DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥� Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now regularly show the public in Tehran how to handle Kalashnikov-style assault rifles. 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, .
Weapons are now regularly brandished in Tehran, an increasing show of defiance as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens he could 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 Iran鈥檚 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 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 that activists say killed over 7,000 people and saw tens of thousands detained.
鈥淭his 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.鈥�
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 鈥淛anfada,鈥� or the 鈥渙nes who sacrifice their lives.鈥� At one point, hard-liners encouraged families with boys as young as 12 to send them to the Revolutionary Guard to work checkpoints 鈥� which Amnesty International denounced as a war crime.
Government officials say more than 30 million people in Iran 鈥� home to a population of some 90 million 鈥� have volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for Iran’s theocracy. 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鈥檚 full-scale 2022 invasion, in which officials handed out rifles and people banded together to make gasoline bombs.
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.
鈥淟ooking back at the moment I registered my name, I realize I wasn鈥檛 truly contemplating the dangers of fighting on the front lines. In that moment, like everyone else, my thoughts were solely on Iran,鈥� wrote journalist Soheila Zarfam in a column for the state-owned Tehran Times newspaper. 鈥淢y life might end, but Iran would endure, and that was all that truly mattered.鈥�
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has criticized the public weapons demonstrations, particularly footage of young boys handling assault rifles, saying: 鈥淪cenes like these are reminiscent of child hostage-taking and arming by groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, and militias in Sudan and Congo.鈥�
Weapons training, once unusual, becomes a norm
A recent government-organized demonstration by nomads in Iran saw them carrying everything from bolt-action Lee鈥揈nfield 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鈥檚 all-volunteer Basij force and trainer, demonstrated how to handle a folding-stock Kalashnikov-style assault rifle.
鈥淎t 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 鈥� a major safety breach that people are taught to avoid in basic firearms training.
鈥淒efinitely we will stand against (the Americans) and won鈥檛 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.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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