Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Wednesday in a meeting with religious eulogists in Tehran.
More than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s raids on Gaza since early October.
Ayatollah Khamenei also said soft power is more effective and pervasive than hard power.
“That is why the United States, despite all the modern weapons it has, makes the most investment in areas such as media, arts, literature and the cinema,” said the Leader.
He touched upon the Americans’ ignominious fleeing from Afghanistan as well as Iraqi people’s deep hatred of the White House, adding, “The United States’ hard power failed to make its presence in those two countries long-lasting and successful, but soft power has enabled groups which seem to be in the minority such as Palestinian people to stay at the center of the world’s attention.”
He said soft power has been Iran’s main strategy over the past 45 years, adding, “We believe in possessing modern arms as required by the country to be able to effectively counter the enemies’ prowess, but also do believe that soft power is more efficacious and should be promoted.”
