Thousands of Iranians massed on Tuesday for commemorations marking 41 years since the Islamic Revolution, in a show of unity at a time of heightened tensions with the US.
Waving flags of Iran and holding portraits of the founder of the Islamic republic, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, they converged on Tehran’s Azadi Square despite chilly temperatures.
“Death to America” and “We will resist until the end,” read some of the banners carried by those in the crowd.
The celebrations marked the day that Shiite cleric Khomeini returned from exile and ousted the shah’s last government.
The state has appealed for a strong turnout as a show of solidarity after a year in which Iran has been shaken by protests and military tensions with the US.
“Securing our country and our region depends on our unity, and participation in this rally is a symbol of this unity,” Hadi Khamenei, brother of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on state television.
Tensions with Washington escalated in early January when a US drone strike killed powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, capital of Iraq.
Iran retaliated by targeting US forces but then accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, in a tragedy that sparked anger at home and abroad.
Iranian people arrive for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 at Khomeini’s mausoleum in the suburb of Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 1, 2020. Iran on Saturday started 10-day Fajr (Dawn) celebrations for the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The first day of the celebrations on Feb. 1 marks the return of Sayyid Ruhollah Khomeini, the late leader of the Islamic Revolution, to Iran from exile. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)
