TEHRAN, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranians despised Israel for occupying Palestinian lands, as hundreds of thousands partook in the rallies on Friday to mark Al-Quds Day in solidarity with Palestinians.
The ralliers chanted anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans and carried banners condemning Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands.
Senior Iranian government, legislative and military officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and the Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, participated in the rallies.
Rouhani told reporters on Friday that Al-Quds Day is an international event and its message to the world is "detestation of the occupying regime (of Israel) and support for the great nation of Palestine," official IRNA news agency reported.
The rallies, this year, bears also the message of disapproval of the U.S. policies in the region, which seeks to undermine other nations' rights, he said.
Besides, Larijani said Israel is the source of violence and insecurity in the region, adding that Iran will stay by the side of Palestinians in their struggle against the occupation of Israel.
Organizers of the rallies in Tehran put on display the Zolfaqar ground-to-ground missiles of the Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), employed to destroy targets of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria's Deir ez-Zor on June 18, Tasnim news agency reported.
In addition to Zolfaqar, capable of reaching the targets at 700 km distance, the IRGC's Qadr missiles were also erected on trucks in the streets. Qadr missile can hit targets within a range of 2,000 km.
People attending the rallies also wrote anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans on the body of the missiles and took selfies with the missiles, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The ralliers issued a statement at the end of demonstrations and vowed "resistance against the atrocities of Israel" until dispel of Israel from the occupied Palestinian lands.
The Iranian nation will use all its capacity to support the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, and the Islamic resistance movements, the statement noted according to IRNA.
It also called for return of all Palestinian refugees to their homeland and holding free referendum for determining the future of Palestine.
The statement urged unity among Palestinian political groups against Israel and called on the international and regional institutions to prevent Israel from implementing racist policies in the occupied territories.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Muslims worldwide to hold massive Al-Quds Day rallies Friday to support Palestinians.
The rallies were recollection of the "Israeli atrocities on the oppressed people of Palestine" over the past decades, the ministry said in a statement.
"The day is for remembering the inalienable historical fact that the occupying regime of Israel is the main source of crisis," it said.
Rouhani on Wednesday also called on Muslims to participate in Friday's rallies, saying that "the regional differences favor Israel and terrorism."
"The cause of Palestine should not be forgotten," the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Rouhani as saying.
Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan slammed Israel for "inciting insecurity in Muslim countries and elsewhere," the Tasnim reported.
"A world free of violence and extremism would be a world free of the Zionist regime (of Israel), and this is what the Islamic world will be shouting on the Al-Quds Day," Dehqan was quoted as saying.
Al-Quds Day, an annual event falls on June 23 this year, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran along with several Arab countries.
