Leader Highlights Role of Producers in Countering Economic War

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei underlined the role of producers in averting enemy plans to wreck Iran’s economy to achieve their evil political goals. 
“The country’s production and economy are still in place and producers and practitioners in the economy sector … as well as workers … are partners and main agents of this glory,” he said in a meeting with a group of manufacturers and industry leaders on Sunday, Leader.ir reported. 
He described producers’ resistance against the onslaught on Iran’s economy as a type of jihad, saying plots to conquer the stronghold of production have failed. 
“In this aggression against the country’s economy, problems arose in people’s livelihoods, but production did not come to its knees,” he said, highlighting the failure of the United States’ maximum pressure as admitted by its authorities. 
Washington started a so-called maximum pressure campaign against Tehran in 2018, after quitting a 2015 agreement that had lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions to its nuclear program.
Today, after about three years, however, US officials are confessing that the policy has failed.
The Leader reiterated that the Islamic Republic’s economy needs a surge in production in order to overcome problems and withstand shocks from domestic and foreign sources.   
He once again underscored the need to avoid rendering the economy conditional on issues that are out of the country’s control and suspending activities due to those problems. 

Extensive Capacities

Ayatollah Khamenei said proper use of Iran’s extensive capacities by efficient, hardworking and compassionate managers would make a difference in the country’s conditions by multiple times.
He regretted that despite this potential, economic facts and figures from the past ten years are “truly disappointing”, adding that a blow to people’s livelihoods, about which we always express concern, is rooted in this fact. 
“The main cause of these problems is not sanctions alone, but wrong decisions and laxity have had a major part,” he said.
The Leader later stressed the need for improving the quality of domestically-produced goods.
He said multi-faceted support of domestic production must lead to enhancement of their quality, a necessity that has been neglected in some industries such as car manufacturing. 
“This would be too bad if instead of quality improvement, prices go up,” he said. 
It is also essential, according to Ayatollah Khamenei, to offer governmental and banking support to downstream entrepreneurial industries alongside primary industries, including oil refineries under the oil industry and the downstream chains of the steel industry.  
He called for special attention to making key industries knowledge-based. 
Numerous small and medium-size knowledge-based businesses have been established in recent years, but large industries have been overlooked, he noted. 
Knowledge-based management of the agriculture sector and finding optimized consumption models, for instance, are essential and must be pursued in order to prevent the destruction of soil and waste of water, he said. 
The Leader said he is not generally against cooperating with foreign companies, but believes that domestic knowledge-based companies can fulfill the country’s needs in major industries such as oil. 
“It should not be thought that advancing technology in various industries is contingent on the presence of foreign companies.” 
He also urged the government and the Central Bank of Iran to direct funds and bank facilities toward production in an active way and with strict supervision.  
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the importance of preparing and ratifying a strategic industrial document so as to prevent deviations in plans with the change of governments. 
He concluded by calling on the authorities to carry on with their efforts to remove obstacles to production, in a way that its economic effects can be felt tangibly by the people in not so long.
Prior to the Leader’s speech, 14 individuals from various manufacturing sectors expressed their ideas and views.