Iran International
State-backed celebrations of Shiite Imam Mahdi’s birthday this week have angered many Iranians mourning tens of thousands killed in recent protests, highlighting a widening divide over grief, faith and public displays of joy.
Government authorities and supporters marked the birthday of the 12th and final Shiite Imam, Mahdi, with widespread street decorations, fireworks at religious sites and city squares, and tents distributing tea, sweets and food to passersby.
State media extensively covered the festivities, while pro-government social media users portrayed public participation as evidence of continued support for the authorities and the country's return to normalcy.
In the days leading up to the public holiday, state-organized celebrations are held not only in religious venues but also across government offices and schools. During this period, authorities, municipalities and private citizens decorate streets with lights and offer sweets and drinks to pedestrians.
This year’s main ceremony took place at the Jamkaran Mosque near the holy city of Qom, where large crowds gathered for fireworks and light displays. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the once-obscure mosque has expanded dramatically into a major pilgrimage and tourist complex.
Widespread opposition to the celebrations
Opposition to the celebrations has come from many who say festivities are inappropriate while millions grieve.
The official death toll from the February 8–9 protests, announced by the government — more than 3,000 people — nearly matches the total number of deaths recorded during the previous monarchy between 1963 and 1979.
An X user identified as Homayoun wrote: “When the state breeds death, theatrical joy is merely the mask of shamelessness. Celebrating over fresh wounds is neither faith nor hope; it is only the habit of witnessing the suffering of others.”
Religious and political figures boycott the festivities
At least two prominent clerics — Grand Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani, a senior religious authority and former reformist politician, and Grand Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaqeq-Damad, an Islamic scholar known for criticizing the state’s harsh response to protesters — announced they would refrain from holding birthday celebrations in solidarity with mourners.
Bayat-Zanjani’s son, Mohsen Bayat-Zanjani, a well-known philanthropist, said on X that his father’s office would cancel its annual event. The Institute for Religious Enlightenment, overseen by Mohaqeq Damad, issued a statement saying he would not host a celebration this year.
Neither cleric has publicly condemned the killings, prompting sharp criticism from some X users, though others praised the move. Hadi Mehrani, a former Iran-Iraq war veteran and ex-political prisoner who now openly supports the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, commended them for “standing with the people and honoring the dead.”
Beyond these two figures, no other senior clerics have been reported to oppose the festivities, and neither cleric explicitly blamed the government for the deaths.
Azar Mansouri, head of the Reform Front, wrote on X: “In the midst of this exhausting collective mourning and the deep wound inflicted on the nation’s soul, what celebration?” Pro-government commenters responded that celebrating the Imam’s birth is obligatory regardless of circumstances.
Historical precedence
Boycotting religious celebrations during periods of mourning has historical precedent in Iran. In July 1978, after dozens of demonstrators were killed in Tehran’s Jaleh Square, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared public mourning and urged people to avoid festivities for Mahdi’s birthday, emphasizing unity in the political struggle.
In 1962, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpayegani similarly called for canceling the celebration in protest against the Shah’s “White Revolution” reforms.
Protesters respond with slogans
Citizen journalists have circulated reports of residents chanting slogans from windows during the festivities.
One X user said members of the Basij militia set up a booth in the Chitgar district of western Tehran playing religious music and Quran recitations, prompting apartment residents to shout slogans in opposition. A video posted by the user captured voices chanting “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Death to the Basij.”
Outside Iran, a group of supporters of exiled prince Reza Pahlavi gathered Tuesday outside the Islamic Centre of Manchester, disrupting a planned Mahdi birthday celebration with chants and protests.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.