TEHRAN, Iran: Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Iran early Sunday in a show of support for the missile and drone strikes under way against arch foe Israel.
“Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!” chanted demonstrators in Palestine Square of Tehran shortly after the Revolutionary Guards announced the launch of Operation Honest Promise.
A mural saying “the next slap is fiercer” was unveiled in the square where a huge banner has hung for days calling, in Hebrew, for Israelis to “take shelter”.
On Sunday, demonstrators waved Iranian and Palestinian flags along with banners reading “God’s victory is near.”
Iran’s attack was carried out in retaliation for the April 1 attack in which the five-storey consular annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus was destroyed and seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two generals, were killed.
The Iranian government has since vowed to retaliate for the attack, which has been widely blamed on Israel.
Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of Iran, promised that “the evil regime (Israel) will be punished.”
‘Self-Defense’
Iranian media described the attack on Israel as “complex” as Iran’s allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq were also involved.
A large number of demonstrators gathered in front of the British Embassy in Tehran.
Supporters of the retaliatory strike also demonstrated in Isfahan, Iran’s third-largest city, where Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the generals killed in the attack on Damascus, is buried.
Demonstrators also gathered near the grave of Qasem Soleimani, a prominent military commander who was killed in a 2020 US drone strike in Baghdad, in the southern city of Kerman.
The Iranian government had previously asked the US government to avoid being a party to its conflict with Israel, but the confirmation by Pentagon officials that the US military shot down a drone destined for Israel dashed Iranian hopes.
Iran says it acted in “self-defence” after its diplomatic mission in Damascus was targeted.
