TEHRAN Gathering to hail role of female combatants in the course of the sacred defense opened here Saturday with a message of President Mohammad Khatami. The president in his message, read to the gathering by his advisor for women's affairs, Ms. Zahra Shojaii, said that the brave women of Iran served in the front lines of the Iraqi-imposed war while at the same time supporting their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers behind the war fronts and encouraging them to defend their homeland.

The president added that the recognition given to the role of faithful Muslim women of Iran during the war years in this gathering is a sign of the high status Iranian women enjoy in all aspects of the society. The president also noted that the country at the present stage was in need of full and constructive contribution of female population.

Addressing the gathering was also Ms. Shojaii who touched on late Imam Khomeini's ideas on women's presence in war fronts and their contribution to the war affairs. She said society needed women's contribution in all areas today just as it did during the war years. (IRNA)