In rare move, Iran cancels some annual military parades citing security
Iran announced rare changes to its annual military parades, calling off at least two events over what it called security concerns and the need to prioritize military readiness.
Iran announced rare changes to its annual military parades, calling off at least two events over what it called security concerns and the need to prioritize military readiness.
The parades, traditionally held during Defense Week beginning on September 22, come this year in the aftermath of 12-day war with Israel in June that dealt the Islamic Republic one of its biggest ever military blows.
“Special programs this year will differ from previous years,” news outlet Tabnak cited Major General Soleiman Kamyabi, Deputy Chief of Human Resources for the General Staff of the Armed Forces, as saying.
Kamyabi said that honoring the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, the eight-year Iran-Iraq War and “the 12-day imposed war” remains central to the commemorations.
Kurdistan province was the first to announce the cancellation of its parade. “No military parade will be held in Kurdistan this year,” Tasnim News quoted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Brigadier General Jamshid Rezaei as saying.
Instead, the IRGC will hold ceremonies to honor veterans, whom Rezaei credited for providing Iran’s “current security and stability.”
In Hamedan province in Western Iran, the IRGC made the same announcement, citing “emerging threats” and a desire to avoid large gatherings.
“Due to emerging threats, we will refrain from large gatherings and focus on defense readiness,” Khabar Online quoted Hossein Zare Kamali, the IRGC commander in Hamedan, as saying.
The cancellations highlight Iran’s military jitters amid heightened regional tensions, as Israeli military and civilian leaders have repeatedly said their armed quarrel with Iran may not be over.
During the June conflict, Israeli strikes killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israelis.
Seventy-one members of parliament signed a letter to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, demanding a “review of the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine,” according to the daily Hamshahri Online.
In their letter, the lawmakers wrote, “We respectfully request that, since the decisions of that council acquire validity with the endorsement of the Leader of the Revolution, this matter be raised without delay and the expert findings communicated to the parliament.”
The lawmakers argued that while the use of nuclear weapons would contradict a 2010 religious edict by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei prohibiting them, developing and maintaining such weapons “as a deterrent is another matter,” the outlet said.
“In Shia jurisprudence, a change in circumstances and conditions can alter the ruling. Moreover, safeguarding Islam -- which today is bound to the preservation of the Islamic Republic -- is among the paramount obligations. On this basis, the original prohibition can, as a secondary ruling, be transformed into a permissibility.”
The initiative was led by Hassan-Ali Akhlaghi Amiri, a lawmaker from the holy city of Mashhad, Hamshahri reported.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and cites Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear weapons as proof of its intentions. The United States and its European allies accuse Tehran of seeking the capability to produce nuclear arms, a charge Iran denies.
The calls from lawmakers come as Iran faces the prospect of renewed United Nations sanctions under a “snapback” mechanism set to take effect on September 28, after European powers accused Tehran of failing to honor the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran is not known to have made any decision to pursue nuclear weapons, and the government has not commented on the lawmakers’ letter.
“Turning education into a commodity has deprived many working-class children of their right to study,” labor activist Maziar Gilaninejad told labor news outlet ILNA.
He cited official figures and media reports showing steep increases in school-related expenses, including a 30% rise in stationery prices, costs of about 3.5 million rials (about $35) for basic supplies for one elementary student, and reports of 750,000 children leaving school due to poverty.
He added that the result is “a direct link” between rising dropouts and the growth in child labor, with many minors pushed into hazardous workshops to support their families.
“The reality is families need their children’s wages as much as they cannot afford school fees,” he said.
Parents have echoed the concerns. Earlier this month, Iran International reported that families are often asked to pay “voluntary” enrollment fees or provide unpaid labor, such as cleaning classrooms, to secure places for their children. In some cases, schools have withheld report cards until payments were made.
University tuition has also surged, with students reporting fees doubling at some institutions in recent semesters.
“Education is becoming an exclusive path for the wealthy,” Gilaninejad said, citing data that the top 3,000 scorers in this year’s university entrance exam came almost entirely from affluent families.
Article 30 of Iran’s constitution guarantees free education, but Iran spends just 2.93% of GDP on education, well below the global average of 4.4%, according to the Global Economy data service.
Gilaninejad said neglecting this obligation risks producing “a generation systematically sidelined from opportunity” and perpetuating cycles of poverty.
Major General Mousavi, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, said in a message marking Defense Week that Tehran’s military and defensive capabilities blunted enemy plans during the recent 12-day conflict and that Iran would not remain passive in the face of new threats.
Sacred Defense Week, which begins on September 22, is Iran’s annual commemoration of the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq war, marked by military parades and other war-themed events.
State news outlets quoted Mousavi as saying that “the armed forces,relying on strategic surprises, were ready to deliver a timely, decisive and beyond imagination response to any acts of aggression.”
Mousavi urged quicker development of advanced defense technologies and stronger deterrence, and called for preparations to counter so-called hybrid threats, especially cognitive and information warfare, which he said should be a priority for planners.
The comments came after a meeting between senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regular army, where unity and coordinated action were stressed.
Army Commander Amir Hatami, quoted by state media, said any smallest aggression would be met by a unified, rapid and forceful response from both services and said that national interests would not be negotiated away.
“This unity is the iron shield that protects our country against plots and conspiracies. We proved again in the 12-day war that we will not bargain over our national interests.”
“From the very beginning of the Islamic revolution in 1979, the enemies have demanded that the Iranian nation give up its rightful goals, but our people, with sacrifices and martyrs, have resisted and will continue to resist,” he said.
IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour underscored the need for “jihad-style” mobilization of public capacities across education, media and civil institutions to shape public narratives and resilience against external influence, remarks that reflect Tehran’s focus on combining military and non-military tools in its defense posture.
“The events of this imposed war were exactly reminiscent of September 1980 and the national unity forged at the start of the Sacred Defense,” he said
He added that “in the early hours, several of our senior commanders were martyred, but with the Supreme Leader’s wise leadership, successors were appointed and the battle was managed until the enemy was forced to request a ceasefire.”