Live updates: Hegseth says Iran supreme leader ‘is wounded and likely disfigured’

Smoke from an explosion rises behind demonstrators attending the annual anti-Israeli Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Mohammad Mahdi Dehghani/Fars News Agency via AP)

Smoke from an explosion rises behind demonstrators attending the annual anti-Israeli Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Mohammad Mahdi Dehghani/Fars News Agency via AP)

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A large explosion struck Iran’s capital Tehran on Friday at a square filled with demonstrators, Iranian state television reported.

The explosion in the area of Ferdowsi Square, just down Enghelab Street from Tehran University, the epicenter of ongoing Quds, or Jerusalem, Day demonstrations. The area is home to many government buildings.

Video published by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency showed a plume of gray smoke rising as demonstrators screamed “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!”

Footage from Ferdowsi Square showed people shouting “God is the greatest!” as smoke rose.

The strike came as Iranian media published videos showing top members of the country’s theocracy at the demonstration in Tehran, including security official Ali Larijani and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, the hard-line cleric who heads the country’s judiciary.

Larijani called the suspected Israeli attack a “sign of its desperation.”

“The problem with Trump is that he is not smart enough to see that the Iranian nation is a mature, strong and determined nation,” Larijani added. “The more pressure he puts on the people, the greater their willpower becomes.”

The cause of the blast was not immediately known. The Israeli military declined to immediately discuss the strike when reached for comment. Israel had warned it could strike in the area just before the blast.

Authorities in Tehran offered no immediate details about what happened.

However, the site of the blast appeared near where Israel said it would strike. Just before the Tehran strike, an explosion shook the city of Qazvin, which Israel also had warned it would target.

People reported other strikes in Tehran around the same time, though there was no immediate information on what may have been struck.