TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a message on Thursday that Iran's enemies, having been defeated on the battlefield, were now seeking to undermine public resilience and sow internal divisions.
Khamenei called for national unity in the face of those threats and said any action that created pessimism or frustration among the public amounted to helping the enemy.
The message was read on his behalf during ceremonies marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as a major holiday.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “Iran’s military position is stronger than before and it has capabilities to continue war”.
He said the country successfully maintained production throughout the war and retained the capabilities to continue fighting if necessary.
In a statement, Araghchi emphasised that Iran has the capacity to sustain prolonged war, but it does not mean that “we want war”.
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He added that "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war as fresh US and Iranian strikes strained a fragile ceasefire.
Kuwaiti officials said the renewed hostilities included an Iranian drone strike on a passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport that killed one person and wounded 63.
In contrast with the downbeat Iranian remarks, US President Donald Trump struck an optimistic note, telling reporters at the White House that the Iran talks could yield a result "over the weekend".
"I hear the negotiation itself is going very well, actually," Trump said of a potential deal. "It could happen ... over the weekend."
Trump also said he wants to separate talks on the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah and those on the war between the United States and Iran, although Tehran insists the two are linked.
"I'd like to separate it, I'd like to have a separate thing, because it is, it is separate," he said.