Iran International
Iranians and the government held rival ceremonies Tuesday marking the 40th day after the January 8–9 protest killings, with families staging independent memorials as officials organized a state event critics called an attempt to “appropriate” the victims.
Security forces opened fire and imposed internet disruptions as Iranians held ceremonies marking 40 days since the January protest killings, while officials organized state-led commemorations for those they described as “martyrs.”
In the Kurdish town of Abdanan in Ilam province, activists and witnesses said security forces fired live rounds to disperse hundreds of mourners gathered at a cemetery.
Videos and accounts shared online appeared to show people fleeing as gunfire rang out during chants of “Death to Khamenei.”
Unconfirmed reports said several participants were seriously injured and that a 22-year-old man, Saeed-Reza Naseri, had been killed.
Reports of clashes and gunfire also emerged from Mashhad, where social media users said security forces confronted mourners.
Internet access was severely disrupted in both cities, according to users and monitoring accounts, continuing a pattern seen during previous periods of unrest.
At the same time, the government organized its own official ceremonies, including a state event Tuesday at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Prayer Grounds attended by senior officials such as First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani and Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
A parallel ceremony was held at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
State media and senior officials have described the January unrest as an “American-Zionist sedition.” Participants at the official ceremony chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and the event featured Quran recitations, religious eulogies and official tributes.
The official commemorations contrasted sharply with independent ceremonies held by families, which often included music, clapping and traditional mourning rituals.
Others questioned official claims that “terrorists” were responsible for the deaths, pointing to continued security pressure on families attempting to hold independent memorials.
Online, many Iranians accused authorities of attempting to control the narrative of the killings. “They kill and then send text messages inviting people to attend a 40th-day ceremony,” one user wrote on social media.
Despite the pressure, families of those killed held independent memorials in cemeteries across Tehran and dozens of other cities and towns. Participants in several locations chanted slogans including “Death to the dictator” and carried photos of victims, many of them young.
In Najafabad in Isfahan province, a large crowd marched toward a cemetery holding portraits of those killed. Demonstrators chanted: “We didn’t surrender lives to compromise, or to praise a murderous leader,” according to videos circulating online.
Users reported a heavy security presence at cemeteries nationwide, and in some cases closures intended to prevent crowds from assembling.
Rights groups and social media accounts said families faced pressure from security agencies to limit gatherings or avoid overtly political messaging.
The parallel ceremonies underscored the continuing divide between the state’s portrayal of the unrest and the experience of families and communities still mourning those killed.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
