Enemies Afraid of Iran Popular , Cultural Power

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

President Hassan Rouhani says that the biggest power of Iran is national and popular power and the enemies are afraid of them.

Speaking yesterday at the cabinet meeting,  President Rouhani referred to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s remarks in this week’s Friday prayers and said: “The biggest power that God has put in our country is national and popular power and the people of Iran are our greatest power and there is no power higher than people’s resistance, presence, devotion, and unity.”

“The enemies’ biggest fear is not from our economic, military and security power. They are terribly afraid of our popular and cultural power, because a nation that prepares itself for devotion and self-sacrifice and stands together in different incidents and problems, as it happened in the plane crash and martyrdom of our country’s great commander General Soleimani, enjoys massive power and becomes invincible,” added Rouhani.

Stating that today, national power must be paid attention to more than any time else, he said: “National power is a combination of cultural, economic, security, and political powers and these four powers must interact with each other so that we can take the right path.”

He also stressed increasing the economic power, saying: “The fact that today, our non-oil exports have increased means that our country’s economic power is under our non-oil export.”

The President went on to stress the development of tourism fields, adding: “Today, there are countries in the world whose income from tourism is as much as our oil revenues, and our country can have the highest incomes from tourism given its high security and environmental diversity.”

Emphasizing that economic power is impossible without political power, Rouhani said: “We cannot cut our relations and interaction with the world and at the same time gain economic power. If we want to increase our production, we need to have other markets.”

“If we do not have political power, this power will not be effective at the regional and global levels even if we can create economic power inside the country,” he said.

He continued: “There is no authority in our country that is selected without people’s vote, and all institutions and authorities get their legitimacy from people’s will.”

Rouhani added: “It is important that an overwhelming majority of people should attend the elections, or else, we could hold elections like some European countries in which 15-20 percent of people attending the elections, but this is not what we want and we have never wanted people’s participation to be low in the elections.”

He added: “Everybody must know that there is no institution higher than people and the law. When the Leader of the Islamic Revolution orders us to become powerful, this power can be achieved through presence, hard work, and interaction with the world.”

“Those who are sitting in the White House cannot decide for the Iranian nation. It is the people who decide in their house of faith, resistance and high spirits,” said the President.

He also unveiled plans for the establishment of a new “innovation center” in the country dedicated to promoting artificial intelligence, and will name it after the victims of the recent plane crash.

President Rouhani said the administration is going to open a major innovation center on development of artificial intelligence.

The new complex will be entitled “Centre 176” in remembrance of the 176 passengers who died in the January 8 crash of Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran, the president added.

He also paid tribute to the victims of the plane crash, particularly the Iranian people engaged in the academic, scientific and research activities.

The president further assured the families of both Iranian and foreign victims that the Islamic Republic will do its utmost and utilize all tools available to investigate into the accident, stressing that Tehran will honor all of the legal commitments with regard to the tragic incident.

President Rouhani then pointed to a rise in Iran’s national income thanks to the export of non-oil goods, saying a sum of $20 billion in non-oil exports have been funneled to the Central Bank of Iran.

“Without exports, we cannot have scientific competition and progress, and scientific and technological progress comes with competition and presence in the world markets,” the president added.