Marchers Chant ‘Death to Israel’ in Rallies Across Iran

Hundreds of thousands of people chanted “Death to Israel” in rallies across Iran to mark the Islamic Revolution’s 45th anniversary on Sunday, with some burning U.S. and Israeli flags amid the ongoing war between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas.

President Ebrahim Raisi, in a speech, accused Tehran’s arch-foe the United States and some Western countries of backing “the Zionist regime’s [Israel] crimes against humanity in Gaza.”

State media published a picture of some marchers hanging an effigy of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by a noose.

Hamas is part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” a regional alliance that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, Shiite militia groups in Iraq, and the Houthis who control a large part of Yemen.

Iran, which says all members of the alliance make their own decisions independently, has repeatedly declared that Tehran will not directly intervene in Gaza-related hostilities unless it is itself attacked by Israel or the United States.

The revolution anniversary marchers on Sunday included soldiers, students, clerics, and senior political and military officials. Black-clad women with small children were among those flocking streets across the country, many carrying portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.