Rouhani addressed the meeting held to honor Iran’s best university researchers and elites today. “In dealing with elites, we should allow more tolerance; we usually have not tolerated others under whatsoever a pretext; while the developed countries have optimally employed their elites and the best talents to find national prestige and power,” Rouhani told the meeting.
"Elites and honoring them is a means to national power and wealth, which are two sides of the same coin,” he added, “we do need knowledge so that we attain development; to attain knowledge, we need innovation, invention, and scientific discovery.”
Rouhani believed that the brilliant talents and elites required an environment and milieu conducive to flourish. “The developed countries attract elites from any geography and ethnicity; the very nature of being elite is license for countries to attract them, and elites’ birthplace and ethnicity are quite irrelevant here,” he asserted.
Rouhani censured the current conditions of the country which contributed to brain drain. "We should support and save our elites and foreign elites and talented individuals willing to come to Iran as well through allowing a bit more tolerance,” Rouhani demanded.
