The IRGC vowed that its campaign against Israel would continue, declaring: “The path of resistance will continue until there is the liberation of Jerusalem and the complete destruction of the occupying Zionist regime.”
The statement went on to predict that: “Palestine will be liberated from the river to the sea”.
The rhetoric was echoed by the Iranian state broadcaster.
In its daily political analysis, Radio Tehran described the October 7 attack as “the first phase of the total elimination of Israel”.
“The operation will continue until the Zionist regime is removed from the face of the earth,” the broadcaster said, adding that, in accordance with the words of Iran’s late supreme leader, “the Islamic Republic would do anything to make it happen”.
The anniversary has received extensive coverage across Iranian media, with outlets publishing interviews with regime officials and Hamas representatives in Iran.
The celebrations come against a backdrop of criticism, including from Iranians inside the country, of Tehran and Hamas’ portrayal of October 7 as a strategic success.
Critics have pointed to the destruction in Gaza and the subsequent deaths of senior Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian figures as evidence of the severe setbacks suffered by Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” since the attack.
Khorasan newspaper, which is considered close to Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, interviewed Khaled al-Qaddoumi, Hamas’s representative in Tehran.
He rejected claims that the October 7 attack had ultimately weakened Hamas and the wider network of Iranian-backed armed groups.
He insisted that October 7 had instead been a “strategic victory against Israel” and suggested that Hamas and its allies had expected greater involvement from other countries in the region.
“The main reason for the losses suffered by the ‘Resistance Front’ in recent years was not the October 7 operation,” he said. “Rather, that operation constituted a strategic victory against Israel.”
Qaddoumi blamed what he described as the failure of some regional countries to become seriously involved in the confrontation with Israel, as well as insufficient support for the conflict, for the setbacks suffered by the Iranian-backed alliance.
His comments reflect Tehran and Hamas’ continuing efforts to portray October 7 as a strategic turning point despite the heavy losses subsequently suffered by Hamas, Hezbollah and other members of the network Iran calls the “Axis of Resistance”.
There is renewed concern that Iran or its proxies could launch an attack on Israel ahead of the country’s October 27 election.
Iranian military officials have increasingly spoken of pre-emptive action as part of Tehran’s military doctrine.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s army raised the possibility of a pre-emptive military operation, saying Tehran was considering strikes aimed at changing the “equations of the war”.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Hezbollah received $200 million from Iran last month.
The money reached the Lebanese group despite tightening US sanctions and growing difficulties in transferring Iranian funds to Hezbollah, according to the report.
The transfer underscores Tehran’s continued financial commitment to Hezbollah at a time when Iran and its regional allies are under intense military and economic pressure.
Iranian women attend a military course for volunteers at the Janfada ('Sacrifice for the Homeland') training camp set up in Imam Hussein square in Tehran on October 6, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images