Parades through the capital feature military vehicles mounted with belt-fed Soviet-era machine guns. And at one mass wedding, a ballistic missile, like the one that rained down cluster munitions on Israel, adorned the stage.
Weapons are now regularly brandished in Tehran, an increasing show of defiance as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens he could restart the war with Iran should negotiations break down, and the Islamic Republic refuses to release its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
The weapons displays reflect the genuine threat Iran faces: Trump has suggested American forces could seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium by force and previously said that he sent arms to Kurdish fighters to pass onto anti-government protesters.
But they also offer reassurance and motivation to hard-liners and provide rare entertainment at a time of great uncertainty, when Iranians are facing mass layoffs, business closures, and spiraling prices for food, medicine, and other goods. Suggesting more hard-liners will be armed could also help suppress any new demonstrations against Iran’s theocracy, which violently put down nationwide protests in January in a crackdown that activists say killed over 7,000 people and saw tens of thousands detained.
“This is necessary for all our people to get trained because we are in a war situation these days,” said Ali Mofidi, a 47-year-old Tehran resident, at a weapons training Tuesday night. “If necessary, everyone should be available and know how to use a gun.”
Iran has repeatedly sought to project strength during the war
For months, state television and government-sponsored text messages have bombarded the public with calls to join the “Janfada,” or the “ones who sacrifice their lives.”
Government officials say more than 30 million people in Iran — home to a population of some 90 million — have volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for Iran.
There is no way to confirm that figure, and there’s been no sign of a mass mobilization yet, like the one that Ukraine underwent in the days before Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion, in which officials handed out rifles and people banded together to make gasoline bombs.
A boy handles a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle during a weapons training class led by members of the Revolutionary Guard's volunteer Basij force in Tehran, Iran. AP
But there have been several public announcements, and presenters have appeared armed during live programs on state TV, as part of efforts to feed the fervor.
“Looking back at the moment I registered my name, I realize I wasn’t truly contemplating the dangers of fighting on the front lines. In that moment, like everyone else, my thoughts were solely on Iran,” wrote journalist Soheila Zarfam in a column for the state-owned Tehran Times newspaper. “My life might end, but Iran would endure, and that was all that truly mattered.”
Weapons training, once unusual, becomes the norm
A recent government-organized demonstration by nomads in Iran saw them carrying everything from bolt-action Lee–Enfield rifles of the British Empire to a blunderbuss, a predecessor of the shotgun more familiar to the age of pirates on the high seas.
But during weeks of an unsteady ceasefire, most of the weapon demonstrations appear focused on Tehran, not the rural areas where there is a tradition of keeping rifles and shotguns at home.
At a demonstration Tuesday night in Tehran, male and female participants divided into separate classes. Hadi Khoosheh, a member of the Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force and trainer, demonstrated how to handle a folding-stock Kalashnikov-style assault rifle.
“At the end of the training those who completed the course will receive a card titled ‘Janfada,’ proving they have received basic and preliminary training for this type of gun and they are able to use it if, God forbid, something happens to our country,” Khoosheh said.
However, the weapons training was rudimentary at best for the young boys and older men gathered. One struggled to insert the rifle’s magazine and inadvertently pointed the barrel of the unloaded weapon at others — a major safety breach that people are taught to avoid in basic firearms training.
“Definitely we will stand against (the Americans) and won’t give up even an inch of our soil,” said Mofidi, the man at the training. “No matter if they come from the sea or land, we will stand by our flag.”
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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