Iran’s staged celebrations: Public sentiment vs. regime spectacle during missile attack on Israel

Even before the drones and missiles had reached Israeli territory, the Islamic Republic of Iran, via its paramilitary Basiji forces, had already organised state-sanctioned street parties to celebrate. A video posted half an hour before the first missiles arrived in Israel shows hundreds of people waving Iranian flags and chanting: “Supreme leader, we are ready [to go to war].” In contrast to the apparently orchestrated public events, on social media many Iranians expressed grave misgivings about the attack and the possibility of war and further economic turmoil.