Iran displayed various missile systems in a military parade in Tehran on Tuesday, many of which were emblazoned with slogans calling for the death of Israel.
The weapons included the Russian-developed S-300 anti-aircraft missile and the Iranian-made Sayyad-3 long-range missile. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was present at the parade and addressed the crowds.
“Some of the trucks carrying weapons were adorned with banners showing a fist punching through a blue Star of David and the slogan ‘Death to Israel’ in Persian,” Agence France-Presse reported. Another truck at the event had “Death to Israel” emblazoned on its side in both Persian and Arabic, as well as “Down with Israel” in English and an image of the Israeli flag on fire.
Army day parade in Iran. S300 and death to Israel poster pic.twitter.com/9M8ruf7gKI
— Dudi Cohen (@dudi_cohen) April 18, 2017
Slogans calling for the death of Israel and the death of America are fixtures at public ceremonies in Iran. This past February, Iranians marked the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution by burning American and Israeli flags and waving banners reading “Death to America.” Last November, thousands of Iranians gathered in Tehran to celebrate the anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in 1979 and burned Israeli and American flags, as well as Saudi ones. “I am happy that I was able to come here today, and as an Iranian I can put my fist in America’s mouth and say Death to America,” one demonstrator told NBC at the time.
In July of last year, at an event called al-Quds Day, an annual anti-Israel celebration, tens of thousands of people chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” and also burned the two countries’ flags.
[Photo: @mahdiibakhtiari / Twitter]