Iran weighs holding its anti-Israel ‘Quds Day’ amid pandemic

Iran’s leaders have closed mosques and taken other measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus after thousands of their countrymen died and almost 100,000 were infected. However, the leaderships is now facing questions about how it will handle its annual anti-Israel bashing event called Quds Day. The day is supposed to be held the last Friday of Ramadan.

Last year’s Quds Day, which is centered on the “liberation” of Jerusalem from the “Zionists” featured posters and propaganda promising a death to Israel. Iran has adopted the Palestinian cause for decades, using it as part of its overall anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda machine. Iran claims to be part of the “resistance” against Israel. Last year the regime promised that the Trump administration’s “deal of the century” would fail. Usually there are mass rallies on Quds Day in Tehran and people gather. However, the pandemic has meant there is less desire to have gatherings amid social distancing guidelines.

According to Fars News in Iran the head of the “Coordinating Council for Islamic Propaganda” held a meeting to discuss the progress of Quds Day this year. It was attended by officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Interior Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Health. The meeting included discussions of how the anti-Israel event is an “unstoppable occasion” and that it is a relic of the Islamic Revolution. But its manner of display this year, including gatherings will be contingent on the coronavirus spread.

The Iranian regime members said that celebrating Quds Day is a “religious and human duty of freedom fighters around the world.” The deputy head of the Coordinating Council for Islamic Propaganda, according to the report, said that various plans have been proposed on how to hold the ceremonies this year. There is no definite decision yet. It will be announced soon. For the regime in Tehran the pandemic has harmed their ability to get their hard core far-right activists out on the streets to shout the usual “death to America” slogans that fuels the regime’s feedback loop of using ant-Israel and anti-America propaganda to cover over its own failings at home.

Nevertheless, Iran has not stopped its propaganda entirely. It circulated a list of signatures supposedly pushed by popular support for increasing the ranges of its missiles over the weekend. The regime wants to believe that average people are rushing to sign on to a form that urges the regime to build longer range missiles. At the same time the foreign minister Javad Zarif trotted out new claims that the US is selling arms all over the world, an apparent attempt to argue that Iran has the right to do the same. Iran currently exports arms to Yemen, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and other clandestine actors. Recently Iran has suffered setbacks as Hezbollah was banned in Lebanon.