Iranian authorities have strictly prohibited traditional Chaharshanbe Suri celebrations, including lighting fires and using firecrackers, citing the urgent need to reserve emergency responders for "essential incidents" amid the ongoing military crisis.
The Tehran Province Judiciary has officially banned the traditional Chaharshanbe Suri fire festival celebrations this year, strictly prohibiting citizens from lighting fires and using firecrackers. According to Iran International ایران اینترنشنال, a foreign-based opposition network, authorities issued statements forbidding the events specifically to ensure that emergency forces are preserved for "essential incidents."
The directive was communicated directly to citizens via mass SMS by the Deputy for Social Affairs and Crime Prevention of the Tehran Province Judiciary. Several regional and state-aligned news aggregators, such as آخرین خبر تهران (Tehran Today) and آخرین خبر خوزستان, as well as اِپُک تایمز فارسی (Epoch Times Persian), reported the exact text of the government message: "Dear citizen, in order to maintain peace and public safety, please refrain from lighting fires and using firecrackers. Let us preserve emergency forces for essential incidents."
This widespread security measure was also prominently shared by the reformist-aligned channel حامیان پزشکیان (Supporters of Pezeshkian) and the war-tracking channel اخبارفوری خبرفوری جنگ امریکا فوری.
The judiciary's urgent appeal to reserve emergency responders for "essential incidents" occurs against the backdrop of severe national crisis. This mandate follows the unprecedented March 9-13 wave of United States and Israeli airstrikes, which devastated Iranian military, naval, and air defense infrastructure nationwide, heavily taxing the country's civil and emergency services.
The messaging is remarkably uniform across both domestic and foreign-based opposition channels, all quoting the same Tehran Judiciary SMS. The domestic channels present it as a standard public safety announcement, while the context of the recent massive US/Israeli bombings intrinsically links the phrase 'essential incidents' (حوادث ضروری) to war-time triage of emergency services.