TEHRAN -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Wednesday Iran’s military capabilities have left no room for any concern about external threats.
“Today, the country has fortunately reached the stage of deterrence, meaning that its military status has reached the point that the country is not concerned about foreign threats, and the enemies are also aware of this,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on the eve of the Sacred Defense Week.
The Leader made the comments in a meeting with a number of veterans and commanders who defended Iran against the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion in the 1980s.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the war against Iran was an “international war”.
“At one time, we asserted that all of the world powers are fighting us. But now, those who said that this was just a claim on our part are admitting to this themselves,” he said.
“The world’s arrogant powers were behind Saddam in his war on Iran, because they were angry with the Islamic Revolution. The Revolution wasn’t merely a temporary political defeat for the arrogant powers. It was a threat to the domineering system of global imperialism,” Ayatollah Khamenei stated.
The Leader said the imposed war on Iran was the global imperialism’s natural reaction to the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
The purpose of the war, he added, was to prevent the message of the Iranian nation such as standing firmly, not fearing the U.S., and resisting global oppression and discrimination from being passed on to other nations.
The Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said, was a threat to the domineering system of the global imperialism.
“The arrogant powers of the West and the East understood the seriousness of this threat. Thus, they imposed a war on the Iranian nation by encouraging and inciting Saddam.”
The Leader said the main goals of the arrogant powers in imposing war on Iran were to divide Iran, separate Khuzestan from Iran as an important part of the country, bring the Iranian nation to its knees, overthrow the Islamic Republic, and take the fate of the Iranian nation to its own hands.
One of the achievements of the Sacred Defense was that it proved safeguarding the country and deterring the enemies is only possible through resistance, not submission, he added.
Ayatollah Khamenei underlined the need to put into use the principle of resistance in various political, economic, and cultural matters.
“This intelligent resistance showed the enemy that they must always take Iran’s strength into consideration in their calculations, why, because it is with this spirit that we have been able to defeat the enemy in many cases,” the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the military invasion against Iran after the Islamic Revolution was not unexpected.
“It is true that Saddam launched the attack, but behind Saddam was global arrogance.”
The Leader said, “The Sacred Defense is an exciting, eventful and fruitful juncture. The era of Sacred Defense is one of the events that have an effect on our yesterday, today and tomorrow.”