Iran marks anniversary of Islamic Revolution with missiles, burning of flags

Iran celebrated the 39th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by stressing its hatred towards the US and Israel. 

By: World Israel News Staff

Millions took to the streets across Iran on Sunday to mark the 39th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in a show of violent force.

Demonstrators chanted slogans against the US and Israel, and the streets in many cities were decorated with anti-US and anti-Israeli banners and posters. Marchers burned US, Israeli and British flags, as well as photos of US President Donald Trump.

Iranian media reported that these events took place in a thousand cities and towns as well as 4,000 villages across the country.

During the parades, Iran displayed a wide range of ballistic missiles, including a long-range ballistic Qadr missile, which can hit any target in the Middle East as well as much of Europe and carries various payloads.

In a statement at the conclusion of the rally in Tehran and other cities, marches “reaffirmed [their] commitment to countering the hostile plots,” saying the Iranian nation sees the US as its “enemy number one,” Iran’s Tasnim news reported.

Denouncing the US for allegedly breaching the 2015 nuclear deal and certain European officials for “following the hostile American policies,” the statement called on Iranian officials to “take decisive stances in protecting the rights of Iranian people and countering plots, such as sanctions and acts of sabotage.”

The rallies commemorate February 11, 1979, when followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted US-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi.

Each year on the 22nd of the month of Bahman on the Persian calendar, Iranians turn out to “renew their allegiance to the Islamic establishment and Imam Khomeini,” the late founder of the Islamic Republic.