Iran's leaders turn to a new brand of nationalism after Israeli and US attacks
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
, beckoned the man leading the chants and whispered in his ear.
Grinning, the singer broke into a tune that would have been wildly out of place at a religious ceremony for the Islamic Republic just a few weeks ago: 'Ey Iran, Iran', a patriotic anthem.
'In my soul and spirit, you remain, O homeland,' he sang, as the crowd recited the words back to him. 'Wasted be the heart that does not tremble for you.'
Iran
has emerged from its war with
Israel
– briefly joined by the
United States
– deeply wounded. Its military defences are battered, its nuclear programme was pummelled and its population has been devastated by a heavy civilian toll over the 12-day war.
READ MORE
Amid that bleak outlook, the country's leaders see an opportunity. Outrage over the attacks has sparked an outpouring of nationalist sentiment, and they hope to channel that into a patriotic moment to shore up a government facing daunting economic and political challenges.
A billboard in Tehran depicts missiles and the mythological figure of Arash the archer. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times
The result has been an embrace of ancient folklore and patriotic symbols that many of Iran's secular nationalists once saw as their domain, not that of a conservative theocracy that often shunned Iran's pre-Islamic revolutionary heritage.
In the ancient city of Shiraz, a billboard depicts Israeli prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
kneeling before a statue of Shapur I, the third-century Persian king, mimicking a frieze from the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis.
In Tehran's Vanak Square, a popular shopping area, a billboard has been erected for Arash the Archer, the mythological figure said to have created Iran's borders by launching his life force from an arrowhead. Now, instead of arrows, it is the missiles of the Islamic Republic being fired across his bow.
'We are witnessing the birth of a fusion of Shi'ite identity and Iranian nationalism – and it is the result of the attack on Iran,' said Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University and well-known political commentator.
With no reliable polling data to offer insights on popular sentiments, the effectiveness of this patriotic craze has been hotly debated among Iranians and analysts alike.
Some Iranians are sceptical that any newfound nationalism will increase the government's popularity, arguing that it simply reflects the widespread anger over the Israeli and US attacks.
Government supporters gather in Tehran to commemorate victims of Israel's recent attacks. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times
Before the Israeli attacks, some Iran analysts had expected domestic turmoil this summer: Alongside an economic crisis, Iran's water, electricity and fuel supplies had been failing as temperatures soared.
The war seems to have led to an opposite effect. Now some Iranians appear willing to stomach more government restrictions, including the tightening of internet access. The Iranian government has also begun a massive crackdown against what it says are infiltrators and spies, but which rights groups say is also sweeping up dissidents and minorities.
US president
Donald Trump
and Netanyahu's calls for Iranians to rise up against the government in the wake of the strikes has led even some critics of the Iranian government to argue that they could not countenance protesting right now.
'People do not want domestic change to be driven by foreign governments,' Lida, who works in Tehran, told The New York Times in a voice message. She asked not to be identified by her full name because of the government's warnings against contact with foreign media.
'It goes against my national pride that a country comes and violates my land and hits our nuclear sites,' she said. 'OK, fine, this nuclear programme is not my dream or aspiration, but in the end it is part of my land and territory.'
This is not the first time that leaders of the Islamic Republic have leaned on nationalism or traditional symbols in times of crisis.
At the end of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, historians say, Iran's revolutionary leadership often turned to nationalist rhetoric.
But the scale and scope of the latest effort to galvanise the population is different, Iran experts say.
'The revolutionary leadership has recognised that when the going gets tough you have to dive deep into that nationalist rhetoric to bring people together,' said Ali Ansari, the founding director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. 'They want to use the war as a way of encouraging national solidarity – something that they haven't had for many years.'
That approach was especially striking as the country entered Muharram at the end of June, a period of mourning in Shi'ite Islam that lasts for about a month.
