Crowds filled Enqelab-e-Eslami Square in Tehran burning US and Israeli flags and carrying posters of Mojtaba Khamenei. Iranian state television described the ceasefire as a "historic and crushing defeat" of the United States. The victory narrative is politically functional regardless of the ceasefire's actual terms: state television controls the information environment, the internet blackout prevents independent verification, and the population is primed to interpret any outcome as having stood up to Washington.
Mojtaba Khamenei became Supreme Leader on 8 March after his father was killed in the opening strikes. The ceasefire is being presented as his first major act of statecraft. Any Islamabad deal read domestically as a retreat from the ceasefire "victory" creates a political liability for a leader still consolidating authority.
The celebration is broadcast to a captive audience. Iranians cannot verify what the ceasefire says, cannot communicate across the country, and cannot organise. The victory narrative and the 1,008-hour internet blackout are complementary instruments: one defines the story, the other ensures no competing account exists.
