Thousands of worshippers flooded the streets of Tehran on Friday to celebrate Israel‘s demise after an apparent Israeli missile strike hit the Isfahan region of Iran.
An Associated Press video of Friday’s demonstration shows regime’s supporters chanting “death to Israel” and “Israel will be destroyed”.
While others were holding photos of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The video have been shared during a period of heightened tension in the Middle East as Israel launched an attack against Iran on Thursday in retaliation to Tehran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack on the Jewish nation a few weeks ago.
One demonstrator told the Associated Press in Farsi: “They (Israelis) didn’t do anything special, based off what I heard from news agencies. I don’t think they have the courage to do anything after Iran’s successful strike.”
Iranian state media has confirmed that its air defense units battiers fired in several provinces over reports of drones in the air following explosions reported near Isfahan, the country’s third largest city, near its international airport.
“The city of Ghahjaworstan is located near Isfahan Airport and the eighth hunting base of the Army Air Force,” the semiofficial FARS news agency reported on Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on X there was no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites in Isfahan, including its underground Natanz uranium enrichment site, during Israel‘s alleged strike.
The UN atomic watchdog’s cheif, Rafael Grossi, urged “extreme” restraint from all sides and said that nuclear facilities should never be a target in military conflicts.
While Israel and Iran have waged a shadow war for years, mostly in neighboring Syria and Lebanon via proxy militants, they have largely avoided direct confrontations.
That changed after an April 1 airstrike killed two Iranian generals at an Iranian consultate in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Even though Israel did not comment, Iran blamed Israel for the strike and vowed revenge.
Iran responded with its first-ever direct attack on Israel, launching on Saturady over 300 missiles and attack drones, which were intercepted 99 percent by the US-led international coalition.
Tyler Mitchell