Ashura, marking the 10th day of that period, is when Shi'ites grieve for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
This year, Iran's madahs, or religious singers, brought politics into the celebrations. At shopping malls in the city of Yazd, they blended pious verses into patriotic songs that were once banned – including a religious version of an anthem penned during the second World War, and often associated with the era of the Pahlavi monarchy that the Iranian revolution overthrew in 1979.
Some Iranians have not welcomed the fusion of nationalist and Islamic rhetoric, including the family of Tooraj Negahban, the lyricist who penned Ey Iran, Iran. The madah who recited it in front of Khamenei wove in religious phrases including 'Iran of Karbala' and 'Iran of Ashura'.
A critic of the Islamic Republic, Neghaban died in exile in Los Angeles in 2008.
'For years, you have silenced our voices. You have erased our names from books and the media,' the family wrote in a post on an Instagram page in his name. 'Now that you have nothing left to shout, you are singing the same anthems you used to curse.'
Some Iranians, like Borhani, the Tehran University professor, argue that the theocracy's turn to nationalism shows that religion alone can no longer galvanise Iran's 90 million people, particularly those in their 30s or younger, who form the bulk of the population.
Others say the widespread use of patriotic tunes in Ashura rituals around the country has created an authentic new expression of Iranian patriotism.
Shahrzad, a university student in Tehran, described the shift as 'engineered nationalism.'
'Authentic nationalism comes from the streets, from protests, from shared pain, not from government podiums,' she said in a voice message.
Even if the war – and the wave of nationalism it has spurred – has helped the government retain control, some question how long it will last.
'When the dust settles and people start to ask questions, they will see that there's still no water, still no gas, still no electricity,' Ansari said. 'Everything depends on the country having an economic renaissance – and it can't do it.' – The New York Times
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Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 28th: On Gaza and religion, the cost of sexual abuse redress, and Galway traffic
Sir, – As a Christian, I was brought up to have a deep respect for the religions of others, including the Jewish religion – which forms a significant part of my cultural inheritance. Seeing the photograph of a hunger-ravaged 1½-year-old boy in Gaza city on the front page of The Irish Times (July 23rd) and the photograph of a crowd of emaciated, starving, terrified, crying children holding up pots and basins and begging for food in Khan Yunis (World News, July 24th) forced me to immediately look up what the Jewish religion has to say about the moral requirement to provide food to those who are hungry; what I found confirmed what I already knew: 'If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. If your enemy is thirsty, give him water to drink' (Proverbs 25:1). 'Give sustenance to the poor of the non-Jews along with the poor of Israel' (Gittin 61a). READ MORE 'While eating and drinking, one must feed the foreigner, the orphan, the widow, and other poor unfortunates' (Mishneh Torah, 6:18). Criticisms of the actions of Israel in Gaza are commonly branded as anti-Semitic by the Israeli authorities and those who support Israel, but is not the enforced starvation of the population of Gaza – including children, babies and pregnant women – not only a heinous crime against our common humanity, but also an action that is utterly forbidden by the Jewish religion. Jewish people and their religious leaders who are sickened by this need to raise their voices in protest. – Yours, etc, CHRIS FITZPATRICK, Terenure, Dublin 6. Sir, – While we are aware that there is a level of censorship within Israel which seems to have justified, perhaps hidden, and manipulated the reality of Gaza, the truth remains that Jewish people, in particular the diaspora in other countries around the world, are not unaware of the starvation, the degradation, and annihilation of the people of Gaza. In consideration of their own horrific past, where are the voices of the decent Jewish people around the world, particularly in America, who must stand up and be counted, to say enough is enough, and not in our name? Your strong voices must be heard. Shout your disgust. You know and witness with your own eyes. To use a famous quote: 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' – Yours, etc, ANGELA CURRIE, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Sir, – While the perpetration of genocide by the Israeli government on Palestinians in Gaza is monstrous, other countries are complicit by their actions, and others by their inactions. It is horrifying that the US supports Israel with arms to bomb and shoot civilians, backs the 'Gaza Humanitarian Foundation', which fails, intentionally or unintentionally, to distribute enough water