Credit : BRICS NEWS
TEHRAN, November 10, 2026 – Iran has opened what it describes as the first military training centre set aside specifically for women volunteers, on the western side of Azadi Square in the capital, according to Iranian media. BRICS News highlighted the opening on X on Thursday, writing that Iran “opens its first female-only military training center”.
The ceremony took place on Tuesday, November 10, in the presence of a group of women, Iran Press reported. The state-linked outlet said the aim of the centre is to make it easier for women to take part in training and specialised activities. The West Asia News Agency (WANA) described the facility as the “Janfada” General Military Training Center for Women, and said officials and civilians attended the inauguration.
The centre forms part of the “Janfada for Iran” campaign, a volunteer programme that began registering people on March 28, 2026, according to WANA. Brigadier General Alireza Salarkia, deputy coordinator of the Mohammad Rasulullah Corps of Greater Tehran, said 33 million people had registered their readiness to defend the country and that nearly 50 percent of them were women. He said the centre was the first Janfada general training centre specifically for women.
China’s state broadcaster CGTN, which reported the opening on Thursday, called it “another all-women military training camp”, and said Iran had opened three similar training centres for both men and women. Xinhua, which also reported the ceremony, said it was the fourth Janfada training centre in the greater Tehran area. The reports therefore differ on whether the facility is the first of its kind; what the Iranian officials claim is that it is the first dedicated to women.
WANA said the courses on offer include rappelling, ziplining, sniper rifle shooting and handling Kalashnikov rifles, as well as training on heavy machine guns, handguns and shoulder-fired weapons. Akbari, head of the Women’s Basij Organization of the same corps, said the programme also covers specialised and air-defence weapons, offensive micro-drone systems, urban defence, first aid and rescue, public assistance and firefighting.
The Associated Press, which sent a photographer to the ceremony, reported that women carrying assault rifles scaled down a wall and rode a zip line as the camp opened, and published pictures of a woman aiming a pistol during a demonstration.
An instructor, identified by WANA as Ms Kohandani, said the courses were meant to prepare women for possible wartime conditions involving the United States and Israel. “The message of these courses is that Iranian women are prepared,” she said, adding that they were intended for situations in which men are not present. These are the views of the Iranian participants and officials as relayed by the Iranian news agency.
CGTN framed the opening against fears of renewed attacks by the United States and Israel while mediation efforts falter. It said authorities have vowed to train one million volunteers under the campaign. Slogans against the United States and Israel were displayed on the sidelines of the ceremony, WANA reported, along with banners showing Iranian figures.
Several of the women who attended said they came out of a sense of duty. One mother told WANA she brought her one-year-old son so that he would grow up with such events in his memory. Another speaker at the ceremony recalled the role of women in the Iran-Iraq War, citing figures given by the Iranian officials.
The details above come from Iranian and Chinese state-linked outlets and from AP’s photo report; independent confirmation of the participation figures was not available at the time of writing.
Credit : BRICS NEWS
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