Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei instructed the Revolutionary Guards on Sunday to develop more advanced weapons, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
"The guards must have advanced and modern weapons, and your weapons must be modern and advanced, and they must be developed locally. You need to develop and produce your weapons."
In a speech at a graduation ceremony for a new batch of officers, the Iranian leader stressed that "the Islamic Revolutionary Guards today have pride inside and outside the country."
He added that those who described them as enemies "contributed to achieving this pride," pointing out that the Americans have doubled "the pride of the Revolutionary Guards with their frown and gulf and their hostile performance with the Revolutionary Guards."
Tensions have been rising for some time between Iran and the United States on the one hand, and between it and its rivals in the region on the other. Tensions between the two sides have brought the situation to the brink of war in recent months.