The Leader's Message

The Leader's Message

Ayatollah Khamenei in his message on shirazi 's martyrdom said ''the faithful and brave commander of the Islamic army and devoted soldier of the religion and the holy Quran attained martyrdom at the hands of the criminal, bloodthirsty and disgraced hypocrites.''

He stressed that this is neither the first nor the last time a faithful and lover of the lofty ideas of the divine faith has been martyred by the dirty, criminal and corrupt hands of those mercenaries who have to earn their livelihood only through serving the enemies of Islam. Praising the services rendered by the late shirazi, the supreme leader added that the hot plains of Khuzestan and the high mountains of Kurdistan had witnessed the preparedness and devotion of the brave and determined man who left numerous memories of his courage and self-sacrifice during the eight-year sacred defense period.

As a hero of the eight-year war with Iraq, where he was the co-ordinator of operations between the regular armed forces and the revolutionary guards, he personally had mounted several successful attacks against the Iraqi invaders. Sayyad shirazi had also played an important role in crushing of the uprising of the Iranian Kurds in early months after the victory of the Islamic revolution. He had been promoted a week before his martyrdom by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic regime of Iran who is also the Commander of all Iranian Armed Forces to the grade of general.

In a statement read by himself over Tehran Radio, Ayatollah Khatami (the then president) promised that this" criminal act will not go unpunished" and assured that the efforts of the terrorists to "push the Iranian society towards violence and stop the rule of law and reforms are condemned to defeat".