By Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, Matthew Chance
Tehran (CNN) — As night falls over Iran’s sprawling capital, and the snowy peaks of the Alborz mountains fade into the darkness, thousands of Iranians have been routinely taking to the streets for state-sponsored rallies aimed at mobilizing supporters against the United States.
Near Tajrish Square, an upscale neighborhood of Tehran, the inevitable chanting of “Death to America” blares out over a sea of Iranian flags, while street vendors hawk tea and souvenirs, like patriotic baseball caps and patches, to the enthusiastic crowd.
“I am so ready to sacrifice my life for my country and for my people,” one young woman named Tiana, wearing glasses in the colors of the Iranian flag, told me above the deafening chants.
“All the people, the whole army, all commanders that we have, they’re ready to sacrifice their lives too, and ready to fight with their whole heart and soul,” she added, dismissing US President Donald Trump’s latest social media threat to resume military action.
“For Iran, the clock is ticking, and they better get moving, fast, or there won’t be anything left of them,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, further ratcheting up tensions as stalled peace talks undermine a fragile ceasefire.
One elderly man carrying a makeshift placard offered to translate his sign, hand-written in Farsi. “Nuclear and missile technology is as important as our borders, so we will protect them,” it read.
“We need nuclear power, clean energy, not a bomb,” he told me, a reference to Iran’s refusal to end its controversial nuclear program, which Trump has made a condition for ending the war.
“Trump knows we don’t have a bomb, but he is attacking us anyway,” he added.
As swirling rumors and escalating fears mount of imminent US-Israeli strikes, there is a growing sense of inevitability among many Iranians about the resumption of hostilities.
“We know this war isn’t over. We know Trump is not really going to negotiate,” said Fatima, who said she grew up in London and Dubai.
“He’s just going to be, like, ‘You do what I tell you or I’m going to kill you.’ And then he’s going to attack us even if we do as he says,” she added.
The rallies, or “night-gatherings” have been taking place across the country every evening for nearly three months, essentially since the start of the war.
But recent days have seen the ominous appearance of public gun kiosks, where civilians are being offered basic lessons in using weapons – a sign of how the hardening Iranian authorities are readying people for further conflict.
At one kiosk in Vanak Square, we saw a woman dressed in a black chador being learning how to handle an AK-47 assault rifle, with a masked man in military fatigues showing her how to strip and assemble the weapon.
A few feet away, a small girl played with an unloaded Kalashnikov, aiming the weapon into the air before pulling the trigger and handing the gun back to her smiling instructor.
The general call to arms is also being reiterated on state television, with several channels broadcasting their hosts brandishing assault rifles.
One male anchor, Hossein Hosseini, on the state-run Ofogh channel, fired his rifle – on live television – into the studio ceiling after receiving a lesson from a masked member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
Separately, a female Channel-3 presenter, Mobina Nasiri, addressed viewers while grasping an assault rifle with both hands.
“They sent me a weapon from Vanak Square so that I too, like all of you people, can learn how to use it,” she announced.
But not all Iranians are gunning for a fight.
Just around the corner from the rally on Tajrish Square, in a tranquil park near the Cinema Museum of Iran, locals perused an open-air book stall and sipped tea, while couples strolled hand in hand.
“No to war,” said one young man as he passed by.
Sitting on a park bench with her husband, one woman, a university professor who asked not to be identified, told me how they both desperately wanted Iran to change.
“We just want to live in a normal country, where our children can have a future,” she whispered in English.
“We want peace,” a young woman said, further hinting at the diversity of opinion in Iran.
But with the mood in the Islamic Republic increasingly tense, and the country potentially on the brink of a resumption of war, all but the hardline official messaging seems to be drowned out.
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