A couple lights a lantern during a celebration, known as “Chaharshanbe Souri”, or Wednesday Feast, marking the eve of the last Wednesday of the solar Persian year, Tuesday, March 19, 2019, in Tehran, Iran. Iran's many woes briefly went up in smoke on Tuesday as Iranians observed a nearly 4,000-year-old Persian tradition known as the Festival of Fire. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

A cleric and a woman pray behind a closed door of Masoume shrine in the city of Qom, some 80 miles (125 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 16, 2020. On Monday, Iran closed the Masoume shrine, a major pilgrimage site in the city of Qom, the epicenter of the country's new coronavirus outbreak. Authorities were already restricting access and barring pilgrims from kissing or touching the shrine, but it had remained open. (Photo by AP Photo)

In this Thursday, May 8, 2014 photo, Iranian coal miners push metal carts to be loaded with coal at a mine near the city of Zirab 212 kilometers (132 miles) northeast of the capital Tehran, on a mountain in Mazandaran province, Iran. International sanctions linked to the decade-long dispute over Iran's nuclear program have hindered the import of heavy machinery and modern technology in all sectors, and coal mining is no exception. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

A man wears jacket in the colors of Iranian flag as he attends the annual rally commemorating Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, February 11, 2023. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

Penny Farthing cyclists ride near Tower Bridge on June 9, 2011 in London, England. The riders have cycled from Paris ahead of the IG Markets London Nocturne cycling event on June 11, 2011. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

In this photo provided by Tasnim News Agency, relatives weep over the body of an earthquake victim, in Sarpol-e-Zahab, western Iran, Monday, November 13, 2017. An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale rocked northern Iraq and Iran, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Sunday evening. Photo by Farzad Menati/Tasnim News Agency via AP Photo)

An Iranian soldier guards two German tourists near the Iranian-Turkish border during World War II. Since the British occupation of Iran, all Axis nationals are being expelled from the country. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1941