The Twelve-Day War with Israel boosts the ayatollahs in Iran
Tehran remembers the more than 600 dead and appears to have put the uprising of three years ago behind it.
Tehran"Tonight we're going somewhere special. You can't bring your camera, but it'll be worth it. You'll see the new Iran," a friend told me four years ago, the last time I was there. for the presidential elections, which was won by the ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi. The place in question was a semi-clandestine bar, a two-level basement accessed by a narrow staircase. It was full of young men dressed in Western style and smoking. But what was most surprising was that most of the women were not wearing the chador on their heads.
Since then, a lot has happened in this country; among others, the recent twelve-day war with Israel and the US bombing of nuclear facilitiesBut three years later of the assassination of Mahsa Amini –the 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl, who was beaten by the morality police for not wearing the headscarf according to religious norms–, it is shocking to see how what was supposed to be a revolution breaking with the regime The "old ways" have evaporated.
Back then, more than half of the women wore their hair uncovered. They wore bright colors, sometimes leaving their waists or arms bare. You could see them on the street, in shopping malls, in libraries. "Put on your chador," for example, one of the security guards would tell two young women, one of them with dyed blonde hair. And they responded by waving their hand and ignoring the warning. A gesture that has no significance in Europe, but it does in this country, where there have been deaths and imprisonments for trying to break that barrier.
Adapt or die
How is such a change possible? Just a few days ago, my friend told me: "In Iran, there is a nationalist sentiment that prevails, and this war [with Israel] has probably accelerated this process; they are realizing that society is no longer anchored in the past." In the end, it's adapt or die, and this is something the regime is beginning to understand. To its credit.
There is an old Arab proverb that says: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." But in that case, it hasn't worked. Quite the opposite. The war with Israel has made society, at least for the moment, more cohesive and united. Seeing men and women weeping inconsolably at memorial services for martyrs may attract attention in Europe, but in Iran, it is commonplace. Tragedy unites, and this is what Israel has achieved by sometimes bombing civilian targets and accepting the so-called collateral damage to achieve its goal. In the so-called Twelve-Day War, Iran has suffered its worst nightmare since the bloody conflict with Iraq in the 1980s. The death toll speaks volumes: more than 600 Iranians killed compared to only 26 Israelis.
On the other hand, Tehran remains much the same as ever, except that it is now possible to see, in certain parts of the city, photos of the martyrs who have succumbed to Israeli air strikes. In some places, you can stroll past around 40 photos with personal belongings of the victims placed in glass cases. Nearby, a large red carpet marks the path of workers going to or from work.
Elsewhere in Tehran, you can find posters stuck to the walls commemorating around 50 martyrs with ID photos. And in the most representative squares, there are large banners with portraits of the military personnel and scientists who lost their lives in the last war. The bombed houses, where nuclear scientists lived, have also been converted into large temporary mausoleums dominated by flags, inscriptions, and photos.
Chinese fighter jets
Beyond all this, Iran is now aware of its air vulnerability, which is what defines who controls the war, not who wins it, because ending Iran cannot be achieved solely by controlling the airspace. The end of the war, in fact, would entail conquering the country, and this scenario requires total destruction, as, unfortunately, It is being seen in Gaza, of which there is hardly anything left. Even so, having learned their lesson, the ayatollahs' regime is rearming with state-of-the-art Chinese fighter jets.
The open restaurants, the overflowing shopping malls, and the city's old bazaar, impassable with carts driven through it by people strolling or shopping, demonstrate that, nevertheless, the city's pulse is still very much alive. The difference is inflation. Prices are not at the real exchange rate. If they were, they would be unaffordable for the vast majority of the population. Be that as it may, those same prices are forcing them to leave the city, because buying a home in Tehran has become the same economic nightmare as in some European capitals.
What was the war like in this short period of time? "I was scared, the explosions... One of the bombs fell next to my house and I felt the shock wave run through me. My mother called me every hour to find out if I was alive and to try to convince me to leave Tehran," explains one of the witnesses I was able to gather.
Today is Thursday, and in Tehran's largest cemetery, families are holding religious services to honor the dead. Some men carry trays of food with cookies; others carry drinks and distribute them to the bereaved families who, with cries and shouts, express how much they miss their loved ones. "Tell the truth," a woman tells me, seeing that I am one of the few Western journalists at the event. Finally, two men unfurl the red flag and pass it over the graves of all the martyrs, one by one, taking their time with each family. Meanwhile, the relatives try to kiss the flag or simply let it embrace them: the only consolation they have left.