Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday warned his country’s “enemies” that they will face Iran's harsh response if they dare to launch a military attack against the country.
"The enemy should understand that if it makes any aggression, it will be hit hard and our defense will also include response," Khamenei said in a meeting with military commanders in Tehran on Sunday, according to the Fars news agency.
"We should increase the Armed Forces' preparedness to the extent that the enemy doesn’t even allow itself to think about aggression," he added.
Khamenei referred to the enemies' opposition to Iran's purchase of the S-300 missile defense system from Russia, and said, "The S-300 system is a defensive and not offensive tool but the Americans have made their utmost efforts to prevent the Islamic Republic's use of this possibility."
"We are facing such an enemy which doesn’t respect our nation's right of defense and actually wants us to remain defenseless so that they can launch aggression against our country whenever they want," he added, according to Fars.
Khamenei often launches verbal attacks against Iran’s “enemies”, mostly against the United States, to which he refers as “the Great Satan”, and Israel.
In the past, he has ruled out his country having ties with the United States or “the Zionist regime” – that is, Israel – claiming he had proof that the United States was planning a coup in Iran.
Khamenei has also referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor” and also predicted several months ago that the Jewish state will not exist in 25 years.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday warned his country’s “enemies” that they will face Iran's harsh response if they dare to launch a military attack against the country.