A large explosion rocked a crowded square in Tehran on Sunday, Iranian state television reported. The blast occurred in Ferdowsi Square, near Tehran University, the epicenter of demonstrations marking Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, an event usually marked on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Video released by the Tasnim news agency showed smoke rising as protesters chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Israel had warned shortly before the blast that it might carry out an attack in the area. Authorities in Tehran did not immediately release details of what happened. However, the location of the explosion appeared to be close to an area previously identified by Israel as a target.
Shortly before the Tehran attack, an explosion rocked the city of Qazvin, which Israel had also warned could be a target. People reported other strikes in Tehran at around the same time, although there was no immediate word on what was hit.
Residents of the northern Israeli village of Zarzir heard loud explosions as they ran for shelter early this morning, and when they emerged, most of the area was in ruins. Authorities say nearly 60 people were injured in a rocket attack on an Arab-Israeli village near the Lebanese border.
The pro-Iranian Lebanese movement Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had fired several rockets at northern Israel and Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the public to participate despite the war. He wrote on Thursday that the Iranian people should “disappoint Iran’s enemies by taking to the streets in greater numbers than ever before.”
The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), released a video showing people hammering nails into coffins covered in American and Israeli flags. Another video showed men trampling a large American flag in the street. The flag says “Down with America” in English.
