CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands of Iranians rallied Friday in a government-organized show of defiance after months of war, pledging their readiness to take up arms in the biggest such demonstration since the United States and Israel attacked in February.
Iran’s government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and new U.S. sanctions. For days, state media have encouraged Iranians to join the campaign, saying training with assault rifles would begin soon. The volunteers would be an additional layer of security to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia , which has played a key role in quashing anti-government protests . “No one in history could invade Iran and remain there. The U.K. The Associated Press could not independently confirm that.
The UKMTO in a separate update said ship transits facilitated by the U.S. military off Oman have averaged 24 a day over the past week but overall traffic remains about 90% lower than before the war. In May, government officials said more than 30 million people in Iran — which has a total population of some 90 million — had volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for the theocracy.
The new trainees will make a “nightmare” for Iran’s enemies, Taeb added, as President Masoud Pezeshkian, military commanders and other senior officials watched the march. “I am here to tell Trump that we Iranians have no fear about his threats against our homeland,” said Marzieh Afaghi, 24, who attended the rally with her toddler and husband. Iran said it had attacked a Togo-flagged oil tanker, the Trend, for what it called an “illegal attempt” to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the state broadcaster reported. Maritime Trade Operations center said a tanker was hit by a projectile, sparking a fire on board that was extinguished.
On Friday, it claimed another attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz , a key waterway it has sought to control since the start of the war.
