Mass Weddings Amid Military Gear: Iran Pushes Patriotism Imagery
- By RFE/RL's Radio Farda and
- Will Tizard
The public spectacle of hundreds of couples marrying in Tehran surrounded by armored vehicles and antiaircraft guns on May 18 demonstrates a new level of patriotic messaging from the country amid a fragile cease-fire with the US and Israel. The Iranian regime's "Janfada," or self-sacrifice, program has also involved organized displays of children and women learning to assemble assault rifles while the conflict drags into its third month.