TEHRAN – Iranian women played a remarkable role in the eight-year war against Iraq in the 1980s, known as the Sacred Defense. Undoubtedly, women martyrs, disabled, and prisoners of war - whose number is estimated at 17,000- are at the peak of national honor.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has praised the sacrifices of the “the army of history-making angels” including the female war-disabled of the Islamic Revolution and the ensuing eight-year imposed war as well as the female medical workers currently at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a message sent on Tuesday to a national congress in commemoration of the Iranian women who played a significant role during the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the U.S.-backed eight-year Saddam’s imposed war on Iran, and those involved in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year.

“Undoubtedly, female martyrs as well as those who were injured and held captive — whose number is estimated to be 17,000 — stand at the peak of these honors,” the Leader said.

“Despite the Western culture of corruption and deviation imposed on many women during the Pahlavi era, the Iranian women were able to approach Islam’s desired nobility and purity, and this is a great honor; Praise is to God, Lord of the universe,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Sacred Defense Week starts in Iran on September 21. The Week is annually celebrated nationwide in commemoration of martyrs and war veterans of the Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980-88.

Iraq’s eight years of the imposed war claimed the lives of 230,000 Iranian soldiers and left near 600,000 war-disabled.  At the same time, about 43,000 Iranians were Prisoners of War (PoWs) in Iraq and many others were Missing in Action (MIAs).

FB/MG