TEHRAN – President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Iran is making progress day by day and the situation is changing in its favor.

“The enemies are surrendering to the Iranian nation…the situation is changing against the enemies’ (interests) and in favor of the Islamic Revolution,” Ahmadinejad told a large gathering of preachers in Feiziyeh School in Qom.
Over the last 30 years since the Islamic Revolution the enemies have been making every effort to undermine the Islamic system but today they have been frustrated over their failure to defeat Iran through sanctions and pressure, said the president.
He asserted that “the Iranian nation is becoming braver and stronger day by day.”
Ahmadinejad said his government has made great achievements over the past three years which he said were the most difficult times in the history of the Islamic Revolution as all world powers officially and clearly teamed up against Iran.
Iran has come under four UN Security Council resolutions for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program which the West claims is a covert effort to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and is merely aimed at generating electricity for a growing population.
Ahmadinejad said the bullying powers expected that sanctions would make Iran abandon its rights, “but thanks to the exceptional leadership (of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) and the perseverance of the Iranian nation, the situation turned to Iran’s benefit.”
He also said the most important duty of the ruling system is to bring justice to the society and his government is determined to fulfill this responsibility.
Ahmadinejad said his administration has tried to bring justice through “distribution of wealth, and opportunities as well as paying attention to the poor, removing hurdles to progress, and making provincial trips”.
The president said his government has minimized the impact of sanctions on the economy. Despite sanctions and pressure foreign investment is flowing into Iran, he added.
Ahmadinejad said during his term unemployment has fallen from 12.9 percent to less than 10 percent, non-oil exports have increased and imports have dropped dramatically.
The president vowed that 450,000 jobs will be created by the end of the current Iranian year which ends in March 2008.