Iranian authorities held large public weddings in Tehran for couples who signed a government-sponsored program to declare their willingness to give their lives in war against the United States and Israel.
The celebrations, held late Monday, involved hundreds of couples in several squares in the capital, including more than 100 in the large Imam Hossein Square in central Tehran, according to reports in Iranian media.
They were broadcast on state TV in an effort to boost wartime morale, by the US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening new military action against Iran amid a ceasefire that halted the fighting that began on February 28.
Those involved had signed up, according to Iranian media, to a “volunteer” program (janfada in Persian) where people pledged to put their lives on the line in battle by, for example, forming human chains outside the strongholds.
Iranian authorities say millions of people, including top leaders such as parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and President Masoud Pezeshkian, have put their names forward.
