Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on poets to focus on poems satirizing the contemporary world's strange and bitter facts, such as the US partnership with Saudi Arabia or the kingdom's appointment to the UN women's rights commission.
A group of cultural figures, teachers of Persian literature and poetry, young and veteran Iranian poets, as well as poets from India, Afghanistan and Turkey had a meeting with the Leader in Tehran late on Saturday, Tasnim News Agency reported.
During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei said a number of major political issues in the modern world have not been given due attention by poets.
What is going on in Syria or the developments in Iraq merit thousands of poems, the Leader stressed, adding, "Many people are unaware about what agenda the Americans are pursuing in Iraq and how they [Americans] came up against a stone wall."
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the necessity of satirical poems about the odd issues in today's world, pointing to cases such as the representatives of "the modern ignorance and the tribal ignorance" performing sword dance together, or appointment of a government like Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
On May 20, US President Donald Trump bounced along to a ceremonial sword dance in the oil kingdom during his maiden foreign trip.
Earlier in April, Saudi Arabia was elected to the UN women's rights commission, prompting outrage from human rights groups. The Saudi regime has become one of 45 countries sitting on a panel "promoting women's rights" while women in the kingdom are not allowed to vote or even drive.
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