Hawzah News Agency - (Tehran - Iran) - Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called for a further strengthening of the country’s defense power to confront threats and avoid any possible outbreak of war.

Iran has managed to “paralyze” its enemies, and has developed its own "sophisticated” means of defense in response to the enemy's use of increasingly advanced measures against Iran, the Leader told a group of Iranian Air Force commanders and personnel in Tehran Saturday.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that “in order to impede war and put an end to the threats, one has to become strong.”

“We are not seeking to threaten any nation, but to defend the country from threats,” the Leader stressed.

Every year on February 8, Iranian Air force commanders and personnel meet the Leader to mark the historic allegiance of Iranian Air Force officers with the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini back on February 8, 1979.

The meeting is viewed as a turning point which led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution three days later, sealing the fate of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in Iran.

Addressing the air force personnel, Ayatollah Khamenei said that “during the past regime, the Air Force was one of the closest forces to the central authority and the United States.”

“However, the tyrannical regime was struck from this very force, which it never expected,” the Leader noted.

Ayatollah Khamenei said “based on Quranic teachings, God strikes the enemies and assists the believers in places they never expect”.