Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who has been mentioned as a potential negotiation partner with the U.S., posted a series of messages online challenging America since the start of the war.
"At this moment, in less than a week, a powerful national campaign spreading across the country has gathered around seven million Iranians who have already stepped forward and declared they are ready to take up arms and stand in defense of our nation," he wrote on X.
This claim has been circulating on social media for days. Qalibaf is the first high-ranking official to mention it in Iran, a country with about 90 million people.
It is unclear where this figure comes from, but state media and text message campaigns are calling on people to register as volunteers.
The government has also called on retired soldiers to express interest in fighting.
Qalibaf also recalled a family story about his brother who died defending the country from Iraqi aggression.
"When I was eighteen, I took a rifle and went straight into battle to defend the soil of my beloved, indestructible Iran, the only home I have ever known. My own brother, Hassan, gave his all in that same fight for our homeland. He never returned home. To this day, it pains me that I cannot hug him one more time. Such pain never leaves a person. And he was not the only one. I lost brothers who were not by blood but were family just the same, people who fought like lions and forever became a part of me," Qalibaf wrote.
He said they give everything they have for the country they love.
"We gave our youth, our blood, and every tomorrow we had for Iran. We are not warmongers. But when the time comes to defend the homeland, each of us becomes a soldier," the Iranian politician wrote in an emotional message.