and food for life, and also seems to have given up on international law, humanitarian norms and the UN. However, it is Germany's actions that shock me the most. Just as post-Famine Ireland understands starvation, post-Holocaust Germany understands genocide, and its policy is supposed to be 'Never Again'. Yet, unbelievably, Germany is a significant arms supplier to Israel, and consistently refuses to back EU sanctions against that rogue state. Wann wird man je verstehen? – Yours, etc, CLAIRE WHEELER, Oaklands Park, Dublin 4. Womb with no view Sir, – The Irish Times has listed the 21 top earners among Irish chief executive officers. All men. (' Irish CEO pay soars as flight by our top plcs to Wall Street delivers the dollars ,' July 25th). Obviously no womb at the top. – Yours, etc, GEMMA McCROHAN, Ballinteer, Dublin 16. Deferring alcohol health warnings Sir, – The Government delaying until 2029 the placing of health warnings on alcoholic drinks is a shameful disgrace proving beyond any shadow of doubt the bias of this Government. In this case it shows a leaning more towards the profiteers than towards the general good of the Irish people. During the delay there will certainly be more new alcohol-related illnesses, tragedies, addictions and deaths. Some of these will be due directly to the labelling delay by the Government. When this happens, the Government must be accountable, and take a degree of responsibility and blame. – Yours, etc, ALBERT KERR, Bray, Co Wicklow. HSE and losing millions of euros Sir, – Martin Wall's report on the tens of millions of euro lost or written off by the HSE raises serious questions about accountability at management and board level ('Tens of millions in HSE money lost say auditors', July 26th). Surely the external auditors when faced with this level of losses would be likely to qualify the HSE's annual accounts? This in turn would have serious consequences for the HSE board, and senior management. Certainly, as a taxpayer it is difficult to understand why my taxes can be squandered without there being serious consequences for the decision makers. It is time for the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to take a stronger line with the HSE board. – Yours, etc, MIKE CORMACK, Blackrock, Co Dublin. Sir, – The article concerning losses incurred by the HSE makes for very uncomfortable and frustrating reading. This is the organisation which consistently exceeds its budget and looks for further expenditure while at the same time presides over a litany of massive and irresponsible waste. This can only be described as incompetence of the highest order. It remains an unfillable money pit. When is the Government and in particular the Minister for Health going to demand and obtain radical change? Those departments which are underfunded should be asking the same questions. – Yours, etc, JOHN BURNETT, Carrigaline, Cork. Addressing cost of redress scheme Sir, – Stephen Collins writes that 'senior civil servants who have raised concerns about the potentially enormous cost to the State of a redress scheme for victims of sexual abuse in schools have performed an important service' (' A redress scheme for school abuse survivors could become a barrister-fattening exercise ,' July 25th). That concern might carry weight – if the Government hadn't spent the past week discussing how it will spend a large budget surplus. Collins overlooks another crucial point: that many institutions have not honoured their indemnity agreements with the Government – efforts to enforce these agreements could generate significant revenue to support redress. During a recent debate with me in Seanad Éireann, Minister for Education Helen McEntee left me in no doubt that enforcing indemnity agreements was an option she favoured. As a long-time advocate for redress for victims of abuse, it's important to point out that redress comes in many forms; it's not all about money. I've seen too many people broken and traumatised by their experiences while in institutions, schools and 'care' settings. Time has passed for many seeking to tell their story and obtain redress – many are now dead. Figures stating a redress scheme 'costing tens of billions of euro' are suspect. Spending a small percentage of our surplus would help reckon with a dark period of our history and the monies would go back into communities nationwide. While we cannot change the past, we can do the right thing in the present . – Yours, etc, SENATOR VICTOR BOYHAN, Leinster House, Dublin 2 . Galway traffic conundrum Sir, – I live in Galway, a city clogged and wheezing almost terminally, due to car traffic. Anthony Moran (Letters, June 24th) describes the city as it is, and will be, unless Murt Coleman's (Letters, July 23rd) ideas are taken on board and implemented. The traffic problem affects the city, county and region on a daily basis from accessing work and hospital appointments to getting to shops, businesses and schools. There are too many resulting negatives to list but one is that attracting people to the area is getting more and more difficult because