Iran marks the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution as tensions grip the wider Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran marked Sunday the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid tensions gripping the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He addressed the crowds in Azadi Square and called on the United Nations — in a speech broadcast by state TV — to expel “the Zionist regime,” as the crowds chanted: “Death to Israel.” Raisi also said, “the bombing of Gaza has to be stopped as soon as possible.” The commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Mohammad Salami and Gen. Esmail Ghaani, the head of the expeditionary force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also took part in the celebrations, while the head of the Judiciary body, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, was at the rally in the central city of Isfahan. The anniversary came a month after a deadly attack by the extremist Islamic State group in the central city of Kerman that left at least 95 people dead during the commemoration for prominent Iranian general Qassem Soleimani whom the U.S. killed in a 2020 drone strike. Earlier in January a drone attack killed three U.S. troops in Jordan which an umbrella group for Iran-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed.