A supporter of the Houthis has a poster attached to his waist of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, during a rally to denounce the U.S. killing, in Saada, Yemen January 6, 2020. The writing on the poster reads: “God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”. (Photo by Naif Rahma/Reuters)

An Iranian girl wearing a costume inspired in the fictional folklore character Hajji Firuz, dances in Tehran on March 17, 2021 as Iranians prepare to celebrate Noruz, the Iranian New Year. Noruz, “new day” in Persian, is the New Year festivity celebrated in Iran as well as in Afghanistan and Kurdish regions in several countries. It begins with the spring equinox and symbolises rebirth. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

Iranian women sit in a bus in the capital Tehran on June 25, 2019. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said today that new US sanctions against senior Iranian officials including top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif showed Washington is “lying” about an offer to negotiate. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

A woman walks depicting a scene from the Iranian national epic poem “Shahnameh” in Tehran on August 5, 2025. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

An Iranian athlete warms up prior to the start of the women's karate competition, made-up of clubs and teams from around the Tehran province, in Tehran on November 6, 2025. Some 230 participants, including 5-year-old girls, took part in the competition, with team's deriving only from the Tehran province taking part. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP 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 woman spends her time outdoors to observe the ancient festival of Sizdeh Bedar, an annual public picnic day on the 13th day of the Iranian new year, at the Tochal mountainous area northern Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April, 2, 2017. Sizdeh Bedar, which comes from the Farsi words for “thirteen” and “day out”, is a legacy from Iran's pre-Islamic past that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic never managed to erase from calendars. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

An Iranian man sells colorful ropes at the Tehrans old Bazaar, the place where the main economy trades take place, in Tehran, Iran, 25 January 2016. Reports state that Iranian officials expected the Iranian economy to grow on an average of eight percent over the coming five years following the lifting of sanctions against Iran. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA)