Iran’s Revolution Day: celebrate or stay away

Iran is celebrating the first day of the revolution under new President Raisi. Tens of thousands celebrate the regime in central Tehran. Apart from the jubilation, the consequences of western sanctions cannot be overlooked.

Around ten thirty in the morning, Freedom Street in central Tehran fills up with thousands of motorcyclists. Many of them wear uniforms and belong to one of the numerous groups of security forces. Often two, sometimes three regime supporters sit on a motorcycle. Particularly courageous passengers stand on the seat like acrobats, lean their legs against the driver’s back and hold Iranian flags in their hands.

If you don’t have a motorbike, you can walk. Everyone streams towards Freedom Square on Revolution Day. On the side of the road, boy and girl choirs praise the Ayatollah in folkloric songs. Passers-by can be photographed with people in disguise. The event has the character of a folk festival.

The President goes to the mosque

The President used to give a speech on Revolution Day on Freedom Square. Ebrahim Raisi, who has been in office since August, speaks shortly before Friday prayers in the Imam Khomeni Mosala mosque. Raisi was head of the Iranian judiciary until the summer of 2021, is considered a strictly conservative Sharia expert and is responsible for numerous executed death sentences.

Now the Iranians are looking forward to his fortunes with regard to a new nuclear agreement, because the sanctions have been putting the people in the country under massive pressure for years. Raisi appeals to the will of the people while his negotiators sit at the negotiating table in Vienna. “We put our hope in the people, but not in Vienna,” he explains in his speech.

Apparently, this means that Iran does not have to make every compromise. But even among the regime’s supporters, who are flocking to Freedom Square in such large numbers today, one can sense an exhaustion from the sanctions.

The consequences of the embargo

A 50-year-old official, who declined to give his name, complains that the embargo is inhumane because even medicines are not allowed to be imported. The people are suffering enormously from the measures taken by the USA and other western countries. When asked what Raisi has achieved or changed since taking office, the man says that after such a short time one cannot have high expectations.

Ali Kianmehr looks youthful despite his long black beard. The 22-year-old is more combative than the previous speaker: the West must first lift the sanctions, then one can return to the nuclear agreement. After the first six months of the government, it is clear that, compared to the previous government, it is concentrating on the people. Former President Hassan Rouhani only had foreign relations in mind and achieved nothing with it.

To demonstrate? Maybe later

In the city center is the district of Iranshahr. While regime supporters are demonstrating, Tehraners in modern clothes are sitting in a coffee house having a cappuccino. When asked why they are relaxing here instead of marching for Revolution Day, a young woman replies with a wink that right after lunch they set off.

In fact, this section of society has little interest in the parade. The woman can hardly believe that an estimated 20,000 people have gathered there.

The rift in society remains

The gap between modern and conservative Iranians has not narrowed since Raisi took office. At the Tajrish bazaar, a fruit seller of Kurdish origin complains that purchasing power has declined since August last year. He measures Raisi by the negotiations in Vienna: they will only be successful once he has got the sanctions lifted and a new nuclear agreement on the way.

A hairdresser adds that the new president at least has a better chance of making the negotiations a success than his predecessor Rouhani. He was a “fool” who couldn’t do anything and had no power. Raisi comes from the strictly conservative camp and pulls together with the Revolutionary Guards. However, he must also be willing to make compromises. Just like the Americans. After all, Iran is a great power. If Washington recognized this, the regime and the White House leadership could one day be friends.

There is no trace of this perspective at the rally. Anyone who reads the posters here gets a completely different impression: “Down with the USA” is written there in English and Farsi. No sign that a breakthrough in the negotiations in Vienna can be expected in the next few days.