The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, has praised the country’s scientific and athletic medal winners, saying their brilliant international achievements embody the nation’s hope, vitality and progress.
Iran
NOC; Tehran: He declared that the key to an “ever stronger Iran” lies in the
boundary-breaking scientific endeavour of the elite, calling for a deep and
accelerating scientific upsurge within the framework of the “Knowledge is
Power” grand strategy. In a message addressed to the elite and to medal winners
in international scientific and sporting arenas, read out on Tuesday evening at
a ceremony honoring the country’s scientific and athletic medalists, Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Khamenei underlined the unparalleled role of young and teenage
high-achievers in manifesting hope, progress and national exuberance. The
message stressed that officials must, while providing the infrastructure for
this scientific leap, make maximum use of the individual capacities and
collective wisdom of the country’s elite.
The
Supreme Leader first congratulated the Iranian nation and every high-achiever
on the country’s numerous medals and scientific honors in the recent Olympiads
in astronomy and astrophysics, mathematics, earth sciences, geography, physics,
chemistry, biology, computing and artificial intelligence, and the humanities,
as well as the latest sporting distinctions. He expressed appreciation for the
resolve of the standard-bearers of honor and hope across all segments of the
elite, from teenagers and young athletes to coaches, professors and scholars,
noting that the repeated, year-after-year national and world championships in
academic disciplines and sports are a source of pride for the entire Iranian
nation.
Turning
to sport, the Supreme Leader stated that the brilliant rankings of the
country’s hard-working athletes in various disciplines in recent days and
months, and the setting of new benchmarks, testify to their effort, resolve,
determination and faith. The athletes who, through physical strength and moral,
spiritual and faith-based fortitude and constant striving, enhance Iran’s
standing before the eyes of all nations; the sportswomen whose honorable
display of the Iranian woman’s covering shines across the world; and the medalists
who bring joy to the heart of the Iranian nation and exalt the proud flag of
Islamic Iran — each, in their own measure, contributes effectively to giving
meaning to a strong Iran, he said.
Describing
talent and ingenuity as a divine blessing, the Supreme Leader emphasized that a
true elite member is not one who, merely by virtue of notable ability, pursues
fleeting personal desires, but one who feels committed to developing his or her
talent, defines himself or herself as an effective element of society, and
deploys that capacity for the growth of both self and society. He noted that
strong Iran rests on scientific and technological authority — a key component
of the country’s role in the new global order — and that the key to ever-greater
strength lies in the boundary-breaking, problem-solving contribution of the
elite. Referring to the martyring of prominent Iranian scientists and elite
figures by the enemies of Islamic Iran, he said such hostility itself testifies
to the elite’s decisive role in the nation’s strength, and that the blood of
martyred scholars, professors, students and schoolchildren has raised, and will
continue to raise, a storm of determination and progress.
Concluding
with recommendations for a deep and accelerating scientific upsurge, the
Supreme Leader called for serious, precise and practical programs for the
growth of basic sciences and the humanities; sustained focus on undiscovered
truths and boundary-breaking in fundamental disciplines, particularly mathematics;
fostering creativity, innovation and scientific courage with attractive
incentives; self-reliance in solving scientific problems alongside the removal
of technological bottlenecks; and the direct involvement of the elite in
policymaking and in connecting universities with knowledge-based companies,
industries and start-ups around the nation’s vital issues, from water, soil,
food and energy to artificial intelligence. Should this path be followed
correctly, he affirmed, the centers of knowledge will gradually shift from
Western countries to Iran, the country will become a scientific and
technological reference authority in the not-too-distant future, and the
martyred Leader’s aspiration of making Persian one of the world’s reference
scientific languages will be realized.