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Iranian authorities have set up weapons training booths across Tehran, where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) soldiers teach civilians the basics of assault-rifle handling as fears of a renewed U.S.-Israeli military offensive persist during a fragile ceasefire.
At the Haft-e Tir Square in central Tehran, an IRGC soldier spent nearly half an hour demonstrating different types of ammunition and showing participants how to assemble and disassemble a Kalashnikov using illustrated boards, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Military training booths have been established at multiple locations across the city in recent days.
An IRGC soldier, Nasser Sadeghi, stationed at the Haft-e Tir booth, said the public response had been extraordinary and entirely voluntary.
"The response from people, from women and men, has been extraordinary. It is entirely voluntary," Sadeghi told AFP.
He said the sessions, which began more than two weeks ago, were preparing civilians from all walks of life for renewed fighting.
"The aim ... is to promote the culture of martyrdom and avenging the blood of the leader," Sadeghi said, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes that began the war on Feb. 28.
Sadeghi added that additional weapons beyond assault rifles could be introduced in the coming days depending on decisions by higher authorities.
Fardin Abbasi, a 40-year-old government employee, said after attending a Kalashnikov session: "Allah willing, we will be able to use it against enemy aggression if one day they have bad intentions towards this land," AFP reported.
Fatemeh Hossein-Kalantar, a 47-year-old housewife, told AFP she attended out of a desire to avenge Khamenei. "We bring our children and teenagers alongside us so they can see the military training, and whenever our leader, dearer than our lives, gives the command, we will all come to the field," she said.
She added the fighting should continue "until we take our rightful revenge for the blood of our dear leader."
Mahnaz, a 39-year-old mother of three, told AFP the training had become a necessity.
"In my opinion, in these circumstances that America has created for us, where they do not spare women, children, young or old, it is our duty to at least learn how to shoot and work with weapons. So that, if necessary, we can easily use them," she said.
Ali Mofidi, a 47-year-old Tehran resident present at a weapons training session on Tuesday night, told AFP: "It is necessary for all our people to get trained because we are in a war situation these days. If necessary, everyone should be available and know how to use a gun."
Near the training booths, stations offered tea, psychological counselling and medical support, while loudspeakers broadcast speeches, chants and eulogies for slain military commanders.
Videos circulating online have shown rows of women in black chadors assembling and dismantling rifles at similar sessions.
Iranian state television invited a Guards member on air to teach a television host to aim and fire an assault rifle; in a widely circulated video, the host fires the weapon inside the studio.
For months, Iranian state television and official campaigns have encouraged citizens to join the "Janfada" movement, described as volunteers prepared to sacrifice their lives in defense of the country.
Authorities have claimed more than 30 million people registered through online platforms or public events; independent verification of the figure has not been possible.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on April 20 that registration was opened to Iranians living abroad through the janfada.net platform and Iranian cultural representation offices overseas.
Tehran has been spared strikes since the April 8 ceasefire, which paused nearly 40 days of war between Iran and the United States and Israel.
Iran and the U.S. held a single round of direct talks during the ceasefire, which failed to produce a peace deal, with the two sides exchanging proposals without a breakthrough.
Trump recently said he had planned a major new assault on Iran but held off at the request of Gulf allies pushing for continued negotiations.
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