UANI Condemns Quds Day Marches and Calls for U.S. Action

(New York, NY) – Today United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Governor Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement regarding International Quds Day marches in the United States.

“International Quds Day was established by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. Its primary purpose is to promote the annihilation of the State of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, which would be tantamount to genocide against the Jewish people. Since then, the Iranian regime has weaponized Quds Day, which it has used as a platform to engage in a malign influence operation abroad to foment extreme antisemitism and Holocaust denial. 

“To do this, the Iranian regime has created a network of soft-power entities in the U.S. and Europe under the guise of charities, mosques, and community centers – all of which support and facilitate the antisemitic Quds Day rallies across Western capitals. As UANI has revealed, these centers have consistently carried out activities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah – U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations. 

“The Iranian regime even established an Intifada and Quds Day Headquarters, which to this day announces a theme for the yearly marches around the world. The head of the Headquarters is Ramezan Sharif, a brigadier general in the IRGC – the most antisemitic armed terror group in the world. Sharif previously served as the IRGC’s spokesman – overseeing the dissemination of the IRGC’s antisemitic propaganda – and is under European Union sanctions for serious human rights abuses.

“At a time when antisemitism is rising to alarming levels on college campuses across the country, it is disgraceful that the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), in conjunction with other groups, is listed as a supporting organization for a Quds Day rally in New York City’s Times Square on March 28, 2025. With hundreds of chapters around the United States, SJP provides a vehicle for state-sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations to radicalize American youth and spread hate. Colleges across the country should ban SJP from their campuses given its threat to U.S. national security.

“In July 2024, the Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence warned that “we have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.” We urge the Trump administration to mount a robust investigation into any funding and/or material support SJP or other supporting organizations for Quds Day marches in the United States have given to U.S.-designated state-sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations. New York City should not grant a permit to a march founded by the Iranian regime, a state-sponsor of terrorism.

“In the United States, freedom of speech is constitutionally protected. But there are limits. Speech that incites imminent violence and groups that are amplifying messaging from U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations on college campuses are unacceptable. This is exactly what is happening at Quds Day marches, which threaten Jewish communities and others around the world. 

“Universities should be given a choice: if they do not ban organizations like SJP which are promoting the agendas of a state-sponsor of terrorism and terrorist organizations, the U.S. government should revoke federal funding. Likewise, the U.S. government should be warning those students, faculty, or staff who are present in the United States on a visa or green card that their temporary statuses will be revoked should they participate in events like Quds Day.

“Quds Day is not about support for the Palestinian people. It is about spreading antisemitism, Holocaust denial, hate, and violence. There should be no doubt that it forms a key part of the Iranian regime’s war on Jews. It is worth recalling that in conjunction with Quds Day in 2022, the supreme leader’s official newspaper, Kayhan, published an article praising Hitler.”

To read UANI’s reports about Quds Day, please click here and here.