What is the main asset of a country such as Iran and how can we use it? It has been more than a century that Iranians extract oil and gas from the earth and sell it to eastern and western customers, for which we thank God for providing us with this valuable blessing. Not many countries have the same blessing. If you were familiarized with the geography of Iran, you would know that the fertile soil of Iran has other valuable materials as well. While the copper mines of Iran do not provide the same amount of asset as gas and oil reserves, they show the presence of many valuable minerals at the heart of mountains and valleys. In addition to copper, oil is mixed with Zagros soil and has increased its value. In Hormoz Island, God has sent us the ultimate blessing, which is a soil containing a mixture of gold and rock. We have about 90 types of soil in Hormoz Island that can be used in various industries, including cosmetics. What is sad is that the residents of this island do not understand the actual worth of this God-sent blessing and think nothing of it but selling a huge amount of it. At a large scale, we have made the same trades in the last century regarding oil and other underground resources. In fact, we have sold our wealth through selling raw materials. Over the years, there have been many government authorities and economics who criticized this issue and condemned raw material selling. However, there has been no proper opportunity for changing our attitude toward the Godly blessings and correction of our vulnerable economy. In the past 40 years, we have dealt with many large and small problems that have restrained out ability to change the economic policies of the country. Unfortunately, the small and large enemies of Iran have recognized the importance of role of oil and its proceeds in the economy, policy and pride of Iran. Therefore, they mainly aim to prevent the selling of oil or disturb its production. The history of oil sanction dates back to the time of Dr. Mosadegh, who challenged England and followed up the nationalization of oil industry and correction of oil contracts as the most serious national responsibility. England completely knew that the most important economic vein of Iran that prolonged its survival was oil and if this vein were clamped, it would quickly cause problems in our industry and market. Imposing sanctions on Iran was probably first used by the English people in fight with Dr. Mosadegh. After the Islamic revolution, sanction of oil and weapons has always been in the hand of the United States and its allies and always an excuse to intervene in our economic issues and preventing the organization of economy in Iran. It seems that we cannot live and breathe without a moment of intervening of others and evil governments cannot let us live our lives. The imperialist evil has caused so many problems for us over the past 40 years, which has prevented us from correcting some of the administrative-financial structures of the country. Fortunately, despite the evil plans and actions of these countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran has survived and is passing all of the small and large crises. However, it is important to note that we practically had no time to eliminate or at least reduce our reliance on oil economy. In fact, the majority of high-level authorities of the revolution and government understand this reliance and know that it is destroying our economy. Nevertheless, the evil government sill cause problems for us in this area. Therefore, we have failed to reduce our reliance and have postponed it to later. I mentioned before that in addition to oil and gas, we have many other valuable minerals in the country’s soil but none of them plays an effective role in our economy. None of them has been affected by sanctions against Iran. This shows us that if we minimized our dependence on oil, no sanction would affect our economy this much and the west would not fight with us by applying sanctions. For example, if our main income were obtained from the tourism field, America would sanction tourism of Iran. However, our income from the tourism section is so insignificant that Americans think nothing of it. This simple issue has made all of us to think about using other revenue sources instead of oil, which will gradually reduce the role of oil in our economy. For instance, tourism has been neglected by the government during these years. We just need to take a look at the tourism revenues of our western neighbor, Turkey, to understand the seriousness of this field. We have a suitable geographical situation, which can be turned into a serious pole of tourism in the world. In addition to tourism, art, cultural industries and handcrafts have a booming market and can yield promising outcomes if properly used by Iran. In addition, the tyrannical governments cannot apply sanctions to the areas of art, tourism, handcrafts, cinema and creative industries as much as they can in the area of oil and weapons. I will comprehensively talk about the serious competitions of Iran in the field of oil. I just need to remind you that oil and its significant revenues have acted as a thick cover, preventing us from paying attention to other wealth-creating sources of the country as far as possible. We have mainly focused on oil and neglected other God-sent blessings. More important than oil, copper, art, and tourism is the blessing of “people”. The main blessing of Iran is not under the ground but rather above the ground, alive, and eager to improve entrepreneurship and enhance the economy of the country. We need to realize that the main asset of the country is the creative Iranians that can create wealth from nothing and by relying on no oil resource. They create knowledge and art and present it to the world. In fact, the traditional approaches to economy are diminishing in the world and being replaced by the knowledge-based economy. We just need to correct our way of thinking and increase the importance and role of entrepreneurs and owners of knowledge-based companies instead of excessive insistence on oil. The modern world definitely needs oil and minerals, but the actual need is related to idea owners. It is the people who can create real wealth and organize the economy. Now that the United States has started a fight with us and is aiming at hurting our economy, it is a rare opportunity to determine our national and governmental duty toward oil and minimize our dependence on this resource. Instead, we can take full advantage of this situation and pave the way for knowledge-based economy and production of Iranian goods by the talented and creative youth, who are familiarized with the modern world and committed to organize their country. Our experience of the past 40 years says that whenever we trusted the people and appointed the duty of dealing with the enemy to them, we achieved maximum success. The nature of the Islamic revolution is the people, and whenever the role of people, from any social class, increases, we obtain more success. Whenever the social commitments of people were eliminated, we witnessed losing to the enemy. Now is the best opportunity to stand against the approach of Trump to win against the enemy one more time. Especially by inviting the scientific youth and Iranian elites and activists in the area of startups and knowledge-based economy, we can eliminate the sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States. When I wrote this article, there were discussions on the international position of Iran and provoking of the United States, which demanded change in the approach of our authorities and even criticizing their work. On the other hand, the government fans pointed out the evil plans of the other governments and defended the government of Iran, demanding the continuity in the same path.

