Iran’s nightly pro-government rallies reveal both unity and deep divisions
Standing among a crowd gathered in central Tehran late one night in May, Mohsen, 34, appeared visibly frustrated as he spoke.
“Why should we stay home?” he said. “So they can attack again, send their soldiers in and turn Iran into another Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya?”
Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February, Mohsen said he has attended as many of the nightly rallies in support of the Iranian government as possible. To him, the anti-US and anti-Israel gatherings show that at least part of the country views the conflict less as a political struggle and more as a matter of national survival.
“Of course we come out every night,” he told Middle East Eye. “We want them to understand that we will never allow foreigners onto this land.”
The rallies started around the middle of March. Since then, groups of people have been gathering almost every night in major squares across Iran. They wave Iranian flags, chant against the United States and Israel and stay in the streets for hours.
The demonstrations continued despite a nationwide internet shutdown and continued after restrictions were partially lifted.
Authorities have not hidden their support for the rallies. In Tehran especially, streets leading to gathering points are often blocked off. Police forces are present every night. Loudspeakers and stages are set up before crowds arrive.
State media describe the demonstrations as spontaneous public movements. But critics see something else.
Hessam, a 36-year-old Tehran resident, said he went to several rallies himself after constantly seeing footage of them on television.
“I wanted to see what was really happening there,” he said.
According to him, many of the people attending are the same groups that usually appear during crackdowns on protests.
“A lot of them are Basij members, religious hard-liners or Revolutionary Guard supporters,” he said. “Now they walk through the streets every night shouting slogans while everyone else has to deal with the noise and disruption.”
Hessam believes that if government opponents were ever given the same freedom to gather publicly, the crowds would be much larger.
Between patriotism and political anger
Not everyone attending the rallies, however, appears to be closely tied to the state.
For some Iranians, the fear of a broader war with the United States and Israel has complicated old political divisions.
Mona, a 41-year-old woman from Tehran, said she has spent years criticising the government, especially over domestic issues. Still, she added, war changes how many people think.
“You should not take family disputes outside the house,” she said. “People may disagree with me, but I think there is a difference between a government that created problems for its own people and foreign countries that may want to destroy the country altogether.”
Mona has attended the rallies about 10 times.
“Foreign powers leave destruction behind and move on,” she said. “A dictator may pressure people and create suffering, but in the end he is still Iranian. He would not want to see the country destroyed.”
She added that many people around her also look at the wider region and feel uneasy about where another war could lead.
“Look at Gaza, Lebanon or Syria,” she says. “People see what happened there.”
'Streets, streets, streets'
In recent weeks, Iranian officials have repeatedly praised the rallies.
In a written statement published on 9 April, Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, called on supporters to remain active in public spaces and said ongoing negotiations with Washington should not be seen as a reason to leave the streets.
“The presence of the people in the streets has created a new epic,” he wrote. “Negotiations may continue, but people should not think their presence in the streets is no longer necessary.”
The message was widely seen as an attempt to sustain public mobilisation even as diplomatic contacts with the United States continued behind the scenes.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker and Iran’s lead negotiator in talks with Washington, has also encouraged supporters to continue gathering.
On 11 March, he wrote in a post on X: “Dear people of Iran, your presence in the streets has confused the enemy. This humble soldier has three requests: streets, streets, streets.”
For supporters of the rallies, that message still matters.
'They have taken away our peace'
Hossein, a 25-year-old engineering student, said he has lost count of how many nights he has spent at the gatherings.
“It's become part of our routine,” he said. “Even during the Nowruz holidays, when we travelled outside Tehran, we still joined the rallies there.”
Hossein sees participation as both a national and religious duty.
'We want them to understand that we will never allow foreigners onto this land'
- Mohsen, Tehran resident
“We are still in a wartime situation,” he said. “Some people lost limbs or gave their lives defending the country. I cannot carry weapons or operate missiles, but at least I can show support for them.”
Others see the rallies very differently.
Masoud, a 62-year-old resident of central Tehran, says months of nightly gatherings have exhausted people living nearby.
“They have taken away our peace,” he said. “Every night it’s the same thing. Loudspeakers, shouting, blocked streets. A group of people gather outside while the rest of us cannot sleep or live normally.”
“We are human too,” he adds. “Do we not deserve some peace and quiet? What did we do wrong that we should lose sleep every night because of this?”
Growing tensions over negotiations
The demonstrations have also exposed divisions inside Iran’s conservative camp, especially over negotiations with the United States.
Although Khamenei has publicly supported Ghalibaf’s diplomatic efforts, hard-line factions continue attacking any form of engagement with Washington.
Mahdi, a 29-year-old member of Basij, a volunteer paramilitary militia, from western Tehran, said he is deeply opposed to the talks.
“Our martyred leader repeatedly said negotiations with America were forbidden,” he said, referring to former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war.
Like others in the principlist camp, Mahdi believes the rallies should also send a message to Iranian officials involved in diplomacy.
“If Ghalibaf wants the same fate as [former president Hassan] Rouhani and [former foreign minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif, he can continue these negotiations,” he said. “But Hezbollah youth will not allow our leader’s path to be forgotten.” (In Iran, “Hezbollah” is a term used by hard-line activists and supporters of the establishment to describe themselves.)
In recent weeks, these divisions have become harder to hide, even inside the conservative camp itself.
In a message published on 28 May, Mojtaba Khamenei praised Ghalibaf while also warning political factions against deepening internal divisions.
“More than ever, unity must be protected,” he wrote. “Do not turn disagreements into conflict and division.”
Many in Tehran interpreted the message as a warning aimed at principlists who still believe confrontation with the US and Israel should continue through military escalation rather than diplomacy.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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