Ayatollah Khamenei was speaking during a graduation ceremony for Army cadets on Wednesday.
“Today, the Iranian nation faces a vast enemy front due to its dedication to Islam, independence and lofty values,” said the Leader, adding that “the Armed Forces should always be prepared to play their part should the need arise.”
Ayatollah Khamenei further highlighted the sacrifices made by Iranian soldiers during the eight-year war imposed by the former Iraqi regime on the Islamic Republic during the 1980s.
The eight-year Iraqi offensive, the Leader added, was in fact “an international and all-out war waged by the world’s major powers, along with their global and regional followers, against the [country’s] frontiers, the identity, the Islamic establishment as well as the Iranian nation’s [1979 Islamic] Revolution.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iranians, however, managed to counter all the big powers through reliance on their faith and resistance.
The ceremony culminated Iran’s Sacred Defense Week, which marked the 36th anniversary of the Iraq war.
