They took good revenge: Iranians respond to Iraq strikes

The giant, billowing Iranian flag that filled the screen gave way to footage of missiles launching into the sky and cries of “God is great”.

“I want to bring your attention to this footage we’ve just received,” said the news anchor. “Revolutionary Guard missiles fired in revenge for Qassem Suleimani’s death by American terrorists.”

Iranians learned of their country’s strike on bases hosting US soldiers in Iraq on Wednesday morning in a pageant of patriotic fervour broadcast across television and radio.

Revolutionary songs, and clips of the life of Suleimani, late head of al-Quds, a wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, played in between bulletins solemnly reporting Iran’s bombardment of the Iraqi bases hosting American troops in Anbar province and in Kurdistan.

Less than two months ago the Islamic Republic witnessed the largest protests in its history. On Wednesday it sought to surf a wave of deep public grief and rage at the assassination of Suleimani, one of the country’s most popular political figures.

“They took good revenge,” said a man, one of dozens of people whose reactions to the attacks were broadcast on state-run television outlets. “We are proud of our Sepah [Revolutionary Guards]. I will stand with my government until the last drop of blood.”

During morning news programmes, commentators and reporters cited military sources telling them that, contrary to American claims that none of their forces had been hit, a dozen, then 80, then more than 100 US soldiers, had been killed or injured, their bodies ferried away by helicopters before the sun rose.

People were shown waving flags, chanting against America and Israel, and handing out sweets. “I’m thankful,” said a woman, explaining why she was crying. “These are tears of pride.”

Opinions shared outside the gaze of the largely state-controlled media were more nuanced. “I expected a harsher revenge,” said a taxi driver in Tehran as a news bulletin blared from the radio. “Americans don’t know how strong we are. I’m shaking, hearing the news – I wish I could have been one of those soldiers who pushed the buttons for the strikes.”

He dismissed American claims that none of their soldiers had been harmed in the strikes. “Of course they wouldn’t announce it,” he said.

One of his passengers was more circumspect. “This will bring a war and loss of life. Look at what happened during the Iraq war,” he said. The driver interrupted him. “You’re not grateful for Suleimani,” he said. “He lost his life for you and us.” The conversation died down.

Suleimani, 62, was rare among government officials for the reverence with which he was held by many of Iran’s citizens. He wisely courted officials from across the country’s contested political system, resisting alignment with any one side.

Rouzbeh Parsi, a senior lecturer in Iranian history, based at Sweden’s Lund University, said that Suleimani, because of his role overseeing the Quds force, the Guards’ elite external operations unit, was able to portray himself as a soldier devoted to a higher cause, above the fray of career politicians. “He was not a regime or religious icon, he was a nationalist icon,” he said.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressed the strikes only briefly at an event in the holy city of Qom on Wednesday afternoon. “We just gave [the US] a slap in the face last night,” he said. He spent much more time trying to tie Suleimani’s legacy to an Islamic revolution that many Iranian citizens now view with cynicism or contempt. “His martyrdom showed that the revolution is alive,” Khamenei said.

Activists against the regime did not deny it had received a boost from Suleimani’s death, but said such support would fade if tensions with the US relented. “Yes, his killing is in the interests of the regime,” said one man who had demonstrated in November. But the factors that drove Iranians into the streets then – high inflation and unemployment – had not been extinguished by Suleimani’s martyrdom, he added. “The boost will be short-lived and the protests will reappear in some form.”

What may be longer lasting is a renewed sense of anti-Americanism among ordinary people, said Sian Toosi, a senior analyst at the National Iranian American Council. “For years anti-Americanism has been a top-down phenomenon, but the Iranian people wanted to move past this. Trump has destroyed a lot of that sentiment, and the assassination of Suleimani will cement it as a bottom-up phenomenon again. This is going to be seen as something as great, if not greater, than the [CIA-sponsored] 1953 coup.”