TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has penned a commendation for a book that recounts the memories of a group of women who washed laundry in a hospital near a battle zone during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Fatemeh Sadat Miraali, the writer of “Pool of Blood”, a number of the women, and a group of cultural officials came together on Sunday evening at the place in Andimeshk, which has now been converted into a concrete block company, to attend an unveiling ceremony of the book.

“Compared to the efforts made by these humble, sincere and obscure mujahids, a sense of shame from futility was the first feeling that came over me after reading parts of the book,” the Leader said in the commendation penned in October 2021.

“What has been brought in the book is an unknown part and an untold story from the great epic of the Sacred Defense,” he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei also expressed his thanks to the writer and the Islamic Revolution Cultural Front Study Center, the publisher of the book.

In a meeting with martyrs’ families held earlier in October 2021, the Leader also talked about “Pool of Blood”.

“I’ve read a book entitled ‘Pool of Blood’; I had seen in Ahvaz and I had personally seen women washing soldiers’ clothes and hospital bedsheets stained with blood. I saw that the book is giving an account of this story,” he said.

“I am really amazed, and really feel shame about the service these ladies offered during the years of war,” he added.

“Pool of Blood” carries the wartime memories of the 64 women who volunteered in the early days of the war, officially called “Sacred Defense” in Iran, to wash laundry at Shahid Kalantari Hospital in Andimeshk.

During the unveiling ceremony, a number of the women were presented with copies of the Holy Quran, silver rings and keffiyehs as gifts sent by Ayatollah Khamenei.   

The book has been published with contributions from a research team composed of Zahra Bakhvar, Samaneh Nikdek, Somayyeh Tatar, Nasrin Tatar, Mahnaz Olfatipur, Amaneh Lohrasbi and Narges Mirdoraqi.

Photo: A combination photo shows the front cover of “Pool of Blood” and Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s commendation for the book.

MMS/YAW