Iranians Challenge the Regime by Celebrating Cyrus the Great

A tribute to an ancient and pre-Islamic king is now a form of protest against a modern Islamist theocracy.

October 29 marked Cyrus the Great Day, celebrated by Iranians across the country. Though not recognized by UNESCO or the United Nations calendar, many Iranians consider it the day Cyrus entered Babylon after defeating the Neo-Babylonian Empire two and a half millennia ago. Iranians have long observed their ancient holidays like Nowruz (Iranian new year), but under the Islamic Republic a growing number have reconnected with their pre-Islamic identity as a way to contest the Islamic Republic.

This day represents more than a celebration of Iran’s most revered ruler; it reflects how nationalism has become a major unifying counterweight to Tehran’s theocrats. This resurgence of Iranian nationalism has fueled civic movements in recent years, a reality mainstream Western media and policymakers have failed to grasp.

Cyrus the Great Day Represents a National Awakening

In a turbulent era marked by the protests of 2017-2020 and 2022, Iran’s return to its ancient identity has fueled a more openly anti-regime spirit. In 2016, thousands gathered at Pasargadae, the site of Cyrus’s tomb, chanting anti-regime and pro-monarchy slogans. Some 300 were detained. The following year, regime-aligned media reported security forces had detained the alleged organizers, accusing dissidents of exploiting national sentiment to incite civil disobedience.

Since then, security forces have closed roads and fenced off the site annually to block potential demonstrations, including this year. Yet repression has only strengthened the nationalist current. During the 2023 Nowruz holiday, amid the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, Persepolis — ancient Persia’s capital — became the most visited heritage site in Iran. By 2025, even state-run media reported a 30 percent rise in domestic tourism to historical sites such as Persepolis and the tombs of poets, with Fars Province, home to many ancient landmarks, seeing a 50 percent increase.

In stark contrast, regime-affiliated religious authorities complained in 2023 that 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques were closed due to lack of attendance. A leaked 2024 Culture Ministry survey found that 85 percent of respondents believed Iranians had grown less religious than five years earlier, with only 11 percent attending congregational prayers and 45 percent never joining Friday prayers.

The Regime Failed To Co-Opt Nationalism

During the 12-Day War, many Iranians shared videos celebrating Israeli strikes on regime figures, distinguishing between their Iranian identity and the Islamic Republic’s ideology. In response, authorities have tried and failed to hijack nationalism for their own purposes by erecting billboards with ancient Persian heroes.

The Islamic Republic has always had a tenuous relationship with nationalism. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founding father of the regime, famously derided nationalists as “useless” compared to Islamists. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has not been any kinder to nationalism or Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage.

In 2014, Khamenei dismissed Iran’s pre-Islamic monuments, writing, “These works [Persepolis] belong to the tyrants of Iran’s history, and hatred of despotism makes such works lose their appeal in people’s eyes and hearts.” Yet nearly a decade later, facing the regime’s deep unpopularity, he invited a religious chanter during a mourning ceremony for Imam Husayn to perform a patriotic anthem in place of a mourning elegy as an unprecedented gesture to co-opt Iranian nationalism. Iranians saw through the maneuver.

Make Iran Great Again

A regime that fears its own people’s sense of national pride is proof of its ideological and political bankruptcy. For Iranians, the longing to reclaim their civilizational past is not nostalgia, it is outright rebellion. That sentiment gives Washington a rhetorical opening in support of the Iranian people and a meaningful tool against their oppressors. When President Trump once said, “Make America Great Again,” many Iranians heard an echo of their own desire. Washington should not miss such opportunities in the future.

Janatan Sayeh is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Behnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Iran Program and a senior fellow. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Janatan and Behnam on X @JanatanSayeh and @therealBehnamBT. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.