Name: Iranians defy their regime to celebrate Iranian New Year in Tehran | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-03-19T23:07:12.000Z
Duration: 8 min 11 s
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In Iran itself, tensions remain high as the regime, under immense pressure from the outside, is doing all it can to keep a lid on popular unrest.

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Last night, authorities warned people to stay indoors on what is traditionally an occasion for street celebrations ahead of the Persian New Year.

Video posted on X showed people defying those orders, like here in Tehran.

But as security force vehicles arrived at the scene, people can be seen quickly dispersing as the sound of gunfire rings out.

Opposition groups say there were similar gatherings in cities across the country.

And DW's Iran analyst, there is a trophy is in the studio with me.

Teresa, we just saw there Iranians out in the street defying government orders to sit out the festivities.

Well, to me, that's a clear sign that Iranians, or at least some of them, are not that afraid that they have not given up hope and that they are still holding on to their culture, their traditions, and

they're not willing to let the Islamic Republic take all of that away from them, despite the massive threats being issued by the government, by the security forces, and

despite the regime essentially banning the festivities ahead.

I mean, Jahash al, Missouri has long been viewed with suspicion by the Islamic Republic because it's ancient, it's pre Islamic.

And also the symbolism is very interesting.

It's people jumping over fires to leave the bad stuff behind and to feel more energy going into the future.

All of that, of course, is not really something the Islamic Republic wants at the moment.

And that's exactly what people did on the videos we saw.

And they also shouted Javi Shah, which means long live the Shah, potentially referencing the son of Iran's last shah, who's living in US exile and who's fueling the protests against the Islamic Republic.

Yeah, the US Israeli approach of trying to debilitate the regime to a point where then there can be, in their opinion, a popular uprising that can overthrow the regime that has been slammed pretty widely as unrealistic.

But, you know, from what you are hearing, is there a sense that there is in some way shape or form a window of opportunity opening here ever so slightly, maybe?

I mean, at the moment, that's really hard to tell because essentially the regime has shut off the Internet for almost three weeks now.

So it's really hard to get through to any contacts.

And the blackout has become even more intense in the last couple of days, because until then you could at least call or be called from inside Iran, and

But what I heard while I still was able to talk to people was that this year, unlike last year, during the so called 12 days war, many people have not left Iran because they were hoping that at some point they would be able to take to the streets, the streets again, and

kind of finish what Israel and the US Are starting.

And certainly the fact that the US And Israel have increased their attacks on the besieged forces, the security apparatus of the Islamic Republic, and

the fact that they now killed like more senior officials like Security Adviser Larry Janney or the basic chief, Khalemani.

So that's certainly kind of fueling the hope that the moment might arrive at some point in time.

But at the same time, people are most likely also very frustrated with the fact how resilient the Islamic Republic has proven so far despite all these killings.

I mean, they have several layers of succession.

And even with the Supreme Leader being killed, they're still very much in power at the moment.

So the moment is certainly not there yet.

Let's talk about the new Supreme Leader because we're yet to see him out in public.

And so far, I'm afraid there are no real answers out there, just only a lot of rumors.

I mean, what we know, fairly certain, that's also what the Americans believe, is that Montjitab Al Khamenei was likely injured in the strike that killed his father on the first day of the war.

It also killed a lot of members of his family.

But we don't know how serious these injuries were or are.

But the fact that he hasn't made any appearances, certainly raising a lot of questions and people believing that they must be severe.

Some comments made by the president of Iran and also the foreign minister also kind of indicate that even they are not in contact with him, haven't been in contact with him because some of his positions are still unclear.

So apparently they don't really know where his positions are at the moment.

People are speculating that he might have been flown out of Iran for treatment in Russia, for example, which is an ally of Iran.

But I personally can't really imagine that's the case because so many people would have had to keep silent about that.

So I believe he's still somewhere in Iran if he's alive.

And if he is, at some point he will have to show up to kind of Stop all those rumors.

And there are a lot of dates ahead where he should show up, where he would show up normally.

The Persian New Year Festival is coming up, and then Islamic Republic Day.

All of these are occasions where the Supreme Leader would normally make an appearance.

And if he doesn't, speculation is going to go crazy.

And in that position, they have really increased their crackdown on dissent.

What can you tell us about the operations that are taking place right now against regime opposition?

I mean, cracking down on its opponents within the country has always been like the biggest concern of the Islamic Republic and always what they've done best.

And since the start of the war, the Islamic Republic has even tightened its repression inside the country.

We saw on state television the Iranian police chief basically threatening people who want to go out and protest, saying, like, if people take to the streets to protest, we will do to them what we have done to the enemy.

And Iranians know well to take them by their word because at the beginning of January, they just cracked down on an anti regime protest movement and killed thousands and thousands of people and also arrested lots of people who are still, still inside these jails.

And people inside the Islamic Republic's jails are always the easiest targets.

That's why many human rights activists are now really, really worried about these people who are there without any fair process.

And we just learned today that the Islamic Republic has executed a Swedish citizen who was in jail because he was convicted of spying for Israel.

I mean, human rights activists of course, say that's a sham trial, but

But as there are so many more in jail that could see the same fate.

In the past, you were able to keep in touch with your contacts on the ground whenever there was a crisis.

It's much harder this time around, isn't it?

It is like connectivity is nearly down to zero at the moment.

Basically since the start of the war, when they shut the Internet, which is what they always do if they feel threatened.

In Iran, there are so called white SIM cards, people that have some connection to the government or to the military, who have access no matter what.

And even the people I know with these kind of SIM cards are now disconnected.

So the blackout is really like almost complete.

The only people you still see voicing their opinion are the foreign minister, for example, or some mouthpieces of the regime.

So it's really hard now to get any information out of Iran.