Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei cautioned against moves which risk undermining the country's scientific progress.
"The pace of the country's scientific progress must not slow for any reason," the Leader said in a meeting with university professors and researchers in Tehran on Saturday.
He warned of attempts to create commotion and politicize issues in the scientific environment, which are among the elements adversely affecting scientific progress, IRNA reported.
"The university environment should be an environment conducive to fostering political understanding, awareness and knowledge," Ayatollah Khamenei said, cautioning, "Politicizing issues and causing commotion undermine the main goal of universities, which is facilitating scientific progress."
He underlined the importance of efforts by university officials to promote reforms in the field of humanities, as part of the policies to replace "western humanities" with "Islamic humanities," saying more funds should be allocated to university research projects.
The Leader laid emphasis on the effective implementation of the Comprehensive Scientific Roadmap, calling for efforts to promote the plan to turn it into a "common discourse."
The roadmap is a reform plan for scientific development of the nation for the next two decades.
The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology should create the conditions so the capabilities of university students can be exploited to address problems, Ayatollah Khamenei noted.
He highlighted the special role of professors in educating a generation of self-reliant, confident and diligent youth who will move Iran toward progress.
Referring to sanctions, he said, their imposition does not, in fact, have much to do with such issues as the nuclear program, human rights or terrorism.
The sanctions against Iran have been imposed because the Islamic Republic has emerged as a nation, a movement and an identity guided by principles against the hegemonic system, the Leader said.
"Their objective is to prevent Iran from reaching a prominent civilizational status."