of traffic and housing. Everybody, including politicians and officials, knows this because traffic affects everybody and everybody complains about it. Mr Moran may be right about the eventual fate of the Galway outer bypass but as to the 'deluded fantasy' of Light Rail – when Stephen Hawking wondered how Albert Einstein came up with such formidable scientific theories, one of the reasons he offered was that Einstein was 'undaunted by common sense'. And 'common sense' isn't cutting it here either; our city needs ambition and imagination and the ability to change for the better. Light Rail is a project that will serve the Galway area and region for the next 100 years or more, but we must begin the project now. – Yours, etc, SEAMUS McMANUS, Tuam Road, Galway. Abortion debate Sir, – Repeal offers safety to women, according to Brian Kennedy (Letters, July 23rd). What about safety for the baby? The safest place for any baby should be its mother's womb. – Yours, etc, MARIAN WHITE, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Some jobs for the boys Sir, – Before any contract is signed or a single cent is spent (on the National Development Plan), may I suggest that Micheál Martin, Simon Harris, Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers take a flight aboard the government jet. Their first stop should be the southern end of Lough Derg, to view the Parteen Weir and Ardnacrusha. Built as part of the Shannon hydro-electric scheme, Ardnacrusha cost £5 million, almost one-fifth of the State's annual budget at the time. It became a symbol of bold, forward-thinking infrastructure. Next, they might fly offshore to view the Fastnet Rock lighthouse. Constructed over 120 years ago from more than 2,000 dovetailed granite blocks, it was completed for £90,000 and remains a triumph of engineering and endurance. On the return leg, they should fly over the Derrybrien wind farm, soon to be dismantled at great cost both financially and to the environment. Before landing they should get an aerial view of the still-unfinished National Children's Hospital. A project years behind schedule, many times over budget and built in a congested location. Perhaps after this aerial tour, they will reflect on the contrast: once, Ireland built transformative national infrastructure with limited resources. Today with abundant resources we seem unable to deliver major projects on time or within budget. Any government can spend money. It only deserves credit however when it ensures projects are delivered on time, on budget, and are built to provide facilities that will be beneficial to all for years to come. – Yours, etc, NOEL SHANAGHY, Co Waterford. Sir, – Apparently, €45 million has been allocated by the National Transport Authority for 6km of cycle lane from Dundrum to Dún Laoghaire, without a cost/benefit analysis. Is this the most expensive cycle lane ever built in Ireland? – Yours, etc, OLGA BARRY, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Not in for the long haul Sir, – In your article on Aer Lingus customer service (July 21st), one traveller noted that, as bad as the airline's customer service is, the warmth and professionalism of check-in desk staff has always encouraged him to choose the airline when travelling with young children. At the time of reading, I entirely agreed and would add that the care shown by cabin crew staff on transatlantic flights, in particular, is why I've been making the same choice for my family for the past seven years and for myself for much longer. But a flight from Dublin to Cleveland last week demonstrated that the airline's strategy to expand services to more US cities is damaging this reputation of a warm Irish welcome. Our recent experience of flying with Aer Lingus included a flight that was overbooked, an hour-long wait at check-in, and a frazzled clerk who initially failed to check in our five-year-old son and then assigned him to a seat on his own. The aircraft flying to certain US destinations – Cleveland, Indianapolis, perhaps others – are just not fit for long-haul travel. For seven hours, we shared cramped rows, a single, narrow aisle, and toilets only at the back of the aircraft with about 170 economy passengers. With this set-up, it took an age for the four cabin crew to navigate the aisle, fire meals, drinks, etc, at passengers, and I don't know where or if they took breaks. Their welcome was noticeably, and understandably, more tepid than usual. Dublin Airport might also want to have a word with its flagship airline. After the chaos of check-in, the rest of our journey through security and US preclearance was mercifully efficient, fast and pleasant. But this was lost on the American tourists seated near us who I overheard saying: 'Aer Lingus is trash. That is one of the most disorganised airports I've ever been in.' Maybe it's time for Aer Lingus to reassess and rein in some of its transatlantic ambitions. – Yours, etc, GRÁINNE McEVOY, South Bend, Indiana. Ireland's housing crisis Sir, – I totally agree with Michael Gilmartin's letter (July 26th) in saying that it is an impossibility to fix the housing crisis with a growing population and migration. Even to build the required housing units means we have to bring more workers here to build them. As he says, the constant obsession with jobs and economic growth cannot continue with finite resources; sooner or later a government is going to have to accept this. Unfortunately, it's hard to foresee a party brave enough to make this stand in an election, especially seeing the drubbing that the usual whipping boys, the Green Party, receive. – Yours, etc, ENDA SCANLON, Ennis, Co Clare.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
