The Leader of the Islamic Revolution called for a new and innovative scientific leap and entered a new season of innovative activities in scientific university centres and environments. Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to the crimes committed by the Zionist regime in the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, emphasised the immediate cessation of the bombings, and referred to the concrete role of the Americans in the politicisation of the actions of the Zionists. he said: “Muslim nations and even non-Muslim people of the world are furious of the ongoing crimes of the usurping regime and if these atrocities continue, the Muslims of the world and the resistance forces will become impatient, and no one will be able to stop them.”

The Leader of the Revolution called the current affairs of Palestine an apparent crime of the Zionist regime and an open genocide in front of the eyes of the whole world and said: “The protest of the officials of some countries in their conversations with our officials is why the Palestinians killed civilians? This statement is untrue because the residents of the settlements are not civilians and are armed, but even assuming that they are civilians, how many of them were killed compared to the number of Palestinian civilians that were martyred in recent days?”

Ayatollah Khamenei added: “The usurping regime has killed a hundred times that number, i.e. several thousands of women, children, old and young civilians, in these few days, and the regime is committing crime through bombing populated centres and buildings that it knows are civilian residences, before the eyes of the people of the world.”

Emphasising that the usurping Zionist government should be prosecuted for these crimes, he held the American government responsible for the policies of the usurping regime and added: “According to numerous information, the politicians and regulators of the current policy of the Zionist regime these days are the Americans, and the US is responsible in this case and must know his responsibility.”

Emphasising that the bombings should be stopped immediately, the leader of the revolution considered the gatherings of Muslim nations in Islamic countries and even non-Muslims in America and Europe as a sign of the nations’ serious anger at the crimes of the Zionist regime and said: “If these crimes continue, Muslims and the resistance forces will be impatient and no one can stop them. They should know this and not expect others to stop certain groups from doing certain things.”

Ayatollah Khamenei added: “Of course, no matter what the Zionist regime does, it cannot compensate for its disgraceful failure in this matter.”

At the beginning of this meeting, after the speeches of 7 elites in the fields of automobiles, quantum technology, agriculture, combating air pollution, social-economic justice, traditional medicine, and the science-based ecosystem of the country, Ayatollah Khamenei called the attention of the active and persistent officials of the executive power to the desired points of the elites and the connection of the country’s elite society with young managers of different levels of the government necessary.

Referring to the beginning of a scientific leap and fruitful movement in academic environments about two decades ago, he said: “Increasing the speed of the country’s scientific growth and reaching 12 times the global average growth rate was one of the blessed results of that movement, and now the elites, students and scientific-university centres of the country should prepare themselves for a new rise and a new season of innovative scientific mobility.”

The Leader of the Revolution mentioned the scientific progress of some countries in the region after observing Iran’s scientific progress and added: “We should not be proud of the results of the previous movement and fall behind the current scientific competition in the world. Because despite all the progress, we are still behind in knowledge and science.

Ayatollah Khamenei, referring to the words of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) about the power of science, said: “Science is the Power.”; Therefore, if we want to protect the country from the conventional harms of the world, we must work hard for scientific progress.

The leader of the revolution considered the government’s material investment, the investment of the private sector, and “investment in scientific environments in the sense of striving for the initiative, innovation and finding short-cut solutions to solve problems” necessary for the new movement of the elite and scientific society and said: “With the help of the government and officials and the young managers of the country and the efforts of all elites this new leap should be realised.”

He called the country's future bright and promising. Still, he added: “Experience tells us that we should make maximum use of the current opportunity and, relying on the will and power and existing infrastructure in the country, overcome the upcoming upward slope with strength.”

The leader of the revolution listed the lack of will, desperation, and lack of confidence in his ability as the obstacles to the progress of any nation. Referring to the insulting words of one of the prime ministers of the Taghut period about the inability of the Iranian nation to make clay pipe of a pitcher, he said: “During the Taghut period, all the factors of failure in progress and continuance of backwardness were present, but today, by God’s grace, there is both the will and the ability to move and advance scientifically.”

He called several million young educated students a tremendous and valuable wealth and added: “Many of these motivated and spirited young people have valuable suggestions to solve problems.”

The Leader of the Revolution called wanting and being able to be the two realities of the country today and added: “If officials, scientific centres, and elites do not take advantage of this opportunity, Iran and the history of the country will be wronged.”

