‘DEATH TO AMERICA’: Iranian lawmakers’ anger spills over in session after Soleimani killing

Outraged Iranian MPs took to the Parliament podium to chant “death to America.” The session came amid a period of national mourning over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani by the US.

Following a speech delivered by Speaker Ali Larijani, the MPs rose from their seats and gathered in the center of the hall to chant the anti-American slogan which is popular in Iran. “Mr. Trump, this is the voice of the Iranian nation,” Larijani said.

The Iranian legislators are among hundreds of thousands outraged by the targeted assassination of Soleimani, who was one of the most popular figures in Iran. His body was delivered on Sunday from Iraq, where he was killed by a US airstrike on Friday morning.

‘Death to America’ is a slogan popularized during the 1979 revolution, which ousted the US-backed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Critics of Tehran see it as a literal call to kill Americans, while Iranian officials say the chant expresses opposition to Washington’s aggressive and disruptive foreign policy. The phrase can also be translated as ‘down with America’.

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