Epstein saga has exposed cracks in Maga movement which could fatally undermine Donald Trump
The second Trump administration has featured many scandals: his shameless corruption, his pardoning of the January 6th insurrectionists, his pushing a Bill that strips millions from healthcare to give more money to those who need it the least, his backing for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and Israel's other reckless wars in the Middle East. All these things seem more important than whether his justice department relents and releases its files on the Jeffrey Epstein case. Yet, this is the one scandal from which Trump can't seem to escape, and the one that might prove the most damaging for him politically. No one is more aware of this than Trump himself. It is a sign of his desperation to move on from the Epstein story that on Wednesday – at a bizarre press conference with the president of the Philippines looking on – he ranted about Barack Obama's supposed corruption. READ MORE He claimed that Obama was guilty of 'treason' and that he tried to 'lead a coup' with faked intelligence about Russian interference in the election. It was a transparent effort to change the story. The embattled Trump even admitted as much: 'It's time to go after people.' In the past, he has had a brilliant knack for deflecting negative attention from himself to others. During the 2016 campaign, it seemed like he was finished when the Access Hollywood tapes emerged which captured him bragging about groping women. But before the next presidential debate, he assembled a press conference of several women who claimed to be victims of sexual harassment by Bill Clinton . It worked then; it allowed enough voters to come to the cynical conclusion that all politicians are equally corrupt. The tactic is unlikely to work this time. Attacking Obama is something of a reflex for Trump, who rose to prominence promoting the 'birther' conspiracy theory that Obama was born outside the US. Trump's run for the presidency was, people close to him has said, partly a desire for vengeance against Obama after the then-president mercilessly mocked him at the fateful 2011 White House correspondents' dinner (Obama's quips included: 'No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter–— like, did we fake the Moon landing'). But Obama is arguably the politician that the public would least expect to have anything to do with a sexual predator like Epstein. Bill Clinton was in fact friends with Epstein, but his presidency ended so long ago that attacking him just doesn't have much purchase any more. [ White House claims 'fake news' over reports Donald Trump named in Epstein files Opens in new window ] Donald Trump, Melania Knauss (later, Melania Trump), Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club in 2000. Photograph: Davidoff Studios/ Getty Images This time, Trump hasn't been able to shift the narrative. That is partly because, as Ciarán O'Connor wrote this week , once the flames of conspiracy theories have been fanned, they are difficult to extinguish. But it is also because it goes to the same open secret that was at the centre of the Access Hollywood scandal: Trump's serial pattern of sexual abuse makes the notion that he has something to hide more plausible. To paraphrase congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who would have thought that electing a sexual offender would have complicated the release of the Epstein files? In 2023, a civil court ruled that Trump had sexually abused E Jean Carroll. By one count, at least 18 women have accused Trump of sexual assault or sexual harassment. The controversy over the release of the Epstein files has also resurfaced, leading to renewed attention on Trump's once close relationship with him. Epstein's brother has suggested that Trump was once Jeffrey Epstein's 'best friend'. The Wall Street Journal published a card that it claimed Trump sent Epstein on his 50th birthday with a lewd drawing of a woman and a reference to a 'wonderful secret'. Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over the report, which he vehemently denies. It's possible that there is nothing in the Epstein files that reveals damaging information about Trump. But that is now almost beside the point. The political significance of the Epstein controversy is that it has hurt Trump's standing among his own base, which was already upset about his breaking America First principles by joining Israel's war against Iran. Though Trump has been unpopular with many Americans for most of the last decade, his political strength has been the unshakeable support of his base, which has allowed him to dominate the Republican Party. [ Bill Clinton reportedly sent Jeffrey Epstein note for birthday album Opens in new window ] This time, Trump hasn't been able to shift the narrative. