In the face of the Israeli-American campaign, “we will resist to the end,” proclaims Moussa Norouzi, who came on Wednesday, like thousands of Iranians, to attend 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 flooded the Enghelab (Revolution) square, in the heart of the capital, where a huge flag is displayed.
“It has been a month, and as long as it takes, we will continue. We had an eight-year war (against Iraq, 1980-1988) and we stood firm, we will resist to the end,” says 57-year-old Norouzi to AFP.
Among the crowd chanting slogans, including “Allah Akbar, Khamenei Rahbar” (God is the greatest, Khamenei is the Supreme Leader), a man cries in the arms of a grieving woman dressed in black.
Like many Iranians, they came to pay tribute to relatives killed during the conflict, whose faces are shown on signs.
– Trump and his “absurdities” –
“Avenge,” proclaims a sign in English held up by a child. Further on, another sign, held by a woman, accuses the American president of being a “child killer.”
“They think that by killing our commanders and soldiers, they can do whatever they want, but ‘this nation supports its leader’,” says 34-year-old government official Mohammad Saleh Momeni.
The procession carrying the coffin of commander Alireza Tangsiri struggles to make its way. This leader, seen as the architect of the almost complete 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 Iranian diplomacy – but that Washington would only consider stopping hostilities after the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The American president “only says absurdities,” dismisses Momeni. “When he is high on drugs or alcohol, he starts talking. His words are completely meaningless.”
This sentiment is shared by Homa Vosoogh, a 36-year-old math teacher, just hours before an address by the American president. He says “things that even leave the American people perplexed and disconcerted (…) something different at every moment, every minute.”
– “More freedoms” –
The traditionally festive day takes on particular importance on Wednesday, as the Islamic power fights for its survival, bombarded relentlessly since February 28 by the United States and Israel.
These two sworn enemies of Iran initially aimed for a change in the country’s leadership. In a month of war, the strikes have killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in power for 36 years, and many high-ranking officials.
In the streets of Tehran, portraits of the late leader and his son Mojtaba, his successor who has not appeared in public since his appointment, are omnipresent.
Despite the losses suffered, the governing 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 stop a number of Iranians from privately hoping for a political change.
Like a Tehrani woman, who had high hopes for the “help” for protesters promised by Donald Trump in January during the protest movement.
“He has betrayed the Iranians,” declares this woman in her thirties, who remains anonymous for security reasons and no longer expects a change in power.
“But ‘if they could give us more freedoms, we could manage,'” she tells AFP, resigned.
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