{"id":224688,"date":"2026-09-18T22:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T22:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iranians-rally-by-the-hundreds-of-thousands-in-biggest-show-of-defiance-since-war-began-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T22:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T22:36:07","slug":"iranians-rally-by-the-hundreds-of-thousands-in-biggest-show-of-defiance-since-war-began-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iranians-rally-by-the-hundreds-of-thousands-in-biggest-show-of-defiance-since-war-began-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranians rally by the hundreds of thousands in biggest show of defiance since war began – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hundreds of thousands of Iranians<\/a> 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\u2019s 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 meant to increase Tehran\u2019s economic pain.
Estimates varied of the number of people volunteering to receive limited military training and defend the country in an effort described as \u201cJanfaday-e Iran,\u201d or the \u201cones who sacrifice their lives for Iran.\u201d They marched through downtown Tehran in combat uniform, carrying flags, as onlookers cheered.
Hundreds of thousands rally in Tehran in show of defiance
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 powerful Revolutionary Guard paramilitary and its all-volunteer arm, the Basij.
Tehran\u2019s Guard chief, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, told the state broadcaster that over 600,000 people had registered to participate, with over 1 million expected to take part in the training. On Friday morning, the broadcaster estimated over 300,000 people were on the streets.
The new head of the Basij, Hossein Taeb, declared in a speech as the rally began that the volunteers will be ready for \u201cfull-fledged defense\u201d and similar rallies will take place in other cities soon.
The new trainees will make a \u201cnightmare\u201d for Iran\u2019s enemies, Taeb added, as President Masoud Pezeshkian, military commanders and other senior officials watched the march.
Some participants trampled flags of the U.S. and Israel. Others chanted \u201cDeath to America\u201d and \u201cDeath to Israel.\u201d
\u201cI am here to tell (President Donald) Trump that we Iranians have no fear about his threats against our homeland,\u201d said Marzieh Afaghi, 24, who attended the rally with her toddler and husband. \u201cNo one in history could invade Iran and remain there.\u201d
The rally was also a chance for Iran to show off military hardware. Anti-aircraft batteries were on display, while female Guard members in black headscarves sat with truck-mounted machine guns.
The Guard displayed drones that have been widely used against ships in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has asserted control since the war began, severely affecting the Gulf region\u2019s shipments of oil and natural gas to the rest of the world.
Friday\u2019s events also suggested that hardliners like Taeb among Iran\u2019s leadership will be more prepared to suppress any future demonstration against the theocracy.
In January, shortly before the war, Iran saw some of its largest nationwide protests in history, which began over the struggling economy and turned to wider grievances. Activists have said a crackdown killed over 7,000 people and saw tens of thousands detained.
In May, government officials said more than 30 million people in Iran \u2014 home to a population of some 90 million \u2014 had volunteered via an online form or at public gatherings to lay down their lives for the theocracy. The Associated Press could not independently confirm that.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeHundreds 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\u2019s government has sought to rally the people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}