BOJNORD, Iran, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Iran isn't a nation of aggressor but it maintains the right to respond should it face outside confrontation, the ruling cleric said Friday.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addressed military officials in the eastern province of North Khorasan. Armed forces in the country, he said, are at their highest level of preparedness but aren't looking for war.
"Based on their Islamic injunctions, Iranian nation are not the men of aggression and invasion and at the same time not willing to fall short of confronting any aggression," he was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying.
Western allies have said "all options" are on the table in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-weapons state. U.N. inspectors have said there may be military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program, though Tehran says its intentions are peaceful.
Khamenei said the "motivation for waging war" against Iran has diminished, however, because of the "the general readiness of Iranian nation and the defense readiness of the armed forces."
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, during a debate with his Republican opponent Rep. Paul Ryan, Wis., defended Washington's track record in containing Iran.
"Iran is more isolated today than when we took office. It was on the ascendancy when we took office (in 2009)," he said. "It is totally isolated."
