People stage rallies across Iran to mark Intl. Quds Day

Millions of people took part in the International Quds Day rallies across Iran and other Muslim countries to show their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people and condemn Israeli atrocities and acts of aggression against Palestinians in the occupied territories.

The rallies in Iran, organized by the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council (IPCC), started at 10 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) in Tehran and over 900 cities across the country on Friday.

The rallies were held to mark Quds Day, which falls on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and was initiated by the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.

People from all walks of life have gathered for the annual event, holding placards with slogans that read ‘Down with Israel, Down with the USA’ to show their contempt for the racist policies of Israel and the US support for the regime.

The followings are the latest updates on the event:

The demonstrators, in a final communiqué, described unity and solidarity within the Muslim world as the key to triumph over global arrogant powers and their conspiracies, emphasizing that the Axis of Resistance has confounded Zionists and driven the corrupt and far-right administration of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to despair.

It highlighted that the child-killing Tel Aviv regime is experiencing gradual deterioration, political instability as well as severe bipolarity, stressing that the unfolding developments across the Israeli-occupied territories and the reverse migration of Israeli settlers clearly show that the fake Zionist regime has reached an irreversible point of decline and is moving closer to collapse. 

The protesters also underscored the need to reinforce support for the anti-Israel resistance front, saying it is the only viable solution to resolve the Palestinian issue as the first and foremost issue of the Muslim world.

The statement went on to emphasize the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their lands from which they were expelled in 1948, and Palestinians’ right to hold a comprehensive and free referendum and determine their future political fate.

The demonstrators then condemned the Israeli forces’ raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and vicious assaults on Palestinian worshippers, terming the vile assaults as part of attempts by the occupying regime to escape from the political and economic turmoil it is currently experiencing.

Israel is rather frightened of a new Intifada (uprising) and mass mobilization of young Palestinians to join resistance groups, they underlined.

The participants also hailed the retaliatory missile strikes by Palestinian resistance fighters, warning Israeli officials against committing any act of folly against the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Any future desecration of the holy site would inflict a heavy price upon Zionists, and a new military confrontation will accelerate the collapse and destruction of the racist and usurping Israeli regime, they pointed out.

The protesters finally condemned the silence and inaction of international institutions and human rights institutions vis-à-vis the barbaric Israeli crimes, urging the United Nations to suspend Israel’s membership and subsequently expel the occupying, racist and child-killing Zionist regime from the world body and other international bodies.

Addressing sermons of Friday Prayers on International Quds Day, Tehran's provisional Friday prayers Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari said that Quds Day was experienced differently in Islamic states this year.

The difference is that the Zionist regime has never been so weak, poor, and helpless, and the Resistance Front has never been so energetic, and powerful that today, he added. 

Addressing the ceremony of International Quds Day on Friday, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami pointed to the internal crisis of the Israeli regime and the power of the Palestinian Resistance, saying that the decline is inevitable.

Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran who also participated in the Quds Day rallies on Friday said that the collapse of the Zionist regime is approaching.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi attended the International Quds Day rallies in the capital.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami also took part in the rallies held in Tehran on the occasion of International Quds Day. 

The Coordinating Deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari participated in the Quds Day rallies in Tehran. 

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf attended the rallies in the Iranian capital. He is also set to deliver a speech on International Quds Day.

Addressing participants of International Quds Day on Friday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that the initiative of Imam Khomeini (RA) in appointing International Quds Day has turned the issue of Palestine into a popular and global issue in the world.

Today, thanks to Quds Day, all Muslims can say that Al-Quds is the capital of all Palestine and Palestine is the capital of the Islamic world, he added.

International Quds Day has become an effective political tradition and a strong political ritual, Ghalibaf further said, adding that it has revealed the criminal face of this child-killing regime in front of the people of the world.

People took part in the rallies intended to communicate to the world the deplorable situation of the Palestinians and condemn Israeli atrocities which have intensified this year, especially since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. 

Hundreds of thousands of Tehraners took to the streets in downtown the capital to commemorate International Quds Day today. Senior Iranian officials also attended the rallies.

Ten routes have been designated for the rallies throughout the Iranian capital, where people from all walks of life are heading to the iconic Enqelab (revolution) Square. 

People of Arak in the Markazi province of Iran took part in the International Quds Day rallies to show their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people. 

MNA/