President of the Supreme National Defense University: Preparedness for timely and effective response to crises is crucial.

The President of the National Defense University stated, "Some crises, such as climate change, develop slowly but eventually lead to social and security crises, and addressing such crises is time-consuming." According to the Center for Communications and International Relations, General Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, the President of the SNDU, expressed this during a specialized crisis management session held at the university on Tuesday, February 5, 2024. He further emphasized that natural, social, security, and other existing crises are the result of human manipulation and intervention. One of the important aspects of crisis management is "prediction" because strategic preparedness is crucial for timely and effective response to crises.

  The President of the National Defense University added, "Unfortunately, the prevailing culture in our society is not preventive. For instance, before the outbreak of COVID-19 in our country, it was mentioned in a meeting that 100 million masks should be purchased and stored, but no one paid attention to this matter. This indicates that we are not willing to spend for prevention in our country. However, when a crisis occurs, we quickly take action, so to speak." Continuing his statement, General Ahmadi-Moghaddam said, "During the 2019 fuel crisis, warnings were issued by responsible authorities about the possibility of a crisis due to the high fuel prices. However, there was no operational plan to address the social crisis stemming from the expensive gasoline."

They further stated, "Today, the authority of public opinion has largely slipped out of the hands of governments, and this is true in our country as well. We can observe this in the issue of the Gaza war, where despite the efforts of governments to manipulate the facts of the Gaza war, they were unable to steer public opinion in the direction they desired." The President of the SNDU also expressed, "Some crises, such as climate change, develop slowly but eventually lead to social and security crises. However, addressing such crises is time-consuming. Even in this regard, we can mention the reduction of population growth, as a decrease in birth rates can turn into a crisis in society." In continuation, General Ahmadi-Moghaddam stated, "This means that we should not only focus on crises that occur suddenly and can be quickly managed, as some natural crises also bring along benefits alongside the damages. However, if a problem arises in a large economic entity, we should not abandon it, as such activities, due to the presence of many employees, may lead to security and social crises in society if assistance is not provided to them during this shutdown."