Republic were naive and went to sit down to negotiate with the American officials, they would get nothing; neither would the sanctions be reduced, nor would the pressures be alleviated. As soon as they began negotiating, new expectations and new impositions would arise; including that your missiles should be like this, you should not have missiles, the range of your missiles should not exceed 100 kilometers, 150 kilometers. Today, by God's grace, our youth are making precise missiles that have a range of 2000 kilometers; they hit within a meter of the target at a distance of 2000 kilometers; well, this is difficult for them. They say you must destroy these missiles, you must eliminate them, your missiles should only have a range of 150 kilometers; well, they raise these issues. If you accept, you are in trouble; if you do not accept, it is the same old story; they will start again with the same things they are saying today; the opposite side will not give you any concessions.

This experience of Cuba, the experience of Korea is before your eyes; they went to the North Korean officials, showering them with affection, not just negotiating! One said I love him, and he said I love him too; what was the result? They did not reduce even a bit of the sanctions; this is how they are; they do not give concessions, they bring you down from your position, they show the world that we have brought Iran to its knees and our policy of maximum pressure was successful, and in the end, you will get nothing; this is what negotiation is. Now some governments—let's say the French government—come and insist on mediating, sending letters, making phone calls, saying you must meet. The President of France said if you meet once, all problems will be solved; one really wonders. Either we must say he is very naive or we must say they are complicit; it is one of these two. No problem will be solved by meeting and negotiating; no problem! I was certain that this would not be practical, but to make it clear to everyone, we said very well, let them return from the mistake they made and leave the JCPOA and lift all sanctions, then we will have no objection to participating in the JCPOA; I knew this would not happen, and it did not happen, they did not accept. If they have no illness, if they are telling the truth, let them accept this; no, they do not want to resolve any problems. They will raise new demands that the Iranian side will certainly not accept; it is clear; they will say do not be active in the region, do not help the resistance, do not be present in such and such countries, do not have missiles; from such impositions, they will gradually reach other areas; they will say do not insist on the issue of hijab, do not insist on religious laws; they will raise such issues, their demands have no limits. A few years ago, I said right here in the Hosseiniyeh to those who were responsible; I said you tell me where America will stop and will not raise new expectations; we should know; they have no limits. They are looking to create the same situation that existed in this country before the revolution. This revolution was against America; they want to return to that state; and the revolution is stronger than that, the Islamic Republic is firmer than that, the will governing the Islamic Republic, by God's grace, is a steel will and a resolute determination, and it will not allow America to return to the country with these tricks. Well, for now, this is enough regarding America.

Let us turn to internal issues. I want to say one sentence regarding internal issues that is worthy of attention from the respected officials and various sectors of the government who truly want to work. Of course, we have multiple issues in internal matters; in the fields of economy, culture, science and research, and social issues, we have matters, but I want to emphasize one issue, and that is the same topic I presented in the first message of the year as this year's slogan to the Iranian nation, and that is the issue of boosting production. Eight months have passed! Of course, in these eight months, good work has been done, I want to tell you; good work has been done, and there are also areas that need to be worked on. I told the Iranian nation at the beginning of the year that the key to solving the country's economic problems and economic issues is the issue of production; I am not an economist, this is the statement of economists, it is the consensus of all economists. After we announced the slogan of the year, every economic expert who spoke in newspapers and in cyberspace confirmed this, saying that boosting production is the key to solving the country's economic problems; it creates employment, the unemployment of youth, which is a major problem, is resolved through employment, national wealth is created, public welfare is established; even scientific progress occurs; when production flourishes, factories, industrial devices, agricultural devices feel the need for scientific methods, universities enter the field, and scientific flourishing also occurs; in other words, the key to solving the country's economic problems is the issue of boosting production that we announced this year. Well, I want to say that we have problems in the country's economy; this inflation, this devaluation of the national currency, these put pressure on the people; if we want these to be resolved, the only way is to focus on national production.

One of the respected ministers—the respected Minister of Industry—made a very good statement that pleased me; he promised, saying wherever any industrial production unit faces problems and wants to shut down, we will go to it and will not allow it. Very well, this is a promise, they must stand by this promise and follow it up; this is excellent; now this is for the industry sector, but the officials of the country in various sectors must be the same; there is no other way.

We cannot wait for others and foreigners to resolve the country's problems; rather, this waiting harms the economic progress of the country. For a while, we waited because of the JCPOA; for a while, we waited to see whether the President of America would extend the three-month waiver that was unfortunately placed in the JCPOA contract; I mean, whether the waiver of the President of America would be extended or not; for a while, we waited to see what the French program and the President of France would be; well, all of this became waiting; in the state of waiting, the economic investor does not invest, their situation is unclear, the economic actor's situation is unclear, this waiting drags the country into stagnation and backwardness. How long should we wait? Let it go; now I am not saying cut off relations, no; let there be relations, if someone can do something, let them do it, but do not rely on them, rely on the internal situation, there are many capacities. Sir! The governor of a province recently told me that in a few months, I was able to sign contracts worth 90 trillion tomans in this province. Do you know what 90 trillion tomans means? It means one-fourth of the total budget of the country; a governor says this; well, these are our capacities. Now if half of this 90 trillion is realized, even if two-thirds is not realized, 30 trillion tomans is not little, is it? This is for one province. Well, follow up, investigate, pursue, these are the capacities of the country, these capacities must be utilized.

Well, boosting production; one of the ways to boost production is to prevent the import of domestically produced goods. Why are they not preventing it? I have a serious question for the respected officials; do not allow it. There are those who breathe through imports, their livelihood, their windfall wealth, their facilities depend on imports; therefore, they do not allow the prevention of excessive and unregulated imports; are they more important or the unemployed youth? The unemployed youth of the country, with unregulated imports that lead domestic production to failure, will remain unemployed. The definitive remedy is that we can implement these correct programs and policies that have been communicated to the respected officials—both to the government and to the parliament—and operationalize them and realize them; this is the way out of the country's problems.

I want to tell you at the end of my speech, our capacities are abundant, the capacities of the country are very high, with God's grace, in the face of the blindness of those who cannot see, we will overcome all problems. May God keep you for the country, may God, God willing, protect you, may God, God willing, grant success to all the caring officials of the country so that they can fulfill their duties in the best way possible.

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