Press TV - Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran�s early Wednesday missile attack on US bases in Iraq following assassination of a top general�was just �a slap�.

"The talk of revenge and such debates is another issue. For now, a slap was delivered on their face last night," Ayatollah Khamenei said in remarks broad live on national television Wednesday.

"What is important about confrontation is that military action as such is not sufficient. What is important is that the seditious American presence in the region must end," he said�to chants of "Death to America" by an audience in Tehran.

The remarks�came hours after Iran's responded to US assassination of the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis with a barrage of missiles that hit�two US bases in Iraq.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran is quite equipped in the face of global bullying powers. "It is a very blatant mistake that some people think if they take a step back, the Americans will stop their hostility."

"Some people say and even write in newspapers that we should act so that America does not get angry; this is absolutely wrong. This is contrary to the Qur'an commandment," the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the overriding responsibility of the masses is to discern their enemies, and "I am firmly saying that the enemy is America, the Zionist regime and the arrogant apparatus of corporations and institutions."

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The Leader hailed the Iraqi parliament's decision ordering US troops to leave the country as well as the Iranian parliament's blacklisting of American forces as terrorists.

"The Americans want Iraq to be like the former idolatrous regime in Iran or Saudi Arabia today - a region full of oil to be under their control so they can do whatever they want - a milking cow in the words of that individual," he said in reference to US President Donald Trump.

"But the faithful elements and the Iraqi youth and their Marja'iya (religious authorities) stood up to these scenarios, and Haj Qassem assisted this vast front as an active adviser and an honorable supporter," the Leader added.

The US, Ayatollah Khamenei said, has similar plans for Lebanon. "The Americans want to clear Lebanon of the most important factor of independence which is the resistance so that it cannot resist."

However, "thank God, Hezbollah has become stronger day by day and today, both Lebanon's hands and eyes are Hezbollah and the role of our martyr [Gen. Soleimani] is paramount and outstanding," the Leader added.