Iran held countrywide rallies on Friday to mark International Quds Day, the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan observed annually to promote the Palestinian cause.
Covered by the state broadcaster, this year's events coincided with the deadly Israeli war in Gaza, where over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities and military bases, which left nearly 1,200 dead.
The rallies, especially in the capital, Tehran, were overshadowed by the killings earlier this week of seven senior Iranian officers serving with the country's Quds Force, the overseas branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The seven, including senior commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, died in a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. The attack has significantly raised the specter of a possible Iran-Israel all-out war, as Tehran has vowed retaliation without establishing any time frame.
The Tehran ceremonies were attended by hardline President Ebrahim Raisi and such senior officials as parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei and IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami. "The Islamic Republic will not leave unanswered the enemy's actions," Salami declared in his speech addressing loyalists who set fire to US and Israeli flags and brought symbolic coffins for the two countries.
