Iranians burn U.S. and Israel flags during a protest marking the annual Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran June 8, 2018. (Tasnim News Agency/via REUTERS)
TEHRAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held nationwide rallies on Friday to mark Quds (Jerusalem) Day to support Palestinians.
The protesters chanted anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. slogans and carried banners condemning Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel's killing of Gaza protesters and U.S. moving embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Iran's senior government, legislative and military officials participated in the rallies.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in an address to the ralliers in Tehran that the U.S. peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict known as "the deal of the century," which aims to obliterate the Palestinian cause, is nothing but an illusion.
Larijani said that under the new plan, the United States and Israel do not want the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland nor want to stop the Israeli settlement constructions in the West Bank.
They want to give money to Palestinians so that the people relinquish their right to return to their motherland, he said, adding that the Palestinian people have been fighting for 70 years, and their problem is not money.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on Muslims worldwide to hold massive rallies on Friday to support Palestinians.
Quds Day, an annual event that falls on June 8 this year, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran along with several Arab countries.
