Iran commemorates 1979 revolution as nation is squeezed by anger over crackdown and tensions with US

DUBAI – Iran marked the 47th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution on Wednesday as the country’s theocracy remains under pressure, both from U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested sending another aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, and a public angrily denouncing Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

The commemoration represented a split-screen view of life in Iran, with state television showing hundreds of thousands of people across the country attending pro-government rallies, which included the burning of American flags and cries of “Death to America!” The night before, as government-sponsored fireworks lit the dark sky, witnesses heard shouts from homes in the capital, Tehran, of “Death to the dictator!”

Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian got on stage at Azadi Square in Tehran and insisted that Iran is willing to negotiate over its nuclear program as fledgling talks with the U.S. hang in the balance.

Whether the talks succeed remains an open question — and Mideast nations fear their collapse could plunge the region into another regional war. A top Iranian security official met Qatar's foreign minister in Doha on Wednesday, after earlier visiting Oman, which has mediated this latest round of negotiations. Just before the official’s arrival, Qatar’s ruling emir received a phone call from Trump.

In his speech at the anniversary ceremony, Pezeshkian said Iran was “not seeking nuclear weapons" and is "ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

“The high wall of mistrust that the United States and Europe have created through their past statements and actions does not allow these talks to reach a conclusion,” Pezeshkian said. “At the same time, we are engaging with full determination in dialogue aimed at peace and stability in the region alongside our neighboring countries.”

Commemoration overshadowed by crackdown

Iranian state TV broadcast images of people taking to the streets across the country Wednesday to support the theocracy and its 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Others criticized Iran's exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, who had been calling for anti-government protests.

“I am here to say we don’t stop supporting our leader and our country as the Americans and Israelis are increasingly threatening" us, said Reza Jedi, a 43-year-old participant.

Iranian missiles were on display, as were fragments that authorities described as being from downed Israeli drones. Fake coffins draped in the American flag could also be seen, one bearing the picture of U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military's Central Command, which covers the Middle East.

Among Iran's 85 million people, there is a hard-line element of support for Iran's theocracy, including members of the powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which put down the protests last month in a bloody suppression that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained, according to activists.

Many Iranians often take part in pro-theocracy demonstrations as they are government employees or turn up to enjoy the carnival atmosphere of a government-sponsored holiday. Iran has 2.5 million government employees, with a fifth in Tehran alone.

While not directly addressing the bloodshed, Pezeshkian acknowledged the crackdown that began in earnest on Jan. 8 had “caused great sorrow.”

“We are ashamed before the people, and we are obligated to assist all those who were harmed in these incidents," he said. “We are not seeking confrontation with the people.”

One man sadly watched the commemoration from a sidewalk in Tehran, not taking part.

“I regularly participated in the rally in past years," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. "But how can I do that now as the streets' asphalt were bloodied last month?”

A senior Iran official visits Qatar

As the commemoration took place, senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani met in Qatar with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June, after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war. Larijani also met with officials of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, and in Oman with Tehran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen.

Larijani told Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network that Iran did not receive any specific proposal from the U.S. in Oman, but acknowledged that there was an “exchange of messages.”

Qatar has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf. Its state-run Qatar News Agency reported that ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke with Trump about “the current situation in the region and international efforts aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace,” without elaborating.

Speaking to the Russian state channel RT, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran still does “not have full trust for the Americans.”

“Last time we negotiated, last June, we were in the middle of negotiation then they decided to attack us and that was a very, very bad experience for us,” Iran's top diplomat said. “We need to make sure that that scenario is not repeated and this is mostly up to America.”

Despite that concern, Araghchi said it could be possible “to come to a better deal than Obama,” referencing the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers Iran reached when former U.S. President Barack Obama was in office. Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

Trump suggests sending another carrier to the Mideast

The U.S. has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

Already, U.S. forces have shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the region. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going," he said.

It remains unclear what carrier could go. The USS George H.W. Bush has left Norfolk, Virginia, according to U.S. Navy Institute News. The USS Gerald R. Ford remains in the Caribbean after the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

U.S Vice President JD Vance during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan said the focus has been on reaching a deal through negotiations, but not ruling out other options if talks break down.

“He’s going to have a lot of options, because we have the most powerful military in the world,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Baku, Azerbaijan, contributed to this report.