Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, met with thousands of Iranian labors ahead of international Labors’ Day, on Saturday morning.
He spoke about the Iran’s upcoming 11th Presidential Elections, how to counter sanctions and how to empower domestic production.
He has previously named the Iranian New Year as the year of “Political and Economic Epic” and said, “One of the prominent examples of political achievement would be the Elections, which will be held on schedule.”
With only 47 days to the Elections, the Leader invited people from different parties once again: “Anyone from any party, who feels he’s capable, can enter the Presidential race.”
He stressed the “People’s significant participation” and said, those with ill will are trying to shatter people’s willingness to participate in the Elections in order to derail political achievements.
He also called objections against the Guardian Council establishment irrational and said, “We are blessed with the Guardian Council in the Islamic Republic. Imam Khomeini fully supported this establishment. The Guardian Council’s assessment is done by a community of honest people who take no sides and are aware of the requirements.”
He said those who want to become candidates should know what the executive management of the country is and they should know what the country needs and how far they can go.
He also criticized those inexperienced candidates and said, “Those who are willing to become candidates should know what the country needs and how far they can go.” The following statement was made because a growing number of politicians declared candidacy while some of them have no significant experience in executive management.
Prediction of harder economic situations and criticism of Ahmadinejad’s Economy
In reaction to the U.S. and its allies pursuing their sanctions against Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated: “Our economic policy should be based on an economy of resistance during sanctions, so its firm structure wouldn’t be influenced by world events.”
The Leader also said that an economy of resistance during sanctions is different from the economic policies pursued by other countries.
He indirectly criticized an unbalanced economic policy in Ahmadinejad’s administration in the last two years and said, “Daily decision making on economy issues, constantly changing them, seeking non-professional advise and believing in Western or Eastern structures of economy, are harmful to the country and our economy policy should be based on an economy of resistance during sanctions.
Iran’s Leader said, “Economy hardships and discontent in the West are confirming the failure of Capitalist economic policy.”
He believes that what we see in the U.S. and EU is the tip of the iceberg and things will deteriorate because Capitalism is in decline.
After economic reforms, coupled with rising sanctions against Iran, domestic production faced a lot of hurdles. Because many ingredients couldn’t make their way to Iranian factories and the government refused to pay subsidies and instead, gave it directly to people, as a monthly payment. This has caused a leap in inflation and consequently, more discontent of the government.
This happened exactly in the year which was supposed to be the year of “supporting Iranian workers and their funds”. The Leader reiterated many times that the government and people should support manufacturing.
He called on Iranian people to buy goods “Made in Iran”. He ordered governmental organizations not to use any foreign goods for their needs.
It seems that Iran’s Leader predicts that his country will face more severe sanctions and harder economic situations. His new policies are implementing a counter-sanctions economy that can withstand forceful pressures from the West; because he reiterated that Iran will not give up its nuclear enrichment rights.
Now we can better understand his comments on the required characteristics of the future President: “Iranian people are pursuing big ambitions and achievements and won’t surrender and no one can bully them. So, the President should be someone who is brave and hard-working against the threats of the enemies and won’t retreat.
If a huge leap in the economy should be the center of attention in the executive and legislative establishment of the country then we would not counter any political hardship.”
One other topic that the Leader elaborated on was his advice to every administration. “I have supported different Administrations and Presidents in the past years and also questioned them on various issues. My main concern was that the administrations should not create difficulties and stress in people’s lives.” He said, governments should not make unreachable promises, but they should progress in a reasonable way.”
Critics believe that “inflation” and “baseless promises” are two problems in Ahmadinejad’s administration. The majority of the criticisms against 10th administration are about the economic issues, involving inflation and domestic production.
