Iran International
Iranian officials are urging citizens to fill the streets as Israeli strikes hit security sites, while opposition figures warn the calls aim to create civilian “human shields” around security forces under attack.
On Friday, several Iranian officials including the judiciary chief, the top security official, the foreign minister and many others demonstrated alongside Islamic Republic supporters in anti-Israel Quds Day rallies.
In one video from the rallies, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was seen surrounded by a large number of bodyguards and participants forming what critics call a human shield as an airstrike hit an area nearby.
In an apparent move to avoid airstrikes, Ejei decided not to sit on the officials’ podium during Friday prayers, instead sitting among ordinary worshippers.
Before the Quds Day rallies, Iranian authorities had urged supporters of the Islamic Republic to pour into the streets despite the threat of airstrikes.
“This smallest soldier of yours has three requests from you: street, street, street,” parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X on Wednesday. “Your children in the armed forces have put their lives in their hands to defend Iran. Strengthen them by keeping the streets.”
A video circulating on social media also shows pro-government religious singer Meysam Motiee, speaking after several checkpoints were targeted in Tehran the same night, urging civilians to help protect security forces. “The US and Zionists have serious plans to take back the streets from the faithful forces.”
However, critics argue that such calls expose civilians to danger. The diaspora-based Dadban volunteer lawyers group warned against encouraging civilians to gather near security installations.
“Encouraging civilians to gather near security centers or checkpoints that may become targets effectively turns them into human shields,” the group wrote in a statement. “Such actions knowingly expose civilians to danger and place direct responsibility on those issuing the calls.”
Online users say that after some of these strikes, checkpoint personnel have moved their positions to busier streets. Some posts allege that instead of conducting vehicle searches as thoroughly as before, members of the Basij militia now stop cars primarily to create congestion around these checkpoints.
People urged to stay home
In contrast to these calls for street presence, opposition figures and foreign leaders have urged Iranians to stay indoors for the time being.
Iran's exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, who has said he is prepared to lead a transitional period after the Islamic Republic, warned that the coming days would be decisive and that people need to stay home.
In a video message on Thursday, he urged citizens not to approach “government, military and law-enforcement centers, or housing complexes affiliated with the repression apparatus.”
“The Islamic Republic is using schools, mosques, and other public locations to hide its forces and create human shields,” he said.
Addressing state employees directly, Pahlavi urged them not to risk their lives for the survival of the government. Instead, he called on them to “use your access and capabilities to disrupt repression and help the people.”
Similar appeals have come from abroad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Iranians in a Persian-language message published by an official Israeli account.
“We are delivering heavy blows to the Revolutionary Guards and Basij forces, both in the streets and at checkpoints,” he said, promising that the attacks would continue.
“I say to the people of Iran: the moment you can begin a new path of freedom is getting closer every day. We stand with you, we help you, but ultimately everything depends on you.”
Police commander Ahmad-Reza Radan had warned in a televised interview earlier this week that anyone taking to the streets would be treated as an “enemy” and said security forces had their “fingers on the trigger” and were ready to shoot.
In a mass text message reportedly sent to mobile phones across the country on Thursday, the intelligence arm of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also threatened harsh consequences for street protests.
The message warned that if those it described as “domestic traitors” or “neo-ISIS elements” attempted demonstrations, they would face a response “stronger than January 7.”
The IRGC's statement effectively acknowledged the Islamic Republic's role in the massacre of at least 36,500 protesters during the brutal crackdown in January.
"The IRGC intelligence organization forgot that before the war, they used to deny the killing of people and say it was the work of terrorists. Today, they threatened people that if they come out to the streets, we'll give you a harsher response than on January 7," one user posted on X.
A statement attributed to the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday signaled no change in the government’s approach. Many Iranians on social media widely interpreted the message as confirmation that the policy of suppressing dissent would continue.
The confrontation has spilled onto social media as well, where supporters of the establishment and critics exchange threats and mockery.
One pro-establishment user wrote on X: “This time we are waiting even more than the Prince and Netanyahu for you to come to the streets… If you really want an uprising, don’t delay. Come to the streets.”
Some critics responded to the visible participation of pro-establishment citizens in rallies, including the annual Quds Day rally, with historical comparisons. “Hitler, Mussolini, Saddam, and Gaddafi could bring crowds many times larger than this to the streets,” one user wrote. “We all know how that ended.”
Others used sarcasm to encourage militia members to remain at checkpoints despite the risk of Israeli drone strikes.
“We wish you well,” one user wrote mockingly. “Please do not leave your posts under any circumstances. Your strong presence at checkpoints lets millions of Iranians smile with relief. They can watch and wave to you from afar.”
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.
