Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that the Islamic republic must become strong enough to ward off the “enemy’s threats” and prevent a war. Khamenei also said Iran had a strong air force despite decades of US pressure and sanctions on the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “We must become strong so that there will not be a war, become strong so that enemy’s threats will end,” he told a gathering of air force commanders and staff.