These problems occurred until the end of July, when the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution called the governmental authorities and explained the situation and provided fatherly advices in a friendly environment, reminding the excellent position of the government. Given the fact that the words of the supreme leader are our main principles to follow, I take this opportunity to provide some notes in this editorial of this issue of “SarAmad” according to the statements of the supreme leader.

One. Emphasis on the ability of the country to solve the problems by daily efforts of the authorities and assistance of the public;

This is exactly what the enemy is trying to induce its opposite in the society. The obstinate media has dedicated extensive efforts to induce the following phrases into our society: “we cannot”, “it cannot happen”, “they will not let us”, and “it is not possible”. Meanwhile, the history of 40 years of Islamic revolution witnesses that whenever we decided to be united, and of course, hopeful, we would gain what we wanted together. As asserted by our supreme leader, the conditions and requirements for the continuation of progress and accelerated movement are having a strong spirit, motivation, courage, and determination.

Two. Emphasizing the powerful and revolutionary positions of the country"s officials, especially against foreigners;

Three. Reminding of the country"s superb capabilities and abilities, and solving problems without relying on the baseless European promises.

Four. Involvement of the government in solving problems, especially in the powerful presence of economic authorities that can assist us in passing from the current difficulties. It seems that strengthening the government and supporting the authorities is the duty of the public in the society. However, this strengthening and support does not opposes constructive criticism.

Five. Dealing with offenders in each category and at any level, which is not only the order of the supreme leader, but also something expected from the authorities by the public. The main barrier that slows down our progress and weakens us against the enemy is the presence of these offenders. We need to stop these individuals without cumbersome considerations, which will lead to increased safety of the people.

Six. In this path, correction of some laws and regulations must not be neglected. Most of our areas need constructive and administrative modifications. Today, we are in a special place and it is only suitable to deal with this important issue as soon as possible.

Seven. Serious consideration of the economy of resistance.

In the end, it should be noted that not only will this advice of the supreme leader solve our problems, but it will also accelerate our pace of progress in the world. In this regard, using the creativity and ideas of the young and educated generation of the country, serious consideration of booming the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, helping the development of knowledge-based companies and startups, expanding the area of activities for venture capitals and complete exploitation of the technological studies will lead to solving of our problems and achieving our goals. The current problems will make the inner worth of our people and the authorities visible and deepen the well of our culture and identity.

Parviz Karami

Advisor to the vice president for science and technology affairs