At least one person has been killed after multiple explosions rocked a demonstration in Tehran on Friday, according to Iranian state media.
The unnamed woman reportedly died after being hit by shrapnel near the annual Quds Day march around noon, as the US and Israel announced fresh strikes on the capital, according to Iran’s Press TV.
A large explosion was also reported at the Ferdowsi Square as pro-regime crowds gathered, chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America”.
Footage from the square showed people shouting “God is the greatest” as smoke billowed over the capital. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.
Pro-regime protesters turned out in cities across the country as Israel announced a fresh wave of strikes targeting “missile production and storage sites” nationwide.
Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s supreme national security council, said that the attacks showed Israel’s “weakness and confusion”.
A statement attributed to Iran’s new supreme leader yesterday called on residents of Iran to take to the streets for the annual demonstration expressing solidarity with Palestine.
Al Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
Iran president Masoud Pezeshkian also encouraged people to take to the streets and “disappoint the enemies of Iran” in a post on social media.
The regime has blocked the internet in Iran since the conflict erupted.
A Quds Day rally planned in the UK for Sunday was banned by British police over the possibility of “extreme tensions” with counter-protesters and this risk posed by Tehran during the conflict in the Middle East.
The leaders of Iran, Israel and the US meanwhile all vowed to fight on as the war approached the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands of people, disrupting the lives of millions of others and shaking financial markets.
In a post overnight, Donald Trump threatened Iran and signalled willingness to keep up the conflict.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!”
Israel’s military said on social media that strikes against the regime were ongoing, pointing to strikes on military facilities in Shiraz, Tehran and Ahvaz.
In the capital, it said it had struck a central base for aerial defence array & several production sites for weapons, aerial defence systems, and ballistic missile components.
