Iran’s president and overseas minister had been among the many senior officers who joined 1000’s of individuals marching via downtown Tehran on Friday, displaying defiance as U.S.-Israeli airstrikes continued, sending up plumes of smoke not removed from a crowd in accordance with movies posted on-line.
Iran marks “Quds [Jerusalem] Day” on the ultimate Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in solidarity with Palestinians, and that was the event for the massive rally in Tehran, however the prime officers displaying up was a transparent sign to the U.S. and Israel that their ongoing strikes had not dislodged the almost 50-year-old theocracy that guidelines Iran.
New Supreme Chief Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was not seen in the course of the rally, and there have been rumors this week that he might have been significantly wounded — presumably even left in a coma — in the identical strike that killed his father and predecessor on Feb. 28. However Iran watchers say, from previous expertise, it will be uncommon for the supreme chief to seem in such an open discussion board as a public road rally.
“Immediately is Quds Day in Iran, and regardless of the brutal assaults carried out right now by the Zionist regime and the USA, we’re witnessing a large turnout — tens of millions of individuals — not simply in Tehran, however throughout all cities,” International Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned in a video posted on-line, which confirmed him strolling amidst flag-waving Iranians. “This demonstrates the agency resolve of the Iranian individuals in assist of the Islamic Republic, the reason for Jerusalem, Palestine, and all of the ideas we have now upheld over time which have introduced us so far. God prepared, we’ll proceed with the identical power and energy, and we’ll compel our enemies to acknowledge the power of the Iranian individuals.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian was additionally seen in movies strolling via Tehran with different rally attendees, whereas one other clip confirmed the top of Iran’s highly effective Judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, main a prayer.
Talking with a reporter surrounded by different individuals in the course of the march, Mohseni-Ejei was interrupted briefly by the sound of one other U.S. or Israeli strike hitting close by.
As he was saying Iran’s leaders “need to stand with the individuals, beside the individuals, till the final breath and the final second,” a loud increase is head and he and the others round him look towards the obvious explosion, earlier than he continues: “The individuals are not intimidated by these enemy assaults. They take precautions, however below this rain and below these missile bombardments, they are going to on no account retreat from resistance.”
