In the face of the Israeli-American campaign, “we will resist to the end,” declares Moussa Norouzi, who came on Wednesday, like thousands of Iranians, to attend in Tehran the funeral of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, killed by an Israeli strike.
The funeral procession took place on the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Republic, proclaimed on April 1, 1979, following the revolution that overthrew the last Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ending over 2,500 years of monarchy.
On the 33rd day of the conflict that has engulfed the Middle East, supporters of the regime crowded the Enghelab (Revolution) Square in the heart of the capital, where a huge flag is unfurled.
“It has been a month, and for as long as it takes, we will continue. We had an eight-year war (against Iraq, 1980-1988) and we stood strong, we will resist to the end,” says 57-year-old Mr. Norouzi to AFP.
In the crowd chanting slogans, including “Allah Akbar, Khamenei Rahbar” (God is great, Khamenei is the supreme leader), a man cries in the arms of a mourning woman dressed in black.
Like many Iranians, they came to honor relatives killed in the conflict, whose faces are displayed on posters.
– Trump and his “absurdities” –
“Vengeance,” declares a sign in English held up by a child. Further on, another sign, held by a woman, calls the American president a “child killer.”
“They think that by killing our commanders and soldiers, they can do anything,” but “this nation supports its leader,” says 34-year-old official Mohammad Saleh Momeni.
The procession carrying the coffin of Commander Alireza Tangsiri struggles its way. This official, considered the architect of the almost total blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, was one of the most well-known military figures to the general public.
Donald Trump claimed earlier in the day that Tehran had requested a ceasefire – which was denied by the Iranian diplomacy – but that Washington would only consider a halt to hostilities after the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The American president “speaks only absurdities,” dismisses Mr. Momeni. “When he’s drugged or drinking, he comes to talk. His words are completely devoid of meaning.”
This ridicule is shared by 36-year-old math teacher Homa Vosoogh, just hours before an address by the American president. He says “things that even leave the American people perplexed and disconcerted (…) something different every moment, every minute.”
– “More freedoms” –
The day, traditionally a holiday, takes on particular significance on Wednesday, as the Islamic power plays for its survival, relentlessly bombarded since February 28 by the United States and Israel.
These two sworn enemies of Iran initially had among their objectives the overthrow of the country’s leadership. In a month of war, the strikes have killed the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in power for 36 years, and many high-ranking officials.
In the streets of Tehran, portraits of the deceased leader and his son Mojtaba, his successor who has not appeared publicly since his appointment, are omnipresent.
Despite the losses suffered, the governance system, weakened in January by anti-government protests, remains in place and the country retains its ability to launch missiles and drones against its neighbors and Israel.
This does not prevent a number of Iranians from hoping, in private or away from the cameras, for a political change.
Like this Tehran woman, who was expecting much from the “help” to protesters promised in January by Donald Trump in his own words, during the protest movement.
“He has betrayed the Iranians,” declares this thirty-something, who requests anonymity for security reasons and no longer expects a change in power.
“But ‘if they could give us more freedoms, we could live with it,'” she tells AFP, resigned.
