WANA (May 20) – The hands of the clock have passed two in the morning. The city has plunged into a heavy silence, but this silence is not born of ignorance; it is born of vigilance. At the end of the street that leads to the main square, a soft light from a temporary checkpoint can be seen.

 

There, next to the sign and the placed checkpoint barriers, a strange scene is unfolding; Hossein, who until this afternoon was busy with virtual teaching for his students, now stands alongside Mojtaba the baker and Amir, a first-year engineering student.

 

Some of them are dressed in civilian clothes, while others wear military uniforms. As they discuss regional developments and politics, their ears are alert to the slightest suspicious sound in the darkness, and they inspect every passing car.

 

This unwritten pact began from the very first days of the Ramadan War (the war that started against Iran by Israel and the U.S. on Feb 28, 2026)  and has continued to this day; people from different classes and professions who have now themselves become a part of that “nightly vigilance.”

 

In fact, these nights, the narrative of that famous poem that has been whispered into the ears of Iranian children since childhood has changed; the very poem that used to say: “At night when we are asleep, the Mr. Policeman is awake… we have sweet dreams, while he is hunting.” Now, Mr. Policeman is no longer alone; the entire city has stayed awake so that the dream of security can find a truer realization.

The Security Enigma in War Nights: How Iran’s Burglary Rates Fell

Temporary checkpoint in Iran. Social media/ WANA News Agency

A Reality That Sprouted from the Midst of Statistics

Perhaps in the midst of a war, everyone expects chaos and insecurity, but in Iran, the narrative unfolded differently. Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, the Deputy Minister of Interior for Security and Law Enforcement affairs, announced that while the enemy had targeted the borders, inside the cities, the rate of theft and domestic insecurity decreased compared to the days before the war.

 

This phenomenon is, of course, not unprecedented; previously, during the 12-day war in June 2025, General Mohammad Ghanbari, the chief of the FARAJA Criminal Investigation Police, had reported a 50 percent decrease in theft statistics compared to the same period the previous year.

 

These statistics indicate a “different behavioral algorithm” among Iranians. In many countries around the world, the occurrence of war—due to livelihood hardships and financial pressures—is usually accompanied by an increase in crime and theft rates, but Iranian society, at such critical junctures, takes a completely opposite path.

 

When the Street Became the People’s Home

The secret of this security is summarized in one word: “Presence”

 

During these forty days of battle, the United States and Israel repeatedly tried to sow fear and push back law enforcement forces by attacking checkpoints and police stations in various cities in Iran. Their goal was clear: to empty the streets of security forces to open up space for terrorist operations and create insecurity.

A view of the aftermath of a strike on a police station, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

But a strange thing happened; despite these attacks, not only were the law enforcement centers not emptied, but the rush of volunteers to reinforce the checkpoints—who were mostly from the popular forces—doubled. The people realized that to preserve the security of their homes, they themselves had to be a part of this nightly guarding.

 

Patrols as Wide as All Professions

These popular patrols, which took shape from the beginning of the war, have now turned into an impenetrable network. The architect, the baker, the teacher, and the student; all of them, in the form of volunteer forces, have closed all avenues for opportunists.

 

The presence of these individuals with different specialties means that at any hour of the day or night, there are awake eyes in the neighborhood watching over the situation. A thief or a terrorist force is no longer facing a uniformed force; they are facing the awake will of a neighborhood.

 

Gatherings That Create Security

It was not only the patrols that built security; the nightly gatherings of the Iranian people in the squares turned the city into a living organism. For these people, neither a rainy night meant anything for their absence, nor fatigue, nor fasting during the days of the month of Ramadan.

People chant during a rally in Tehran, Iran, May 6, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency)

When the people, instead of taking shelter in their homes, and that too in the middle of a war, came to the streets to support the armed forces and the government, they blocked the way for any anti-security movement or callouts. This massive presence was the best shield against the infiltration of terrorist teams that intended to cause chaos in the silence of the night.

 

Statistical data also confirm this collective vigilance. According to the latest findings of the Meta Social Analysis Center, public participation in nightly gatherings across Iran has increased sharply. While in the previous survey (March 4), the participation rate was around 42 percent, this figure has now reached 53 percent.

 

This means that more than half of the Iranian people have declared that they have participated at least once in recent weeks in these gatherings or volunteer patrols.

 

This strange coalition of the “teacher and the baker” alongside the checkpoint, despite the passing of more than eighty days since the start of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, is still repeated every night.

 

The enemy may have attacked buildings, but it could never overcome a people who decided, contrary to global patterns, to stand together in the hardest days and be the guardians of their children’s sweet dreams.

Temporary checkpoint in Iran. Social media/ WANA News Agency