Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution on Sunday amid ongoing tensions in the wider Middle East over Israel鈥檚 continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Thousands of Iranians marched through major streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and banners carrying revolutionary and religious slogans.
In Tehran, crowds waved Iranian flags, chanted slogans, and carried placards with the traditional 鈥淒eath to America鈥 and 鈥淒eath to Israel鈥 written on them.
Processions started out from several points, converging at Azadi Square.
The military displayed a range of its missiles, including the Qassem Soleimani and Sejjil ballistic missiles, and the Simorgh satellite carrier in the square, where people took selfies with them.
During the celebrations, a paratrooper jumped from a plane while displaying a Palestinian flag.
He addressed the crowds in Azadi Square and called on the United Nations 鈥 in a speech broadcast by state TV 鈥 to expel 鈥渢he Zionist regime鈥, as the crowds chanted 鈥淒eath to Israel鈥.
Mr Raisi also said 鈥渢he bombing of Gaza has to be stopped as soon as possible鈥.
The commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Mohammad Salami, and General Esmail Ghaani, the head of the expeditionary force of Iran鈥檚 paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also took part in the celebrations, while the head of the judiciary body, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, was at the rally in the central city of Isfahan.
The anniversary came a month after a deadly attack by the extremist Islamic State group in the central city of Kerman that left at least 95 people dead during commemorations for prominent Iranian general Qassem Soleimani whom the US killed in a drone strike in 2020.
Iran has tried to blame the US and Israel for the attack as the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip continued.
The Islamic Republic launched missile attacks on Iraq and Syria. It then struck alleged anti-Iran Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl targets in nuclear-armed Pakistan, which responded with its own strikes on Iran, further raising tensions in a region inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.
The US said it held Tehran responsible. Iran threatened to 鈥渄ecisively respond鈥 to any US attack on the Islamic Republic.
The Islamic Revolution began with widespread unrest in Iran over the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The shah, secretly terminally-ill with cancer, fled the country in January 1979.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini then returned from exile and the government fell on February 11 1979, after days of mass demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and security forces.
