Every year during the Islamic month of Muharram, millions of Shi'ite Muslims across Iran commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was killed in 680 AD.
Hardliners often invoke his example to argue Iran should continue confronting the United States, while government critics use the same symbolism to condemn injustice at home.
Political messaging also comes through speeches by eulogists (maddahs), who preside over ceremonies recounting Hussein's sacrifice and heroism.
At one ceremony, well-known maddah Reza Narimani criticized President Masoud Pezeshkian for disclosing in a recent speech that funds equivalent to the value of 20 million barrels of oil had been allocated to the Revolutionary Guards' Aerospace Force during the war.
Narimani also claimed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei opposed negotiations and an agreement with Washington and had merely observed the government's recent diplomatic efforts.
Another eulogist, Mohammad Reza Bazri, criticized officials he accused of ignoring "the ten conditions of the Imam"—a reference to slain leader Ali Khamenei—while pursuing an agreement with Washington and failing to respond to what he described as US violations of the ceasefire.
"The Iranian people would never consent to an agreement with the United States," he claimed.
Opposition mourning
Government critics have likewise used Ashura ceremonies to express dissent, often through traditional mourning chants or carefully worded speeches condemning injustice without directly naming officials.
Religious gatherings in Yazd and Bushehr have become known for incorporating such politically charged poetry.
One widely performed lament, heard again this year, calls on people to rise up and "bring down the idols and palaces of tyrannical rulers."
Another popular mourning chant, which has gained prominence among religious opponents of the government in recent years, criticizes what it portrays as state-sponsored religion.
"In your religion, there is God's name, but God is absent," the lyrics say.
The poem's author, Shahabeddin Mousavi, was detained for a period after it became widely known.
Remembering those killed
While many ceremonies are organized or supported by the state, independent local communities also hold mourning processions that sometimes become venues for political expression.
According to social media posts, some Ashura gatherings this year included performances of the patriotic song Az Khoon-e Javanan-e Vatan ("From the Blood of the Nation's Youth") in memory of thousands of young people killed during the January unrest.
Originally composed during Iran's Constitutional Revolution more than a century ago, the song likens the blood of fallen youth to red tulips blooming from the earth.
At some ceremonies, eulogists reportedly read aloud the names of those killed.
In the central city of Arak, the mother of Mohammad Radmannia, a 29-year-old who was fatally shot in the back of the head with live ammunition in Tehran, urged mourners to continue her son's path.
In a village in the northern province of Gilan, mourners attached a photograph of Mani Safarpour, an 18-year-old from Lahijan who was also killed in Tehran, to a ceremonial drum and cymbals before gathering at his grave to perform chest-beating rituals.
Some opposition activists criticized fellow government opponents for attending Ashura ceremonies, arguing that the events are widely viewed because of state promotion as expressions of support for the Islamic Republic.
"The massacre of protesters in January was carried out on the direct orders of the leader of Shi'ites (Ali Khamenei), while other senior clerics remained silent," one user wrote on X. "A couple of Yazdi or Bushehri mourning chants cannot erase that crime from our society's memory."
Another user wrote: "The blood that was unjustly spilled will never be washed away. No lament or elegy can diminish the scale of this tragedy in our collective memory."
Others defended participation in the ceremonies.
"These mourning chants serve to remind people of those tragedies," one user argued.
Another wrote that participating in Ashura ceremonies was "part of the struggle to reclaim religious symbols" from the government.
A further comment added: "When will people understand that many ordinary religious Iranians have nothing to do with the government or its hardline supporters?"
