Overview
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard held brief, public lessons on loading and unloading Kalashnikov rifles in Tehran plazas, with instructors in Hafte Tir saying turnout was voluntary and meant to build a “martyr” culture.
- The state also staged mass weddings in central Tehran for couples enrolled in Jan‑Fada, a government plan that assigns high‑risk civil roles in war such as forming human shields at power facilities.
- AFP images showed newlyweds arriving at Imam Hossein Plaza on jeeps with mounted machine guns, where a cleric married 110 couples beneath a large portrait of new supreme leader Mojtaba Jamenei.
- Officials broadcast the events on state TV and claimed millions joined nationwide, citing backing from Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and President Masud Pezeshkian.
- The drive unfolds under a cease-fire in place since April 8, as President Donald Trump says he canceled an imminent strike because of “serious negotiations,” leaving the truce uncertain.