Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets nationwide to condemn earlier assassination of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh in the country’s capital Tehran.
The demonstrations took place on Wednesday, hours after the atrocity claimed the lives of Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards. The Palestinian resistance leader was in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The rallies were held across the capital, the holy city of Mashhad, the central city of Isfahan, the northwestern cities of Tabriz and Ardabil, the northern cities of Sari and Gorgan, the western cities of Hamadan, Zanjan, and Kermanshah, and the eastern city of Birjand as well as numerous other locations across the Islamic Republic.
The participants denounced the assassination as an act of terrorism and strongly protested the perpetrators’ violation of the Islamic Republic’s sovereignty.
They chanted slogans against the Israeli regime and its allies, including the United States, and demanded that the occupying entity be met with a decisive response.
The protesters also considered the assassination to be an indication of the Israeli regime’s desperation in the face of the regional Axis of Resistance, including Hamas, which have robustly confronted Tel Aviv’s atrocities against the Palestinian nation.
They, meanwhile, asserted that the assassination would not only fail to deter the Palestinian nation and their allies from defending the Palestinian cause and standing up to the occupying regime, but would also strengthen their resolve.
The demonstrations came after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned the regime of a "harsh response" for the assassination, saying it was the Islamic Republic's duty to avenge the blood of the resistance leader.