From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 13, 2026
Iranian security chief, other top officials make public appearance at annual Quds Day rally in Tehran
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleIran’s national security chief Ali Larijani dismisses a suspected Israeli strike at the site of an annual Quds Day demonstration in Tehran as an act of “desperation” as he attends the mass rally along with other top officials.
“These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation. One who is strong wouldn’t bomb demonstrations at all. It’s clear that it has failed,” Larijani tells state TV while marching at the rally, held each year in a show of support for the Palestinian cause and opposition to Israel.
Striking a defiant tone, he says US President Donald Trump “doesn’t understand that the Iranian people are a brave nation, a strong nation, a determined nation. The more he presses, the stronger the nation’s determination will become.”
High-profile Iranian figures Ali Larijani and Mohammad Eslami ,head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, seen marching through Tehran today .@amichaistein1 pic.twitter.com/0IzEFyie6Y
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 13, 2026
The attendance by Larijani is one of the most high-profile public appearances by an Iranian official since the February 28 strike that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top officials.
Judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei and national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan are also in attendance, state TV pictures show.
Holding images of Ali Khamenei and his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei, people are marching through Tehran in the annual event, trampling on images of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to AFP journalists.
The Times of Israel Community.