The threat of an Israeli attack is reviving Iranian nationalism

In a teahouse in southern Tehran, the poorer half of Iran’s capital, a female storyteller regales a roomful of shisha-puffing men with tales from Persia’s ancient epic, Shahnameh. “He didn’t want war,” she tells them of its warrior hero, Rostam. “He did everything to avoid it, but they kept provoking, and then they forced him to fight.”

For years the ayatollahs’ critics in Iran called on America and Israel to rescue them from their oppressor, the Islamic Republic’s clerics and guards, only half in jest. Their anger has not subsided. But the looming threat from Israel has turned the mockery to foreboding. For the first time in over three decades, Iranians worry that their country, like Rostam, is being dragged into war.

The regime is trying to quell such fears. There has been no mass call-up or testing of air-raid sirens. But state radio and tv are playing martial music. Nationalist symbols are replacing religious ones. Iranian flags and the slogan “For Iran’s honour” are on the streets.

Many had recently hoped a shift in the regime’s tone might ease tension with the West and perhaps mollify Israel. But Israel’s attacks on Iran’s proxies have cast doubt on that. More Iranians seem convinced that war is inevitable. “Just a few months ago, we were worried about the economic crisis,” says a female university graduate in Khorasan, an eastern province. “Now we’re asking whether we’ll even survive tomorrow.”

Some are looking for salvation from outside the country. Satellite channels led by Iran International in London hail news of Israel’s victories and mock Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Netanyahu is the one who can save Iranians from the regime,” says the same university graduate.

But they are probably a minority. Many take pride in the regime’s riposte to Israel. And Iranian nationalism may revive in the face of foreign intervention. “There was an arrogance I didn’t like,” says a university lecturer and erstwhile critic of the regime, referring to Binyamin Netanyahu’s address to Iran. “I think he must learn a lesson so he won’t speak like that ever again.” Faced with the prospect of humiliation by the Jewish state, an Islamist tinge colours the nationalism of poor Iranians. Days after Iran’s attack on Israel, a vast crowd heard Mr Khamenei deliver his first public Friday sermon in four years.

The shisha-smokers take comfort from the reluctant Rostam’s victory over his enemies. Iran’s leaders must not only defend their regime from foreign attack but must also hold their fort from within.■

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