Thousands of people marched in Tehran in the “Sacrifice for Iran” (Janfada-e-Iran, in Persian) campaign, from Imam Hossein Square to Enghelab Square, reports Mehr News Agency.

The rally was a government-organised demonstration with hundreds of thousands of participants pledging readiness to take up arms, describes Al Jazeera. At the rally, the government unveiled a new volunteer force with limited military and emergency-response training to serve as an additional security layer for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia, according to the broadcaster. Iranian authorities said 313,000 people joined the event in the capital, a figure that could not be independently verified, the broadcaster notes.