Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in Tehran on Thursday, referring to the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war against Iran (1980-1988).
The 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war paved the way for flourishing the talents of the Iranian nation, he said.
The Supreme Leader underlined that the active participation of the Iranian youth in the sacred defense was the miracle of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In relevant remarks in 2009, Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said that eight years of sacred defense gifted military, political and regional might to Iran.
"In the war, all countries, except a few, helped Iran's enemy and a full-fledged aggression through arms, intelligence, security and financial backing of other countries, was thus launched on Iranian borders by former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein," announced Ayatollah Jannati.
He said that Iranian armed forces along with people and the youth stood against enemy invasion and attack for eight years with bare hands and due to the same reason Iran did not lose in the war.
He added that in the war, Iran's territorial integrity was protected and the enemy was thus condemned and recognized as the aggressor.
