WANA (Feb 17) – In a meeting with thousands of people, Iran’s Supreme Leader emphasized the priority of countering soft threats and urged media, educational institutions, and online activists to play an active role in this effort.

 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Iran’s defensive capabilities against hard threats as “excellent,” stating that both enemies and allies acknowledge this reality. He added, “Therefore, our issue today is not the enemy’s hard threats but rather their soft threats.”

 

He defined soft threats as “manipulating public opinion, creating divisions, and instilling doubts about the principles of the Islamic Revolution.” He stressed that Iran’s adversaries aim to weaken the country’s strong stance through these means, though he asserted that such efforts have failed so far.

Highlighting the importance of addressing these threats, Ayatollah Khamenei called on media, educational, and propaganda officials to counteract them by “producing content and ideas” to block the enemy’s influence on public opinion. He also emphasized that soft defense is more critical than hard defense, explaining that weaknesses in military hardware can be compensated for with strong ideological resistance, but software-based challenges cannot be resolved with military power alone.

 

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian leader rejected claims that Iran seeks to create enemies, attributing U.S. hostility to Iran’s independence and its refusal to submit to colonial powers. Referring to Washington’s hegemonic policies, he stated, “They cannot tolerate a nation that stands on its own feet and has built a government that, after 46 years, continues to grow stronger.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader In a meeting with thousands of people

Iran’s Supreme Leader In a meeting with thousands of people / WANA News Agency