“Let the innocent one answer”: the Iranians told who is to blame for the massacre in the “Garden of Martyrs”

On January 4, there was national mourning in Iran: the result of the explosions in Kerman, which the Iranian people call “a knife in the back on a twice-sacred day,” became the bloodiest attack on Iranian civilians in the entire 45 years of the existence of the Islamic Republic: about a hundred people were killed, and the same number were injured . The United States and Israel said that they were not involved in the attack on pilgrims in the Iranian province, but no one believes them. We listened to the opinions of ordinary Iranians – both from Iran itself and emigrants living in Europe and the United States.

“The people of Iran have once again become victims of brutal American and Zionist terrorism”, “Today the blood of the oppressed people of Iran has mixed with the blood of the oppressed people of Palestine” – with these headlines on January 4, Farsi-language newspapers were published not only in Iran itself, but throughout the world where there are Iranian diaspora. Iranian emigrants who fled the Islamic revolution almost half a century ago are no less angry today than Iranians who never left their homeland. Iranians in all parts of the world call the massacre during the funeral procession to the cemetery “cowardly and inhumane meanness”, “a knife in the back”, for which Iran will definitely take revenge. One of the Iranian newspapers even came out with two black curlicues on the entire page: revenge is inevitable.

“Our Ministry of Health has changed the statistics a little,” shares Faride, a resident of Tehran (names have been changed at the request of sources – author). “Some were mistakenly counted twice, so today the death toll is not 103, as reported, but 84 people.” But there are still almost 300 people in hospitals with injuries, many seriously, so the figure is not final. Among the dead and wounded there are many women and children, because this also happened on Mother’s Day, Iran will not forgive this!

Mother’s Day in Iran is celebrated on the 20th Jumadi al-Thani in the year 1445 AH, which falls on January 3rd in 2024 according to the Gregorian calendar. On the same day, a funeral procession takes place in Kerman for the fourth time in memory of General Soleimani, considered a “martyr” in Iran (on the morning of Friday, January 3, 2020, he dedicated his life to the fight against ISIS (an organization banned in the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization – author) Colonel General Qassem Soleimani and 9 of his entourage were killed upon arrival in Baghdad by an attack of 10 missiles belonging to the US Air Force – author).

“The Americans recognized that Hellfire (the name of the missiles, literally translated as “Hellfire” – author) belongs to the American Air Force,” explains Fereydoun, an Iranian by birth, now a US citizen. – They admitted the fact, but not the guilt, putting forward a whole list of claims against Soleimani. We discussed here that “hell fire” in the amount of 10 warheads – that is, on the head of everyone in a delegation of 10 people, fired on Juma (Friday is a holy day for all Muslims – author) – is not just a political murder, it is also and incidental “wiping your feet.” And an attack on the funeral procession of civilians mourning Soleimani is no longer just wiping one’s feet, it is a spit in the face.

A resident of Shiraz (a city in the south of Iran – author) Mahvash knows much more about Mother’s Day than about the martyr Soleimani. This 56-year-old mother of four children and grandmother of three grandchildren has been crying non-stop since yesterday.

“Our Shiite Mother’s Day is the birthday of Fatima, the only daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the beloved wife of the first imam of the Shiites of the world, Ali bin Abu Talib, may Allah bless them all,” explains Mahvash. – Fatima was distinguished by her kindness and love for children, which is why her birthday became Mother’s Day. On this day, childless women go out to ask the Almighty for children, and those who already have children ask Fatima for their health and well-being. This year, Mother’s Day fell on January 3 (from year to year the Shiite calendar is superimposed on the Gregorian calendar in different ways – author), which is why yesterday not only men mourning the martyr general, but also women with children.

Golezar-e-Shohada – literally translated from Persian as “Garden of the Martyrs”, this is the name of the part of the city cemetery where those whom the Iranians call “shaheeds” are buried – heroes who accepted martyrdom in the name of their faith and their land. In modern Iran, Golezar-e-Shohada is located in the cemetery of every city, and those buried in this honorary section for every Muslim are mainly those who died more than 40 years ago during the revolution and the Iran-Iraq war.

“We highly honor the memory of these people,” says Iranian theologian Ibrahim Hadi. “In those harsh years, our people showed amazing heroism and selflessness. There were often cases when ten-year-old children begged their parents to let them fight for their homeland. People come to the graves of martyrs to bow to them. Having sacrificed their worldly interests, interesting work, studies at school or university, quiet family comfort, these young guys entered the battlefield and became martyrs. Here, for example, sits (Muslims bury sitting – author) a young Frenchman, he studied at the Qom madrasah (a madrasah is a religious school, Qom is an Iranian city considered sacred – author) and from there of his own free will he left to defend Iran from Iraq. And many years later, the relatives decided to rebury another foreigner in their native land, and discovered that the body had remained untouched by decay for decades. This is what martyr means.

Today, at the Iranian Golezar-e-Shohada there are almost no burials of young “martyrs”: the war, glory to Allah, ended long ago, and Iran itself is resolutely fighting terrorism under the guise of Islam. General Soleimani 4 years ago became the last “entry” to the “shahid” – that is, the heroic section of the cemetery.

“The Koran says that on Fatima’s birthday, asking her for help, you need to pray and make a sacrifice (“Perform prayer for the sake of the Almighty and slaughter the sacrifice” – surah of the Koran – author), – Mahvash from Shiraz will continue. – And then all your haters will become childless. And those who yesterday shed so much blood of believers, on such a sacred day, will certainly become childless not only themselves, but also for generations to come. The Almighty sees everything.

On the morning of January 4, despite the persistent smell of tragedy in the air, pain, horror and tears, Kerman residents flocked to the very cemetery of the Martyrs, on the way to which yesterday there were explosions that claimed so many lives. Now in Golzar-Shahaday there are vows that the Iranian people will not just leave it like that.

“America and Israel deny this massacre, but no one believes them,” says Mamad, who is at a funeral event right now. – They make excuses, as always, vilely. They say that Iran, even without us, is full of enemies in its own Muslim world – our emigrants who fled from the revolution, Iraqi Kurds, Hamas, the remnants of Daesh (aka ISIS, a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation – author), Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthis and others. But I’ll tell you one thing: a true believer shahid (martyr) himself goes to death for the sake of a cause that he considers pleasing to the Almighty. And yesterday there was a meanness, shameful for Muslims, even if they are terrorists – explosive devices were activated remotely. Only people who love themselves very much could do this. Where are our most complacent citizens, who see and hear only themselves and their own interests? Here’s your answer.