Iran’s government celebrated its “revenge” when missiles and drones were launched towards Israel early Sunday, as the streets of Tehran filled with thousands of supporters celebrating the attack and emptied of those who feared possible retaliation.
State television broadcast scenes of jubilation in the capital and several other cities, where pro-regime Iranians lit flares, waved flags and chanted “Death to Israel.”
Their slogans were echoed by Iranian parliamentarians gathered in parliament, with images showing lawmakers huddled together, raising their fists in the air and chanting victoriously as the Iranian flag was raised above them.
But for many ordinary Iranians, Sunday night was filled with terror as their fears of an Israeli counterattack grew, and roads were reportedly paralyzed as dozens of families tried to leave the capital.
Footage shows long queues of cars outside gas stations as people made emergency preparations, while others packed their belongings and moved away from Tehran and other areas feared to be possible targets.
Iran’s government celebrated its “revenge” when missiles and drones were launched toward Israel early Sunday morning.
Iranian parliamentarians gathered in parliament punching the air and chanting victoriously as the Iranian flag rises above them.
Iranian protesters wave Palestinian flags as they attend an anti-Israel rally outside the British embassy in Tehran, Iran, April 14, 2024.
An Iranian man holds a scale model of a cannon projectile during a celebration in support of Iran’s IRGC UAV and missile strike against Israel.
A Tehran resident said: “People are terrified,” he added. ‘The authorities took a big risk. It’s like suicide. It could be their downfall, but the public will suffer the most.”
The man named Ali told The Telegraph in the early hours of Sunday that he and his family were fleeing Tehran for his parents’ home, 200 kilometers away.
Meanwhile, residents of the city of Qom, about two hours south of the capital, are reported to have taken shelter amid fears that their area could be targeted by possible Israeli retaliation.
Fordow is based in the city, an underground uranium enrichment facility at a former Iranian military base, and residents reportedly express fear that nuclear radiation could be released.
Sima Shine, a former Mossad agent who heads Iran’s INSS program, said that “if Israel retaliates, it will do so within the same framework: targeting military sites, not civilian areas, and probably not economic targets.”
Security consultant Stéphane Audrand said that to limit the risk of further escalation, “the Israelis would have to limit themselves to attacking conventional sites, missile launch sites, drone factories.”
Speaking on Sunday, as the immediate threat appeared to dissipate, one Iranian proudly declared his support for his government’s actions, saying they demonstrated Iran’s strength and that it would retaliate when necessary.
Iranian lawmakers chant slogans at an open session of parliament in Tehran as Iran launches dozens of drones toward Israel.
People gather in support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attack on Israel on April 14, 2024.
‘[Israel] He realized who they were dealing with. It is perfect!’ the resident told reporters in Tehran.
More videos appeared to show crowds at the grave of Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian military commander who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2020.
The large group of men was said to be singing death to the United States and Israel shortly after the Revolutionary Guard announced the launch of the so-called Operation Honest Promise.
As some 350 rockets, missiles and drones were launched at Israel in the early hours of Sunday, protesters flocked to Tehran’s Palestine Square.
Dozens of people waved Iranian and Palestinian national flags along with banners reading “God’s victory is near.”
A mural reading “the next slap is fiercer” was inaugurated in Tehran’s Palestine Square, where for days a huge banner has hung asking, in Hebrew, for Israelis to “take refuge.”
Telegram channels supporting Iran also celebrated what they suggested was a successful operation, with one saying: “The enemy will regret it and consider it a historic slap in the face.”
The same phrase was reported to have been used by the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who referred to the attack as “the slap of the Iranian people” in the face of the enemy, saying that it taught Israel “a lesson” and made “happy” to the Iranians.