Iran International
A new school curriculum mandated by Iran’s education ministry has cast a 12-day war with Israel in June as a national triumph, underscoring a bid by the country's clerical rulers to boost support following the punishing conflict.
Under a new directive titled “We Defend Our Iran,” the ministry ordered classes from elementary to high school to praise the actions of the country's leadership, military and people.
The new educational materials reviewed by Iran International were distributed to schools and made available online earlier this month.
The program aims to cultivate patriotic virtue, according to a directive signed by Education Minister Alireza Kazemi and circulated to provincial departments.
The initiative was “a tribute to the miraculous endurance of the Iranian nation during the 12-day imposed war,” he wrote.
New study materials, Kazemi added, seek to “strengthen national dignity, unity and deterrence,” and to raise students who can “face social and political challenges responsibly and wisely.”
Battle of narratives
As Iran-US nuclear talks appeared to falter, Israel launched a surprise military attack on its Mideast arch-foe on June 13.
The strikes killed senior nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
Joining the conflict, the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear sites and Iran responded with missile attacks on a US airbase in Qatar before US President Donald Trump enforced a ceasefire.
Israel promptly said it had achieved its military goals while Trump declared Iran's nuclear program had been "obliterated."
Tehran officialdom quickly said the US ceasefire sought to prevent further damaging missile volleys and that Iran had prevailed in the war, emerging more unified.
Hack Israeli jets
The new educational materials cast this doctrine as moral and patriotic truth, extending from missile engineering to nuclear research.
One high school assignment instructs pupils to “hold a class debate on the advantages and disadvantages of enriching uranium inside the country versus importing enriched uranium.”
Another adds: “Write a two-page outline for a movie in which Iranian students hack into the computer systems of Israeli fighter jets and change the course of events. Share your plan with your teacher and classmates.”
The tone is lively, even playful, framing national defense as a creative activity comprehensible to children.
Iranian officials quickly and now routinely characterize the perseverance of Iran's ruling system as a victory in itself and the messaging now extends beyond sermons and television news programs to the classroom.
Authorities have quashed with deadly force several youth-led protest movements in recent decades and style themselves a bulwark against foreign-led sedition plots.
Still, the course materials indicate Tehran remains determined to purvey state ideology on Iran's youth.
The textbook for younger students, “The 12-Day War,” sets out twenty-five hours of classroom teaching that encourage pupils to see unity, creativity and belief as the reasons Iran prevailed. The lessons blend moral stories with political instruction and domestic detail, grounding the idea of national defense in everyday life.
In one chapter, children visit their grandparents’ home. Over tea, the adults recall the war. “Israel thought it could disrupt the country by killing our commanders,” says Uncle Hossein in the story, “but our Leader quickly appointed successors and restored order.”
The grandfather adds, “Iran had long prepared itself for defense and built powerful, precise missiles for such days.” The grandmother reminds the children that “people helped each other during those days,” while the narrator concludes, “When we are united with our Leader, like one family, we are at our strongest.”
The chapter ends with the line that gives the book its theme: “We are stronger together.” It turns survival into a moral lesson about obedience, faith and collective strength.
Elsewhere, QR codes lead to short video clips. One shows schoolgirls, around nine years old, singing, “This is Iran. If anyone looks at my country the wrong way, I will not forgive them. If needed, I will sacrifice myself. I’m a girl, but I’m strong. God is with me.”
In Islam, nine marks the age of religious maturity for girls, giving the performance a note of solemn duty beneath its cheer.
Other exercises tie national defense to civic behavior. Students are asked to draw family members helping during blackouts or natural disasters, and to write short reflections on how “science and faith together protect the homeland.”
The blending of domestic scenes, religious devotion and military imagery makes the idea of resistance feel both intimate and ordinary.
Israel 'unnatural, dangerous'
Across all levels, Israel is portrayed as the main disruptor of peace in the region and the United States as its enabler.
High-school materials offer more advanced characterizations of arch-enemy Israel, calling it an “unnatural and dangerous regime” and asks students to prove it visually. “With three simple pictures,” it instructs, “show your classmates why Israel is an unnatural and dangerous regime. For example: it has no fixed borders.”
