Iran International
A series of rare viral videos by Iranian police officers describing severe financial hardship has triggered widespread reaction, with retractions by officers involved fueling allegations of pressure.
The first video, circulated widely on social media, featured a police officer in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad. The officer, identified as Staff Sergeant Mohammad-Amin Ardeshir-Moghaddam, serves in the provincial capital Yasuj, one of Iran’s poorest regions.
In the video, Ardeshir-Moghaddam complained about low wages across the armed forces, particularly within the Law Enforcement Command. He said many police personnel are forced to work second jobs—including driving for ride-hailing apps—to cover basic living expenses. Referring to his own situation, he said he was under such financial pressure that he was considering selling a kidney.
Less than 48 hours later, the officer released a second video, walking back his remarks, saying the video was merely “a heart-to-heart talk with General Radan,” the national police chief.
He added that he had never imagined his words would become “a pretext for misuse by certain individuals and groups” seeking to drive a wedge between the police, the public and what he described as “the loyal base of the system.”
A second officer, a sharper warning
Days later, a similar video emerged—this time from Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. In the clip, Third Lieutenant Mostafa Loghmani, a police officer, said he had just received his monthly salary of 23 million tomans (roughly $171).
With three school-aged children, rental housing and heavy commuting costs, he said he too saw no option but to consider selling a kidney.
Loghmani went further than his colleague, openly sharing his bank card number and contact details and inviting viewers to contact him to purchase the organ.
Referring to his colleague’s second video and what he suggested was an apology made under pressure or threat, Loghmani said he would not back down. “I have nothing to lose, and I will not take back what I said."
Saying many colleagues face similar hardships but remain silent out of fear of repercussions, Loghmani directly addressed Iran’s supreme leader and senior officials, warning that neglecting the living conditions of police forces would eventually exhaust their patience.
The following day, he released another video saying that at the time of recording the first clip, he had been taking certain medications and was not in a stable mental condition, adding that he did not want his remarks to be misused online.
In a separate video circulating on social media, a police officer with an altered voice whose face is not shown alleges that retraction videos are recorded under pressure and threats to families, warning: “We are fire under the ashes.”
The pattern in these cases sends a message to the public, the moderate news website Rouydad24 wrote. "Even if officially considered coincidental, they signal that a problem exists that finds no outlet except sudden eruption on social media.”
Broader discontent within the ranks
In another circulating clip, an unidentified police colonel said that after 25 years of service, making ends meet had become impossible, and he was forced to retire early and seek other work.
Such videos are virtually unprecedented in Iran. Online, users have described the videos as signs of “attrition,” “force erosion,” and a “silent crisis” within Iran’s security institutions.
Social media users have noted that economic hardship appears to affect police personnel more acutely than members of the regular army or the Revolutionary Guards, many of whom benefit from subsidized organizational housing and other privileges.
The Telegram channel Radio Dej has published alleged pay slips and messages from police and military personnel showing extremely low incomes.
One message, attributed to an air defense officer with 17 years of service, alleges he earns 16 million tomans ($119) a month and criticized what he called “corrupt commanders beating the drums of war.”
In another message, a military spouse told Radio Dej her husband earns 18 million tomans ($134) a month after 24 years of service and that the family could no longer cope.
The Telegram channel also wrote: “Attrition within the armed forces has become so widespread that it has reached even loyalists and personnel committed to the system, showing just how deeply military members are entangled in livelihood and organizational problems.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.