Khamenei urges military to ‘scare off’ enemy

DUBAI: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iran's armed forces on Sunday to increase their power to "scare off" the enemy, as the country faces increased tension with the United States. His statement came just before Iran´s elite Revolutionary Guards said it fired seven missiles in an attack on Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish dissidents that killed at least 11 people on Saturday.

"Increase your power as much as you can, because your power scares off the enemy and forces it to retreat," Khamenei´s official website quoted him as saying at a graduation ceremony for cadets of Iran´s regular armed forces.

US President Donald Trump in May withdrew from Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers -- a deal aimed at stalling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities in return for lifting some sanctions -- and ordered the reimposition of US sanctions that had been suspended under the deal.