In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Big powers harp upon the incompetence of the nations to exploit them
The basis of all of man's victories and defeats begin with his own self. Man and his beliefs are the basis of all his victories and defeats. The Western powers- first Britain and later on America and other powerful countries- have always tried to make the weak countries believe, with the help of their propaganda, that they are incompetent and good-for-nothing and, therefore, their hands should always be spread out toward the big powers of the East and the West in the areas of industry, military, and for the administration of their countries. Those who wished to plunder off the resources of the weak countries had rightly planned that in order to succeed they would need to make the people of these countries believe that they are incompetent and cannot have an independent industry of their own, and that they cannot manage their own military affairs, and that they are incapable of administering the affairs of their own countries. This belief was spread in these countries through the activities of those who were infatuated by the West and resulted in the destruction and backwardness of these countries. If a man believes himself to be incapable of doing a certain thing, he is bound to fail in that area. No matter how powerful an army is, if it does not possess a strong morale, and if it believes that it can never stand up to a certain power, it is doomed to defeat. Similarly, any country that believes that it cannot create a certain industry is forever doomed to helplessness. These are the plots that the big powers have charted out for the weak nations of the world and there have always been people infatuated and supported by the West who have extensively publicized this belief through their writings, to the extent that these countries started believing that they are completely incompetent and are incapable of managing general affairs like administration, military affairs, industry as well as any other affair that are part and parcel of the human civilization. And that they should be subjugated by the big Western powers because their army needs military advisors and their country needs administrators! As long as this belief prevails among the oppressed countries of the world, they will continue to remain dependent and afflicted.
Self-confidence is the foundation of the Iranian Revolution
As long as you hold the belief that you are incapable of forming your own industries, big or small, and as long as you believe that you are incapable of producing the goods that have thus far been provided for you by the West, you will never succeed in doing anything. You should first develop your own selves. You should first begin to believe in yourselves as human beings with a power to think and with the power to create your own industries. These powers are potentially present in all human beings. If this belief is established within you, you will succeed. Your own experience in the past two years has proved that all their claims have turned out to be false propagation. It is because of the effect of all such false propagation that you were made to believe that you cannot withstand the big powers and should, thus, surrender to them.
Through your revolution and your uprising you believed and you made the oppressed nations and governments believe that it is possible to stand up against the world-devouring America and the Soviet Union. Two years ago, you brave people stood up and revolted against them and severed their hands from your country and saw for yourself that it is possible for you to stand up against them even though your military and industrial power are not as advanced as theirs. Once a nation begins to believe that it can do something, it will be done. It all depends upon these two basic beliefs one of which comprises weakness, incompetence, and incapability while the other one comprises power, competence, and ability. If a nation believes that it can stand up against the big powers, this belief of theirs will lead them to develop the competence to be able to stand against the big powers.
Self-confidence is the key to independence and liberation from dependence
You gained this victory mainly because you began to believe in yourselves and you believed that America cannot impose anything upon you. This belief was the foundation of the miraculous feat achieved by you. As you can see, in these two years, many industries have emerged in our country and our people have begun to believe that we, too, can have our own industries and we too can be innovative. This very belief in your own capability makes you powerful. They (Western colonialist governments) had robbed us of this belief. They had stripped us of everything including our beliefs and had made us dependent.
If the belief system of a country is dependent on a certain big power, it ends up becoming completely dependent on that power. It is most important that your beliefs are no longer dictated by the big powers. If you manage to do that and if you begin to believe that you, too, can become industrialized, you will meet with success. If you start believing that you do not need to depend upon others, you will become independent. If our farmers begin to believe that we can reach a point in our agricultural sector where it will be possible for us to export our goods without depending upon others, then that will also become possible. If you, the personnel of the military industries, begin to believe that you have the experience and the expertise to establish your own independent industries, you are sure to succeed.
As per the information I have received, many positive achievements have been made by your industry and I am hopeful that you will be able to gain greater achievements in the future such that you do not have to spread out your hands toward either the East or the West. We can steer our country toward total self-reliance without needing to depend upon others for anything. We should believe that we, too, are capable of achieving many things like the rest of the world. May we progress with this belief! May God continue to help you from the unseen! May this country, which belongs to the Guided Imams( `a )and the Master of the Age( `a ), remain independent until the appearance of the Promised Savior. And may this country be at His service and succeed in establishing justice throughout the world and preventing the oppressors from inflicting atrocities on the oppressed people.
May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.