Another prompt begins with: “In your opinion, what does the fact that the Israeli regime, unlike other countries, has no defined borders say about its nature?”
Students are then guided to make an infographic to express the point. At the top of the page, they are told to write: "Israel is unnatural and dangerous because" and fill in the rest with short captions and sketches.
Safavid rout
In some of the new exercises, students are asked to name and build paper models of Iranian missiles and discuss how families can help defend the country.
Another passage recalls the 1514 Battle of Chaldiran, when Safavid Iran lost to the Ottomans for lacking modern weapons, a parable of vigilance and modernization.
Other sections teach how to manage blackouts or natural disasters, blending civic duty with preparedness for crisis.
The book deepens the use of national history in the curriculum, drawing on Shah Ismail Safavid and earlier dynasties alongside Islamic and revolutionary narratives, part of a broader effort to fuse religion, statehood and pride in Iranian endurance.
That emphasis mirrors the nationalist tone of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speeches following the war. Citing a coup in 1921 and the 1953 US-backed overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, he has urged Iranians to remember “both sweet victories and bitter events” so that “they are not repeated.”
He described the United States as “inherently arrogant,” blamed foreign powers for Iran’s historic setbacks, and told young people that “the remedy for many of our problems is to become strong.”
In his telling, national power in its military, scientific, and moral forms is the safeguard of independence, a message now embedded in the nation’s classrooms.
That same logic now shapes how the next generation is taught: Iran’s strength, the school materials aim to ensure, must be shored up by its next generation.
Ali Salehi told a meeting of judicial, military, police and security officials that stronger cooperation across government agencies was needed to “safeguard religious and moral values,” according to the judiciary’s media outlet.
Salehi said what officials describe as social “abnormalities” had long been part of what he framed as a foreign-directed cultural campaign, warning that such trends were damaging “family foundations and social stability.”
He said 28 state bodies have legal responsibilities in the areas of hijab and public morality and urged them to expand “positive cultural measures” alongside enforcement.
The prosecutor called for tighter oversight of public spaces, telling police units to focus on alcohol sales and events “contrary to social norms” in restaurants and cafés.
He said some domestic clothing producers were promoting “Western patterns” and requested intervention by trade and enforcement bodies to curb the trend.
Salehi also cited what he described as organized criminal groups involved in prostitution, alcohol distribution and other offences, saying that “police and intelligence forces should take swift and decisive action.”
He added that monitoring of online platforms must be strengthened, citing their role in amplifying content the state views as anti-values.
His comments follow repeated warnings by Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, who earlier this month told prosecutors that enforcing compulsory hijab and confronting what the state calls “social abnormalities” are top priorities.
Ejei has said prosecutors must hold event organizers and permit-issuing bodies legally responsible for violations at their venues and pursue groups officials deem coordinated or foreign-linked.
Authorities have in recent months stepped up closures of businesses accused of violating hijab regulations, targeting cafés, restaurants and wedding halls in several provinces. Judiciary-affiliated media have said the emphasis is shifting from individual enforcement to holding companies and institutions accountable.
According to the report, unnamed Iranian officials and security sources said this week that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other agencies have become increasingly distrustful of one another after what the newspaper described as “extensive Israeli infiltration” during the 12-day war in June.
The report said officials inside Iran spoke of security personnel seeking to demonstrate their loyalty as investigations widen.
One senior Iranian official told The Telegraph that “many officials, including within the Sepah [IRGC], are doing everything they can to convince the system that they haven’t done anything wrong,” adding that “the Israelis have massively infiltrated several agencies.”
Another official said, “what’s becoming an even greater concern is the growing number of people who are, in one way or another, betraying the system,” according to the paper.
According to analysts cited in the report, the atmosphere of suspicion could complicate Iran’s crisis-management capabilities. “The paranoia within the IRGC risks weakening Iran’s most powerful military force and the regime’s ability to respond coherently to future crises."
Hundreds of people have been arrested on espionage charges since June and several Iranians have been executed, actions that officials speaking to the outlet described as intended to show that “the system is still functioning.”
