Arbaeen: Government Staging with Religious Minority Hostage-Taking

The Islamic Republic government, by exploiting religious minorities, has turned Arbaeen into a scene of manufactured solidarity.

The Islamic Republic has for years transformed the Arbaeen procession into a propaganda tool, using it to display ideological power and expand Shiite influence in the region. This propaganda project proceeds at enormous expense from the pockets of the Iranian people, while the country grapples with economic crises, widespread poverty, and livelihood disorder.

But the darker aspect of the matter is the scenario of instrumental use of religious minorities. The ruling system, through direct and indirect pressure on non-Shiite religious leaders, compels them to participate in this spectacle in order to transmit a false image of “religious freedom” and “national solidarity” to the world. The establishment of “Armenian and Assyrian Christian Mokabs” at the Tamarchen border is a clear example of this propaganda engineering—an act that appears on the surface to signify religious coexistence, but is in fact part of a legitimacy project for a system that is itself the main perpetrator of suppression and discrimination against these very minorities.

Dariavosh Azizian, priest of the Assyrian Church of the East in Urmia, regarding the establishment of a Christian mokab during the Arbaeen ceremonies, stated: “It is the command of Christ that we love our neighbors; it does not matter if they are Christian or not, only if their shadow resembles ours; their color and race are not important. For years we have lived alongside each other, especially in villages. Urmia has residents from Sunni brothers and sisters who set up mokabs on the way to pilgrimage near the Tamarchen border. I remember that my father, in the village, during the days of mourning for Hussein, peace be upon him, would attend mourning gatherings with safe passage and help. For those who take steps in this path, we pray that they may undertake their pilgrimage in comfort.”

These apparently peace-seeking displays stand in complete contradiction with the reality of religious minorities’ lives in Iran; minorities that face severe restrictions, suppression of religious practices, security threats, and systematic discrimination. In such circumstances, speaking of “neighborly love” or “philanthropy” is nothing but adorning a repressive face with the cosmetics of religious diplomacy.

For the Islamic Republic, Arbaeen is not only a reminder of a religious tradition, but a propaganda platform from which it exploits even the suffering and faith of minorities to strengthen its propaganda machine. This is neither solidarity, nor respect, but a manufactured spectacle of religious hostage-taking.