Tehran Motorcycle Rally Signals Defiance as War With US Grinds On

Thousands of government supporters took part in a state-organised motorcycle rally in Tehran on Friday, the latest in a series of street demonstrations aimed at projecting unity as Iran's war with the United States continues.

Many participants wore uniforms and carried weapons, waving Iranian and Hezbollah flags and holding portraits of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's slain supreme leader. The volunteers are described as "Janfaday-e Iran," or those who sacrifice their lives for Iran.

Speaking at the rally, Tehran resident Ebrahim Ali Akbari, 70, dismissed statements by US President Donald Trump. "If he understood that the people are united and stand together, he would not make these kinds of wrong statements," he said, adding that Iranians were ready to receive him.

Another participant, 40-year-old Ali Fattahi, said Trump had made exaggerated claims that "intelligent people and freedom-loving people around the world" would not believe. Narges Bahrami, 45, said destruction ultimately returns to Trump himself, while insisting Iran would remain standing.

One motorcycle carried a flag bearing Khamenei's image and Arabic text reading "O avengers of Khamenei's blood." Large billboards around the city carried confrontational messaging, including one depicting an ancient Iranian hero and a bird attacking US warships with the Farsi slogan "The army of devil will drown in the Persian Gulf" and the English line "From the Persian Gulf a new power rises." Another billboard showed a Yemeni dagger with text in Farsi, Arabic and Hebrew reading "The miracle is in Yemen's hands." A countdown timer displayed "5097 days" until the destruction of Israel.

Since the war began in February, the government has mobilised its supporters on the streets in an effort to deter a US ground invasion and to head off potential domestic unrest. In January, shortly before the conflict started, Iran witnessed some of the largest nationwide protests in its history, initially over economic hardship before broadening into wider grievances. Activists have said a crackdown killed more than 7,000 people and led to tens of thousands of detentions.

In May, government officials said more than 30 million people in Iran, out of a population of roughly 90 million, had volunteered through an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for the theocracy. That figure could not be independently verified.