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Iranian leaders intensified their rhetoric against the United States and Israel during nationwide events marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution, held a month after deadly protests shook the country, Al Jazeera reported.
According to Al Jazeera, state-organised rallies on Wednesday echoed with chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as authorities sought to project unity and strength on one of the most symbolically significant days for the Islamic Republic. In central Tehran near Enghelab Square, organisers displayed five mock coffins draped with the US flag and bearing the names and images of senior American military officials, including Central Command chief Brad Cooper and Chief of Staff Alan George. This year's anniversary comes at a sensitive time for Iran's leadership, following a 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June and widespread protests that erupted in late December. Officials framed the commemorations as a show of defiance amid heightened tensions with Washington. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, did not appear in person at the events and also skipped his annual meeting with army and air force commanders for the first time in his 36-year tenure. In a video message, he urged citizens to "disappoint the enemy" by participating in the anniversary rallies. Other senior political, military and judicial officials issued similar calls. People also burned and trampled on US and Israeli flags, while ballistic and cruise missiles capable of reaching Israel and the wreckage of Israeli drones shot down during last year's war were displayed. Missiles said to be capable of reaching Israel, along with debris from Israeli drones downed during last year's conflict, were put on display. Iranian authorities have repeatedly described their missile programme as a "red line", amid efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press US President Donald Trump to include both Iran's missile and nuclear programmes in negotiations. State television aired aerial footage of large crowds in Tehran and other cities, describing the gatherings as another "epic saga"- a phrase often used by officials to characterise the annual demonstrations. Participants were praised as loyal citizens strengthening national security. President Masoud Pezeshkian, addressing a crowd at Tehran's Azadi Square, called for national unity in the face of what he described as "conspiracies from imperial powers", while reiterating his government's willingness to engage in talks over Iran's nuclear programme. The anniversary events also referenced the recent protests, which left thousands dead, according to critics and rights groups. Officials portrayed the rallies as evidence of victory over "enemies". Ahmad Vahidi, deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), speaking at an event in Shiraz, described the anniversary rallies as marking a third "major defeat" for the US and Israel in recent months. He said the 12-day war was the first one, and the second was the state-organised counter-demonstrations held on January 12, days after most of the protest killings were carried out on the nights of January 8 and 9, Al Jazeera reported. Like Vahidi, police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan called the protests another "sedition" and said they were "a great project by the global arrogance" that was quashed, as Al Jazeera reported The Iranian government claimed that 3,117 people lost their lives during the unprecedented protest killings, all of them at the hands of "terrorists" and "rioters" armed and funded from abroad. The UN and international human rights organisations have accused state security forces of being behind the killings. The UN Human Rights Council last month issued a resolution condemning the killings and calling on the Islamic Republic to "prevent extrajudicial killing, other forms of arbitrary deprivation of life, enforced disappearance, sexual and gender-based violence", and other actions violating its human rights obligations. (ANI)
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