Sleepless in Tehran as crowds rally behind the flag

Fifty-three-year-old Mulook stood for hours at the same spot in a crowded square holding her phone aloft. Late into the night, its screen displayed two images — one of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on February 28 by U.S.-Israeli air strikes, and the other of the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

These past 62 days, through the fasting of Ramzan, come rain or cold, she has been among tens of thousands who gather each night at the centre of the Meydan-e Vali Asr in the Iranian capital to express solidarity with their nation amid an ongoing war.