The Telegraph also cited officials describing confusion over the status of Tehran’s regional allied forces and unease about the country’s longer-term direction.
A poll by the Iranian Student Polling Agency reported public dissatisfaction at 92%, attributing the figure to Iran’s economic troubles and renewed UN sanctions after the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal.
President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a similar note of concern in remarks to parliament last week, warning that Iran could “turn on itself” if the Supreme Leader were harmed during a crisis.
He said the country’s cohesion rests on Ali Khamenei’s leadership and cautioned that an attack on him during the June war might have triggered internal clashes “without the need for Israel to intervene.” He urged officials to avoid factionalism and to reinforce cooperation across state institutions.
Earlier in the month, the arrest of two men displaying the pre-1979 Iranian flag at a Tehran metro station sparked debate about discontent within parts of the security forces.
Despite the reported pressures, the Telegraph said experts believe the Iranian state remains structurally stable, pointing to what it called “rally-around-the-flag” dynamics during and after the June conflict with Israel.
Women and men who defy the government—by appearing unveiled or sharing critical content—have in recent weeks discovered their SIM cards abruptly disabled, locking them out of banking, public services and even judicial notices.
The tactic signals a shift toward low-visibility punishment that avoids the spectacle and political cost of arrests.
The shutdowns come without warning.
Donya Rad, a script supervisor who became an early symbol of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement after posting an unveiled photo in a Tehran teahouse in 2022, said this month that her line had been cut under what officials described as “special measures.”
Rad, who was arrested shortly after that photo went viral, drew fresh attention last month after sharing an image of herself in shorts on a Tehran street.
Shortly afterward, her SIM was blocked. And it remains so weeks later.
“Because I can’t make online purchases—no SIM card, no verification codes—I think I should go on a diet,” she posted on X on Sunday.
“I’ve already had to ask (my sister) Dina to buy my theater tickets, top up my internet, book hotels. I’m going to bed so I don’t end up texting her to order food for me too,” she joked.
‘Communication is my right’
Rad’s post triggered a wave of responses from others who had not previously publicized their own blocking—and the cascade of problems that followed.
Parisa Salehi, a journalist and former political prisoner, said her SIM had been cut months earlier, also without notice. She wrote on X that she refuses to petition prosecutors for its reinstatement.
“Communication is my right,” she said. “My life is already disrupted. I’ve been expelled from university, lost my job, served prison, and now can’t even access the court-notification system.”
Others described being shut out of essential services like banking that require mobile-number verification.
Women’s-rights advocates say the practice is designed to punish and pressure women into conforming to state-mandated dress codes.
New tools of control
The tactic has expanded well beyond hijab enforcement.
After the 12-day war between Israel and Iran earlier this year, security agencies disabled the SIM cards of dozens of citizens in an effort to control reporting and mute criticism.
Several said they were instructed to delete posts, sign pledges not to criticize the government and publish supportive content before their numbers would be restored.
Former journalist turned podcaster Elaheh Khosravi said on X that she will soon lose access to her account and urged followers to keep listening to her podcast. Rad herself promoted Khosravi’s latest episode.
Saeed Sozangar, a network-security instructor and active X user, condemned the tactic as a perversion of Iran’s digital infrastructure.
“E-government has become a tool of control in the hands of a reckless state,” he wrote. “Practices that are illegal even under this system are being carried out casually, with zero accountability.”
No basis in law
Legal experts have also criticized the practice.
In an interview with the moderate daily Shargh, attorney Shahla Orooji said that only a court can impose punishment, and only if it is explicitly provided for in law.
“This measure is neither recognized as a primary punishment nor a supplementary one,” she said. “It is a deprivation of rights and unlawful.”
Another lawyer, Mohammad Oliaei-Fard, said the cutoffs violate the Islamic Republic’s own constitutional protections.
“If a court sought to take this step, due process would be required — including a fair trial and a legally defined punishment,” he said.
Instead, he argued, authorities are imposing “silent, invisible penalties” that evade official scrutiny.