Ayatollah Khamenei considered knowledge as a responsibility, like all assets, and added: “Whoever becomes an elite in any knowledge and achieves a rank, both from that knowledge and from the credit that he gets in the society through that knowledge, he should use it to serve the people.”

Referring to the words of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) regarding the commitment of scholars and scientists to recognise and defend the oppressed against oppression, the Leader of the Revolution said: “The reaction against the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza is one of the responsibilities that the Prophet has assigned to scientists.”

In the continuation of his speech, the leader of the revolution pointed to the previous warnings about the reform of the conditional procedure for the promotion of university faculty members to scientific articles, and criticised the continuation of this irrational process, and said: “Writing articles and publishing researches and authoritative articles in magazines and scientific centres of the world and participation in the scientific competition of the world is a good thing that must be done, but it is not reasonable to make the promotion of faculty members dependent on this issue.”

He added: “Of course, good scientific articles are a means of improving the country’s scientific reputation and status, and the country’s scientific management institutions should find suitable ways for this promotion so that the country’s scientific rank does not decline in global rankings.”

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasised that the primary purpose of producing scientific and research articles and theses is to help solve the country’s problems, adding: “Health and safety, housing, security, nutrition, family, and environment, reforming government structures and international relations, are among the issues of the country about which substantial scientific articles and researches with solutions for them, should be produced, and it should not be limited to newspaper works and so-called journalistic notes.

In his final statement, the leader of the revolution explained the duties of the officials towards the elites and said: “The officials should make the elites feel useful.”

Among the factors of the migration of the elites (which is sometimes exaggerated), he considered the feeling of uselessness among the nobility. He added: “‘Possibility of employment’ and ‘possibility of continuing studies and researches’ are two expectations of the elite from the country’s management system, which should be fulfilled, and the two options should be provided for them.”

Ayatollah Khamenei called the establishment of Science-based Companies one of the factors of the economic and scientific progress of the country, and at the same time, creating a sense of usefulness in the elites, and emphasised: “Strengthen Science-based Companies, and one of the ways to strengthen these companies is the complete abstinence of state institutions and companies from importing and buying foreign products which are similar to the products of domestic Science-based Companies.”

Before the speech of the leader of the revolution, seven elites present at the meeting, ladies and gentlemen:

• Seyed Mustafa Mahdavi, PhD in aerospace engineering from Sharif University and a researcher in the automobile and rail industries

• Shkoofeh Ahmadi: A student of economic law at Allameh Tabatabai ^(RA) University and the winner of the Elite Foundation project

• Shahram Soleimani, PhD in Physics from the Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University and a member of one per cent of the most cited scientists of the American Society of Chemistry

• Hamed Rafiei; Member of the Faculty of Agriculture at Tehran University and Director of Governance and Legislation Think Tank of Alborz Province

• Maryam Zare: Member of the Faculty at Khajeh Nasir University and the recipient of the Scientific Award of the National Elite Foundation

• Mohammad Sadegh Adel Mehrban, PhD Candidate in Traditional Medicine at Tehran University of Medical Sciences and the top student in the country in the field of Traditional Medicine

• and Saeed Vedadi Kalantar, PhD in Energy Modeling at Tehran University and the executive of energy research projects

expressed their viewpoints, criticisms, and suggestions on the following topics:

- The mechanism of Science-based Companies in the automobile field

- Improving the implementation of deprivation policies in deprived areas

- The importance of the country’s investment in the field of strategic and power-creating technologies, such as quantum technologies and the chip industry

- The challenges of agricultural policy-making and reforming the process of participation of scientific institutions and academic elements in this field

- Updating the air pollution management agendas and reforming the energy subsidies distribution system

- The importance of the global position of traditional medicine and medicinal plants, the relative advantages of Iran, and the global market of services and products in this area

- and the active growth of the relationship between parent industries and Science-based Companies

Also, at the beginning of this meeting, Mr Dehghani Firouzabadi, the Deputy of Science, Technology, and Economics of the President and Head of the National Elite Foundation, referred to the transformation of this foundation from a trade organisation to an influential centre on the country’s issues, reported on increasing the economic prospects of Science-based Companies. He stated the redesign of the technology development headquarters, the implementation of the model of Science-based consortia, the necessity of implementing mega projects using Science-based companies and setting a goal to create a Science-based economy bank based on the capital of companies in this field.