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/ Getty Images As he himself once boasted, 'I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters.' But it is symptomatic of his hubris that he promoted the conspiracy theory about Epstein, someone who was once a close associate. Under pressure from a disaffected Maga base, a significant number of Republican legislators broke with Trump for the first time in this second term. Rather than face a vote on whether to release the Epstein files that he was certain to lose, House Speaker Mike Johnson simply declared that they would break for summer early, even though that meant abandoning parts of the Republican agenda. But significantly, three Republicans on the ten-member House Committee on Oversight joined Democrats to subpoena the justice department for its Epstein files. Republicans Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Brian Jack of Georgia sided with Democrats. Democrats certainly don't consider the Epstein case to be the most significant issue facing the US – but they smell a rare political opportunity to exploit cracks in the Maga movement. They recognise that Trump is in a lose-lose situation. It seems unlikely he will release any information too damaging about himself. Yet, if he refuses to release files or releases them but there's nothing significant in them, many – and not only conspiracy theorists – will wonder if key information is being withheld. It's certainly possible that the Epstein controversy will blow over. Come September, when the US legislature reconvenes, we may all be talking about something else: a national or world crisis, quite possibly one of Trump's own making. And yet the cracks it has revealed in MAGA are potentially disastrous for Trump's power, dampening enthusiasm for Republican candidates at the next election, and undermining his tight control of the Republican Party.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on starvation in Gaza: the world cannot look away
After 21 months of harrowing images from Gaza, photographs this week of emaciated children still have the power to shock. More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have issued urgent warnings of mass starvation and called on governments worldwide to intervene. The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have warned that Gaza is on the brink of running out of specialised therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to fire on Palestinian civilians who are desperately seeking food, killing hundreds. A fresh incursion by the Israel Defense Forces into central Gaza has wrought yet more destruction and death. Any prospect of an end to the violence remains elusive. Early hopes of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks, sparked by an initially positive Israeli response to the latest proposals from Hamas, were extinguished within hours when the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams from Qatar, saying Hamas was not acting in good faith. With reports of rising starvation in Gaza growing ever more urgent, a far-right minister in the Israeli government made a deeply disturbing statement on Thursday. Amichay Eliyahu declared that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in the territory and was actively seeking to expel its population. His chilling comparison that 'there is no nation that feeds its enemies' – adding that 'the British didn't feed the Nazis, nor did the Americans feed the Japanese' – displays a disregard for Palestinian lives as well as being a gross misrepresentation of the nature of the current conflict. READ MORE As an occupying power with total control over Gaza's entry points and overwhelming military dominance over its civilian population, Israel bears clear responsibility for what is happening there. Although Israeli military officials denied that Eliyahu's statements reflected their strategy in Gaza, Binyamin Netanyahu's government declined to rebut them. The contempt for human rights expressed by the minister lends credence to accusations that Israel is engaged in systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a notable development on Friday, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The decision was predictably condemned by the American and Israeli governments. But, coming from a major power, it marks a significant shift. Taoiseach Micheál Martin was correct, however, when he said last month that the inability of EU member states to come to a unified position on the issue was a 'stain' on the union. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza demands immediate action. The silence of some world leaders is dangerously close to complicity. It is no longer sustainable.
