The leaders of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran who appeared together at a Beijing military parade formed an “autocratic alliance” challenging the rules-based order, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday.
“While Western leaders gather in diplomacy, an autocratic alliance is seeking a fast track to a new world order,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels. “Looking at President Xi standing alongside the leaders of Russia, Iran and North Korea in Beijing today, these aren’t just anti-Western optics: This is a direct challenge to the international system built on rules.”
Xi projects power in Beijing
The comments came as Chinese President Xi Jinping stood flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Tiananmen Square for a showpiece military parade. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was also present, joining more than 25 world leaders at the commemoration of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
Xi warned that humanity faced a choice between “peace or war, dialogue or confrontation” as he oversaw displays of hypersonic missiles, underwater drones and fighter jets. The parade featured tens of thousands of troops in a spectacle that China framed as a symbol of global solidarity with the developing world.
Iran joins sanctioned leaders on stage
For Iran, Pezeshkian’s attendance highlighted its growing alignment with Beijing and Moscow. His presence followed months of speculation after he did not appear at Russia’s Victory Day parade in May, despite Tehran’s deepening security and energy ties with Moscow. The absence then sparked domestic debate in Iran over how its relationship with Russia was being perceived.
Iranian officials have stressed they are seeking to use “every diplomatic capacity” in the East to ease pressure from sanctions and revive leverage in nuclear talks. Standing alongside Xi, Putin and Kim placed Pezeshkian visibly within a bloc of leaders under Western sanctions.
Trump reacts as Kremlin plays down
US President Donald Trump, who was not at the parade, wrote on social media: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America.” The Kremlin rejected the idea, saying Putin was not conspiring against Washington.
“Activating the snapback mechanism is against international norms and lacks legal validity,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters. “Seven years after the United States unilaterally violated the nuclear deal, instead of being held accountable, Europe has now chosen to activate this process.”
Jahangir described the snapback as “a psychological and propaganda tool rather than a real threat,” saying its aim was to undermine public morale.
“The enemy is trying to create dissatisfaction in society through noise and psychological warfare, but experience has shown that the Iranian people resist sanctions, hardships and aggression with determination,” he said.
He urged the media to act “intelligently” in covering the issue. “We must not allow anyone to feed into false divisions at home or damage national unity,” he added.
His comments come as Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has issued a confidential directive to newsroom editors, seen by Iran International, ordering outlets to limit coverage of the snapback process.
The instructions warn against “emotional” or “crisis-oriented” headlines and call for presenting the sanctions as manageable.
Editors were told not to highlight potential economic risks such as inflation, devaluation of the rial, or volatility in gold and foreign exchange markets, which officials fear could worsen public anxiety.
Instead, media are encouraged to frame the sanctions as evidence of European weakness, stress Iran’s resilience under pressure, and highlight internal political and economic problems in the West.
The directive follows warnings by domestic economists that renewed UN sanctions could intensify inflation and weaken the currency.
Last month, the Tehran Chamber of Commerce projected the dollar could climb to 1.65 million rials under pessimistic scenarios, but the report was later downplayed after members of the chamber’s international affairs team were questioned by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit.
Reza Salehi Amiri, minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, said plans for recovery were underway amid the challenges posed by the war. “The policy we defined for after the recent war is the product of lengthy expert work in the ministry,” he said.
However, he said that recovery was contingent on broader security conditions. “Our forecast is that within the next six months, if stability is defined and threats removed, we can return to our previous program,” he said.
New visa hurdles
Iran’s foreign ministry enacted new restrictions on visitor entry in the wake of the war, the Travel and Tour World website reported last month. The rules ban individual travel, require official contracts with registered agencies, and oblige travelers to provide their hotel bookings and complete itineraries. A licensed guide must accompany tourists throughout their stay.
Visa applicants must also submit résumés, education records, travel history, and links to their social media accounts, with embassy reviews stretching up to three weeks, according to the outlet. In July, other industry websites circulated the same requirements, which took effect on August 1.
According to August figures, arrivals had already fallen 53 percent from the year before, the deputy tourism minister, Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpey, said, attributing the decline to the 12-day war and what he called a campaign of Iranophobia.
Industry strain
Hotel operators have likewise cited losses. Cancellations in western provinces had reached billions of rials, Jamshid Hamzezadeh, head of Iran’s hoteliers’ association, told state media in July.
“Travel has effectively fallen out of priority in many people’s lives,” he said.
Iran’s hotel industry faces challenges that long predate the war. Inflation and stagnant household incomes had already pushed travel out of reach for many families, concentrating spending on food and housing.
The country has also seen a downturn following international warnings from countries such as the US warning against travel to Iran citing fears of arbitrary detention, especially for dual nationals.
Salehi Amiri said last year that the ministry was planning to expand accommodation capacity. “We are obliged to open 100 hotels annually,” he said, adding that many of Iran’s 1,430 existing hotels fall short of international standards.
The discussion about building this number of hotels comes while, according to industry officials, the current newly built hotels do not even have the minimum number of guests to cover their expenses.
The newspaper Payam-e Ma criticized Salehi Amiri's remarks. "It would be better, since the minister himself has said that many hotels are not in a position to attract tourists, for the government to focus on standardizing existing hotels instead of opening new ones," he said.
The country, historically known for its rich cultural and historical heritage as well as its natural beauty, has struggled to attract foreign tourists in recent years. Despite its allure, the country faced challenges such as strict dress codes for women and restrictions on alcohol and nightlife.
Data from the Statistical Center of the Islamic Republic shows that the number of incoming tourists to Iran in 2023 was 6.4 million, up from 4.2 million in 2022, when the Woman, Life, Freedom protests rocked the country.
However, before the pandemic, the peak of foreign tourist arrivals to Iran was in 2018 and 2019, with 7.8 million and 8.8 million tourists entering the country, respectively.
