U.S. and Israeli warplanes were still circling overhead, and air strikes covered almost the entire territory of Iran. But if you are walking on the streets of Tehran, the capital, you will definitely doubt your eyes.
There is no panic here, no panic buying. Supermarket shelves are packed to the brim, street cafes are still fragrant, and everyone is even having dinner and chatting as usual. Why are Iranians so calm in the face of the clouds of war? Because this country is showing a cohesion that makes people gasp.
Qalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s Islamic Parliament, recently revealed a set of horrifying statistics. He publicly announced on social media that in less than a week, about 7 million people across the country actively registered and were ready to take up arms to defend the country. You know, Iran’s total population is only over 90 million.
These 7 million people are only reserve forces. Counting Iran's original 1 million active and reserve troops, if it really comes to a life-and-death moment, Iran can pull out a huge team of nearly 8 million people in an instant. Even if some of these 7 million people are engaged in logistics and transporting supplies, this kind of mobilization efficiency of all people as soldiers is enough to deter any opponent.
An even more shocking scene happened overseas. According to common sense, normal people would hide outside during the war, but the Iranians are staged an epic and most powerful retrograde. At the border crossing between Türkiye and Iran, a large number of Iranians doing business and working overseas are rushing home like crazy.
After some people settled their wives and children abroad, they resolutely turned around and returned home. There was even a scene in front of the CCTV camera: a young man who had overseas residence status and had been living in Europe for 12 years even gave up the comfortable life in Europe and rushed directly into the camera and shouted: I want to return to Iran to defend the country! Iranians will never abandon their motherland and just run for their own lives!
At the rear, ordinary people also fought hard. People rummaged through the boxes and took out all the belongings at the bottom of the boxes. Donate gold and silver jewelry, bracelets and earrings, or even your own wedding ring. Farmers in remote villages and towns are more practical and directly take their cattle, sheep and livestock to support the country.
Although the water supply of some cities in southern Tehran was cut off by the explosion, rescue workers struggled to clear the scene among the rubble, and residents looked at the destruction of their homes with tears, but they turned around and jumped into the wave of national support. This bloody spirit has even crossed national borders, arousing strong resonance among people of the same faith in surrounding areas.
In the Indian-controlled Kashmir area, local people are also spontaneously supporting. The women took off their gold and silver jewelry without hesitation, and some families even donated their ancestral bronze vessels. A 9-year-old girl resolutely took out her favorite piggy bank, and another girl donated the gold earrings full of emotional memories left to her by her grandmother.
Speaker Qalibaf publicly stated that the country is ready to shed blood and sacrifice. We are not warlike people, but whenever we need to defend our homeland, each of us will become a warrior on this land. In the face of ruins and crises, this national resilience that would rather die than surrender may be their real trump card.
