Watch | Iran releases videos showing top leaders on streets as US claims leadership ‘has gone underground’

In a powerful display of defiance, Iran's state media released footage of top leaders walking the streets and joining the Quds Day protest in Tehran moments after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in a press briefing, claimed that the Iranian leadership had “gone underground” and were “cowering like rats.”

“Iranian leadership are desperate and hiding, gone underground, like that rat used to do,” Hegseth declared, adding that, “We know the new so-called, not-so-supreme leader (Mojtaba Khamenei) is wounded and likely disfigured.”

The timing of the release of these videos appeared to be a strategic counter-move by Tehran to undermine Hegseth’s specific narrative about the condition of the Iranian leadership.

The high-definition, real-time broadcast, refuting Hegseth’s assertion that the Iranian regime had lost the capability to communicate or coordinate, featured President Masoud Pezeshkian, the leading political figure of the country, seen greeting supporters and taking selfies on the rain-spattered streets in Tehran.

Gholam‑Hossein Mohseni‑Ejei, Iran’s judiciary chief, was also seen giving media bites while a missile struck a nearby building close to his location. He refused to leave the area despite the attack. He also serves as a key member of the three-person leadership council currently governing the Islamic Republic.

Also Read: Watch | Possible assassination attempt? missile hit building near location of Iran's judiciary chief during Quds Day rally in Tehran

Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), was seen marching and dismissed US-Israeli strikes as a sign of desperation.

Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, also participated in the Jerusalem Day rally.

Other prominent figures included Ahmad‑Reza Radan, the national police chief, and Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI).

Notably, the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not appear in person, as Hegseth claimed that US strikes had severely wounded and likely disfigured him.

The Quds Day rallies are political demonstrations organised in Iran and some other countries in support of the Palestinian cause and in opposition to Israel. The event was established in 1979 by Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, after the Iranian Revolution.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Friday said American forces would strike Iranian targets “very hard” in the coming days, signalling an intensification of the US-Israeli campaign as the war in the Middle East approaches its third week.

(Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing conflicts in West Asia involving Israel, Iran, US, Gulf nations and non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, Islamic State, and others. Claims and counterclaims, disinformation and misinformation are being made online and offline. Given this context, WION cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, social media posts, photos and videos.)