Thousands of Iranians have flooded the streets of Iran in a display of solidarity with the ongoing unprecedented drone and missile assault against their longtime adversary, Israel.
In Tehran’s Palestine Square, chants of “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!” echoed as demonstrators rallied shortly after the Revolutionary Guards announced the commencement of Operation Honest Promise.
A mural proclaiming “the next blow will be more severe” was unveiled in the square, where a large banner urging Israelis to “seek refuge” has been prominently displayed for days.
Amidst a sea of Iranian and Palestinian flags, protesters waved banners bearing the message “Victory from God is imminent.”
The retaliatory strike by Iran was prompted by an April 1 attack that obliterated the five-story consular annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, claiming the lives of seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals. Tehran has vowed to avenge this strike, widely attributed to Israel.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed that the “malicious regime of Israel will face consequences.”
Iranian media characterized the assault on Israel as “multifaceted,” involving Iranian allies in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq. The Tasnim news agency stated, “This attack wasn’t solely from Iran, and the Israeli regime is being punished from multiple fronts.”
Outside the British embassy in Tehran, a sizable crowd of demonstrators assembled. Similarly, in Isfahan, Iran’s third-largest city, supporters of the retaliatory attack gathered near the burial site of Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the generals killed in the Damascus strike.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Kerman, demonstrators congregated near the grave of the renowned Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad.
