Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi: Critics are compassionate, not servants of America and Israel

While criticizing the crises in society, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi emphasized: "Critics are compassionate, not servants of America and Israel."

In the first session of the Islamic jurisprudence course of the new academic year today, Wednesday, September 17, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, examining the country's current problems, openly criticized mismanagement in the economic, social, and infrastructure fields and said: "Whoever criticizes is not a servant of Israel and America, but rather some criticism is out of compassion. Today's people see the realities and are not satisfied with slogans and labels."

He considered the water and electricity crises a clear sign of the lack of national planning, and referring to the widespread closure of industries due to power outages and the exponential increase in bills, he added: "This trend has directly caused inflation and double pressure on the weakest segments of society."

He also considered the water crisis one of the country's serious threats and emphasized: "We are not among the countries with abundant water, but we have the sea in the north and south. Today, desalination of seawater is a basic industry. Countries around us have turned their deserts into forests, why haven't we invested? Why didn't we foresee it?"

The Qom Seminary professor introduced the solution to overcome economic problems by attracting and protecting domestic and foreign capital, and criticized the focus solely on government investment, stating: "The solution to solving economic problems is to attract domestic and foreign capital from the people. Solving production challenges is not possible with government investment alone." Referring to the wealth of Iranians abroad, he reminded: "Iranians abroad have at least 80 trillion in wealth and their hearts beat for Iran. We must provide the basis for the return of these funds."

He considered the existence of an independent judiciary to be one of the basic conditions for achieving this goal, adding: "We want an independent and impartial judiciary. The judge must know what the economy is. If an entrepreneur's bank installment is late, he should not send him to prison and close his factory. Today, there are people in prison who could have created thousands of jobs every month."

Emphasizing the necessity of healthy economic competition, Boroujerdi considered the direct presence of military and law enforcement institutions in the economy a serious obstacle to the growth of the private sector and stated: "The economy must be free and competitive, not a tax-exempt entity and the private sector crushed under pressure."

In another part of his speech, he introduced foreign relations as a prerequisite for economic development and said: "Trade and investment are formed only in the shadow of rational and conventional relations, and relations with countries do not mean surrendering to them. Relations between countries in the world are formed based on interests, not friendship or rhetorical enmity."

He also criticized the prioritization of the country's public budgets, noting: "In a situation where people are suffering from power outages and a livelihood crisis, allocating resources to building new mosques is not justified, because many existing mosques are half-closed." He emphasized that renovating mosques requires efficient imams, not new buildings.

This prominent seminary professor once again emphasized in the end: "Our intention is to serve. We warn and speak out of compassion and a sense of duty, and we hope that God will grant us the success to take steps on the path of uplifting the people."

What we are witnessing today reflects the depth of the crisis in the Islamic Republic. A government that has always considered itself immune to criticism has now reached a point where even prominent clerics and seminary professors have opened their mouths to protest.

When voices of criticism rise from within the field, it shows that public discontent can no longer be denied. These voices are a reminder that inefficiency, corruption, and lack of planning have not only destroyed the lives of ordinary people, but have also shaken the foundations of the system's legitimacy among its closest social strata.