DUSHANBE, August 28, 2008, Asia-Plus – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a gathering of Iranians residing in Tajikistan Wednesday in spite of big powers'' desire, Iranians are moving fast towards the heights of progress and honor, Iran’s news agency IRNA said.

At a Wednesday evening meeting, the Iranian president added, "The world knows well that the Iranians have always been throughout their history an inspiring nation that has promoted culture, literature, arts, humanity, peace, friendship, and love in their neighborhood and beyond."

He added, "Wherever the Iranians set their feet, the works remained from their presence reminded the coming generations of humanity, an exalted culture, their artistic spirit, and well matureness, and for instance, in Tajikistan, the Iranian culture has captured the depth of the hearts of this nation."

Ahmadinejad further stressed, "From the Far East to the Far West in Latin America, wherever the Iranians have gone they have taken along the Iranian kindness, purity of soul, and love for the entire mankind, and contrary to the negative propagation of the oppressive powers, the memory of nations about the Iranian nation has always been full of a good, beautiful, transparent, and highly lovable image." Pointing out that Iran''s name shines around the globe today, the president reiterated, "Today, also due to the aggressive moves of the occupying and corrupt forces invasions here and there, side by side with the resistance of the Iranian nation, Iran''s name shines more than ever."

He added, "Today the hearts and minds of the world nations are with the Iranians and the Iranian culture, because the Iranian culture is a culture of monotheism, justice seeking, love, peace, friendship, and equality of the entire human beings, which is why we are both proud to be Iranians, and thank God for it."

Ahmadinejad added, "After the victory of the Islamic Revolution and after a long delay in Iranian nations''s inspiring of the world nations, once again Iran''s comprehensive move towards advancement began, and today, despite the big powers'' will and their broad scale negative propagation, we are moving towards the peaks of advancement and pride."

Noting that the Iranian nation''s advancement is quite comprehensive and cause for pride, the president said, "Yet, our progress in scientific fields is more significant." He added, "If a nation would achieve progress in scientific fields it can rapidly capture the peaks of success in all other fields, and the Iranian youth and technicians are fortunately capturing the peaks scientific success one after the other."

Ahmadinejad said, "The enemies imposed eight years of war, followed by decades of sanctions against the Iranian nation, hoping to block the path of Iran''s advancement, assuming that they could halt the Iranian nation and urge it to abandon its desire to remain independent and prestigious.

He added, "But today contrary to their will and their wrong assumptions, our country has achieved noteworthy advancement in such important scientific fields as biotechnology, ranking among the top five in the world."