Coverage of the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States has largely focused on battlefield developments, political statements and international diplomacy.
However, another story has been unfolding on the streets of Iran.
Despite fears of further military escalation dominating daily life, residents continue to take up space, both in person and online. Night after night, they gather in public spaces, posting the evidence on social media.
In this process, many have turned to culture and the arts to show solidarity, and to encourage coming together during this uncertain time.
Battling crisis through community
It’s common for civilians living through conflict to seek community.
Ukrainian protesters met in public spaces following Russia’s 2014 invasion. New Yorkers assembled after September 11. And in the second world war, masses of Londoners gathered underground during the Blitz bombing campaign by Nazi Germany.
In moments of crisis, public visibility becomes a way to reclaim agency when all else feels precarious. In Iran, this response is taking shape across three interconnected layers: physical presence, cultural presence and digital presence.
Physical presence
The Iranian public has maintained a noticeable presence in streets, parks and public squares. What began as gatherings shaped by shock, mourning and uncertainty gradually evolved into a kind of ritual.
The significance of these gatherings goes beyond displays of courage. During wartime conflicts, empty streets can become symbols of fear, instability and social disruption.
Public presence, by contrast, communicates continuity. By remaining visible, citizens symbolically assert they have not completely surrendered to the logic of war.
For many, this isn’t necessarily about supporting a certain political system or leader. It’s about protecting the places, communities and relationships that define their lives.
Years of work, family histories and collective memory are threatened by this conflict. Remaining present is a way to defend these attachments.
In April, after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran’s critical infrastructure, musician Ali Ghamsari protested by traveling to the Damavand power plant and playing his music in front of the facility. Ghamsari’s image quickly became part of a broader conversation around civic responsibility.
We also saw the strength of mass physical presence demonstrated earlier in July, during the funeral ceremonies for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran in a major public display of collective mourning.
Cultural and artistic presence
Artists, musicians and cultural figures have played a key role in Iran’s collective response to the war.
Their participation helps instill a sense of belonging, while encouraging people to remain engaged with public life.
In this sense, art and culture function not only as entertainment, but as a form of social infrastructure connecting individuals with communities.
Music, poetry, religious chanting and visual art have all become ways to collectively process fear, grief and uncertainty – and explore broader questions of resilience and identity.
One example is the song Hasbi Allah by Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Chavoshi, with lyrics by Mehdi Abassi.
This song draws on a long tradition of Iranian poetry, music and spirituality. It reflects on the human cost of war, mourning those who have suffered, while expressing attachment to the homeland.
Similarly, religious chants (maddahi) have become an important part of wartime gatherings.
Traditionally associated with mourning and collective remembrance in Shia Islam, these chants in a conflict context often combine religious symbolism with expressions of love for one’s country, and a willingness to sacrifice for it.
Some chants also draw on Iran’s broader cultural and historical imagination. Another video, for example, references figures such as Arash the Archer, or Arash-e Kamangir. This hero from Persian mythology is said to have sacrificed his life by shooting an arrow that defined the borders of Iran.
These performances create a bridge between religious devotion, historical memory, and national identity.
Digital presence
One of the most distinctive features of this conflict has been the emergence of AI-generated videos, memes and parody as vehicles for wartime storytelling.
Unlike the highly ideological, martyrdom-centred narratives in earlier eras of Iranian propaganda, much of this content adopts the language of contemporary internet culture.
One example is a series of AI-generated Lego animations that have gone viral, with some accumulating hundreds of millions of views. These videos recreate military events, while incorporating references to Iranian history and mythology and humour – often parodying Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Many are overlaid with English music and lyrics, which suggests they were designed to travel beyond Iranian audiences. Yet the creators behind them are largely anonymous.
We’ve also seen younger residents use irony, memes and pop culture references to communicate their feelings about the war.
For instance, one video combines patriotic themes with playful visuals and self-aware humor. The rap repeats the line, “from us remain spirits that live on because they love the homeland.”
These examples reveal a significant shift in the language of wartime communication. Iranian citizens are no longer just audiences receiving official messaging. They are active participants in building narratives about the war.
Some of the most compelling stories of the conflict have emerged not from the battlefield, but from the people who refuse to watch along helplessly.
Hamideh Khaleghi Mohammadi is a lecturer in media and communications, University of Sydney. Ali Abbasi is a sessional academic and researcher in media and communications, University of Sydney.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Facts Only
* Residents in Iran gather in public spaces, both in person and online.
* Gatherings in public spaces evolved from shock and mourning into a ritual.
* Public presence communicates continuity by asserting non-surrender to the logic of war.
* A musician protested by playing music in front of the Damavand power plant following a threat to critical infrastructure.
* Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran for funeral ceremonies for the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
* Artists, musicians, and cultural figures have played a role in the collective response.
* Art and culture function as social infrastructure connecting individuals with communities.
* Content emerges via AI-generated videos, memes, and parody using contemporary internet culture.
* Some content references Iranian history and mythology alongside humor.
Executive Summary
The conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States has traditionally been framed by battlefield developments, political statements, and diplomacy. However, a parallel response is occurring on the streets of Iran, where residents are engaging in public demonstration, both in person and online, despite fears of escalation. This mobilization involves three interconnected layers: physical presence, cultural presence, and digital presence, allowing citizens to seek community during uncertainty.
Physical presence involves public gatherings that evolved from shock into rituals, serving to communicate continuity by asserting that citizens have not entirely surrendered to the logic of war, often focusing on protecting local communities and memories. Cultural and artistic engagement functions as social infrastructure, with music, poetry, and religious chants collectively processing fear, grief, and uncertainty while reinforcing identity and connection. The digital sphere is characterized by the emergence of AI-generated content and internet culture, where citizens actively construct wartime narratives through irony, memes, and participatory storytelling rather than passively receiving official messaging.
Full Take
The emergence of public mobilization across physical, cultural, and digital spheres demonstrates a fundamental shift in how conflict is experienced and communicated. The physical presence functions as an act of territorial defense—a symbolic assertion of holding onto defined communities amid systemic threat, suggesting that the fight extends beyond military fronts into the preservation of lived attachments. Cultural expressions, such as using poetry and religious chants to process grief and connect historical memory with present suffering, reveal a strategy of resilience by anchoring collective experience in deep, shared identity rather than purely political discourse.
The digital sphere’s shift toward AI-generated content and irony represents an evolution in narrative control. The move away from solely ideological state messaging to participatory meme culture shows that citizens are actively constructing counter-narratives, repurposing the language of contemporary internet life to assert their agency. This suggests a pattern where resistance is metabolized through familiar cultural and digital mechanisms, bypassing traditional channels of official communication.
The underlying implication is a redefinition of what constitutes wartime resilience: it is not solely about military survival or adherence to established political lines, but about maintaining communal bonds, historical continuity, and expressive freedom within threatened spaces. The performance of memory and emotion, whether through music or digital parody, serves as a mechanism for asserting human dignity and resisting the totalizing logic often imposed by large-scale conflict narratives.
Bridge Questions: What are the long-term social costs associated with these modes of expression—physical, cultural, and digital? How do these emergent forms of collective storytelling interact with official state narratives regarding wartime identity? What are the implications for establishing new frameworks for civic responsibility when public memory is actively negotiated through participatory culture?
Sentinel — Human
The text demonstrates strong narrative structure and thematic synthesis, suggesting it was written by an informed human analyst synthesizing complex sociological observations.