Iran’s vice president told parliament on Monday that the government must adapt implementation of the Seventh Development Plan to the country’s current conditions, citing financial shortfalls, sanctions pressure and post-crisis constraints that have reshaped policy priorities.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
Mohammad Reza Aref said the administration aimed to preserve social calm while preparing for “special and wartime conditions” to meet public demands, adding that many provisions of the seven-year plan require revision due to budget gaps and inherited debts.
He said the implementation of the plan must align with both its mandates and available resources, adding that the country faces structural imbalances.
He pointed out that an estimated 3 quadrillion rials (about $2.7 billion) in losses in the power and industrial sectors have weighed on economic growth.
Iran’s Seventh Development Plan, launched in 2023, is a five-year blueprint for economic, social, and cultural development aimed at reversing stagnation and reducing reliance on oil revenues. The plan targets an average 8% annual GDP growth, expansion of non-oil exports, and greater private sector investment.
The vice president told lawmakers that Iran lacks the €100 billion required to implement Article 115 of the Seventh Development Plan, which focuses on modernizing the country’s forensic and legal medicine system, and urged parliament to coordinate with the government on possible amendments.
He said the administration has moved to clear $6 billion in feedstock import debts inherited from the previous administration and stressed that strategic reserves remain sufficient to meet essential needs.
Aref added that under Articles 118 and 119 of the plan, the government is legally required to submit regular performance reports to parliament. So far, all ministries and agencies have delivered biannual progress reports to the High Council for Coordination and Oversight, enabling the government to compile its first annual assessment of implementation.
He said the Seventh Plan includes 2,179 policy clauses across 120 articles and outlines 35 national programs designed to advance growth, stability, and social justice.
Aref acknowledged, however, that several provisions, notably Article 115, remain financially unfeasible under current conditions, and called for joint legislative review to adjust targets in line with available funding.
“The Seventh Plan,” Aref said, “is a covenant among all three branches of power,” adding that its success depends on cross-sector coordination and flexibility to adjust policies as economic realities evolve.
President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to address lawmakers on Tuesday about the implementation of the plan.
