TEHRAN – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we reached out to a woman whose life has been intertwined with the pain and anguish of terrorism.

Kobra Mahluj, the steadfast and resilient wife of the esteemed martyr Abbas Goudarzi, lost her husband in a cruel terrorist attack that forever changed the trajectory of her existence. 

In a heartfelt interview, she shared the story of her martyred husband’s life, the circumstances of his martyrdom, and the profound impact this tragedy has had on her. 

Below is the full text of the interview:  

Could you please tell us about your late husband and the circumstances surrounding his martyrdom?

I am Kobra Mahluj, wife of the revered martyr Abbas Goudarzi and sister of the esteemed martyr Mohammad Hossein Mahluj.

Martyr Abbas Goudarzi was a documentary filmmaker and director who captured the essence of the Sacred Defense (Iran’s fight against Saddam Hussein’s invasion during the 1980s). He was born on April 29, 1962, in Shahr-e Rey, Tehran, and was martyred on October 18, 2009, in Sistan and Baluchestan by the Jundallah terrorist group.

Abbas spent his childhood, middle school, and high school years in Shahr-e Rey. Before the Islamic Revolution, he began his cultural activities at the Imam Hassan Askari Mosque, where he met Hojjatoleslam Ghayouri. It was there that his struggle against the Pahlavi regime took root. A sharp and resourceful individual, Abbas worked as a truck driver’s apprentice to evade the watchful eyes of SAVAK agents, secretly distributing Imam Khomeini’s (RA) declarations along various routes.

With the onset of the Islamic Revolution, Abbas played a vital role in the people’s struggle against the Shah’s regime. After the revolution’s triumph in 1979, he joined the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and dedicated himself to defending Islamic ideals. When enemies stirred unrest in Kurdistan, he was deployed there alongside IRGC forces. During those clashes, Abbas was wounded in the leg, and his comrade, Martyr Azizollah Askari from the Shahr-e Rey IRGC, attained martyrdom.

We married on August 28, 1980, and our 29 years together blessed us with four children: two daughters, Zeinab and Mohaddeseh, and two sons, Hossein and Abolfazl. Just 24 days after our wedding, the Iran-Iraq War broke out, and Abbas left for the battlefront. Throughout the eight years of the Sacred Defense, he worked as a war photographer and documentary filmmaker on the southern and western fronts, with his works broadcast on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

But on October 18, 2009, in Sistan and Baluchestan, Abbas Goudarzi was martyred in a cowardly suicide attack orchestrated by members of the Jundallah terrorist group.  

How did your life change after your husband’s martyrdom? What were the greatest challenges you faced?  

The martyrdom of Abbas transformed the course of our lives, yet it did not deter us from the path we had chosen. Instead, it strengthened our resolve to remain steadfast in the revolution’s journey. Just as I stood by his side before his martyrdom, working to convey the message and mission of the martyrs, I continued this path alongside our children with even greater determination after his loss. This bitter tragedy deepened our insight into recognizing and resisting the enemies of Islam and Iran, and the spiritual presence of the martyr has remained a guiding light in our family ever since.

Abbas Goudarzi dedicated eight years of the Sacred Defense to documenting, recording, and broadcasting the valor of Islamic warriors across various IRIB networks and the IRGC television archives. While the people and officials were preoccupied with defending the nation, the MEK (Mojahedin-e-Khalq) terrorists exploited the chaos, secretly recruiting high school students into their ranks. With his media expertise, Abbas recognized this plot. Each time he returned to Tehran on leave, he and I would voluntarily organize awareness sessions in high schools and elementary schools. Through storytelling and screenings of the films and photographs he had captured of the fighters, he sought to guide the youth toward the right path, protecting them from falling prey to the MEK’s propaganda.

Because of these efforts, Abbas was repeatedly threatened with assassination by the MEK, forcing us to relocate multiple times. Though those threats never materialized, their enmity toward him never waned. During the Iran-Iraq War, Abbas was injured several times and hospitalized in Tehran, but upon recovery, he returned to the frontlines without a moment of hesitation.

After his martyrdom, my greatest challenges were twofold: first, preserving the archive of films and documentaries he had painstakingly created, and second, supporting our children, for whom this martyrdom was a profound shock. Losing their father was like the collapse of a pillar in our home. Alongside the weight of this grief, I felt a deep responsibility to carry his message to a rapidly changing society. Abbas was a jihadist in media, a chronicler of the Sacred Defense. After him, it became my duty to keep the banner of Islam aloft, to illuminate the path of the martyrs, and to pass down his vision—and that of all martyrs—to future generations.

Thanks be to God, with divine assistance and the support of my children, we stand more determined than ever in this mission, placing the fight against the enemies of Islam and Muslims at the forefront of our lives.  

What is the role of women in countering terrorism and extremism? How can the wives and families of martyrs contribute to this effort? 

The role of women in confronting terrorism and safeguarding Islamic values begins within the family, through raising children. As Martyr Abbas Goudarzi always said, children are a reflection of their parents. If parents raise their children with Islamic teachings, love for the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), and a spirit of resistance against the enemies of Islam, they have succeeded in this endeavor. But if children stray, it’s a sign that their upbringing has faltered, and they have not been nurtured under the banner of Islam.

The wives of martyrs must carry forward the sacred mission of their loved ones—the fight against criminal enemies. This path demands patience, education, morality, worship, prayer, and trust in God. As the wife of Martyr Abbas Goudarzi and sister of Martyr Mohammad Hossein Mahluj, I feel duty-bound to continue this journey in the spirit of Hazrat Zeinab (peace be upon her). We must all stand firm against the media onslaught of our enemies, dismantling their manipulative games with knowledge, awareness, and reliance on the prayers of the martyrs.

In today’s world, one of the most critical battlegrounds against the enemy is the realm of media and cyberspace. The enemies of Islam use media campaigns and cognitive warfare to distort public opinion and invert the truth. We women must engage in this jihad by enhancing our knowledge, awareness, and media literacy. By being active on social platforms and fighting in the media arena, we build resilience and strength to sustain this path until the advent of the government of Imam Mahdi (may his return hasten).