A Narrative of the Efforts of the People of Alborz Province to prevent the Pahlavi Government's Army from Entering Tehran

Compiled by: Islamic Revelation Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2024-3-13

The night of February 10; Mardabad:

In those days, we organized ourselves in the mosque. About thirty people were stationed there day and night and we controlled everything. On the night of February 10, my motorcycle was in the hands of couriers. At that time I had a motorcycle Yamaha 80. At ten o'clock at night, there was a report that three army jeeps are on their way and are entering Mardabad.

I said: "There is definitely news!"

Facilities like Molotov cocktails and gasoline were ready in the mosque. After the first force passed, we had prepared almost all kinds of basic equipment. We went to Mehran Street, attacked and stopped two cars that had arrived. The third car, which was behind, turned around and ran away. We also set fire to those two cars so that the others could not escape. We arrested their six passengers and took their weapons. I remember that night one of the kids hit one of them on the head with a stick and blood was pouring down his face. Opposite the place of our conflict was the desert. There was only a two-story building that belonged to a 60-year-old man named Karbalai Mahmoud. We took those six people to Mahmoud's house in Karbala. They were all crying and we consoled them. They said: "Weapons are the honor of the army, give us our weapons! They will execute us!"

We said: "We don't give weapons, but you are our guests; stay until your assignment is clear."

At half past one, we went to the mosque, had a small rest and had a cup of tea. Then we sent the courier with a motorbike and said: "Look where the car that went around went... They must have power and they came to check to see if the road is open or not?"

The courier who had gone to Pelangabad returned. They said: "They have prepared a company - with about twenty vehicles - to come to Tehran!" Our guess was right. They came for identification. We came to the point of taking a welding machine that belonged to one of the residents of Mardabad and closing the bridge of the Shore River. We took iron beams and rebar with us and welded the bridge at night to create a barrier in front of them.

Then we came back and made the obstacles on the road heavier. Some people who were around were collecting stones. We threw stones in the middle of the road. People went to rest and we stayed in the mosque. We used to keep watch in shifts so that they don't come unannounced like the first column and get passed. The road was regularly controlled. It was not yet the morning call to prayer when our patrol team reported: "The groups we had identified at night have arrived near Mardabad!"

(February 10 morning; Mardabad) We got up, called the comrades and went to the place where we set the cars on fire. The soldiers who saw us disembarked their troops and formed a military formation. There was a column of soldiers on their left and another column on their right. The front forces were the first line of soldiers, and the second line was the rank and file, all armed and dressed in military uniform. One IFA moved in front of the column and another at the end. Both of them had been shot. The commander's jeep, which had a wireless antenna on it, came from the middle of the column.

Together with some comrades, we started chanting revolutionary slogans. According to the Imam, we used to shout: "The army is our brother"

One of their IIFAs was equipped with a wiper blade, easily cleared the way and they kept going. We went and stood firmly in front of them and did not move anymore. The first line of soldiers started shooting; the shots were in the air, but the crowd got scared and ran away. I said: "Don't be afraid! It's aerial shooting!" We gathered again and resumed chanting.

People woke up with the sound of gunshots. It was near the morning call to prayer when people poured out; Male and female, big and small. I said: "Go stand on the road and don't be afraid!"

When our number increased, the first line soldiers were ordered: "Kneel". The soldiers knelt down. First they shot from the air. When they saw that no one was running away, they shot the arrows to the ground. Even one or two of the arrows passed by me. I heard the howl of the arrow that ricocheted. People got scared and moved away from them. The soldiers also resumed the clearing and advance.

It was a middle-aged woman who gave the comrades a lot of encouragement that day. He tied his tent around his waist and started chanting behind the soldiers. This time, people chanted from behind: "The army is our brother, Khomeini is our leader... The king has escaped..." The sun had risen. The people who had gone to the exit of Mardabad towards Karaj, behind the soldiers, returned to Mardabad from there. We saw that it does not happen like this and something must be done. We said that it is the order of the Imam. We should not let them reach Tehran. Roads should be completely closed.

One of the comrades - called Amuzadeh - had a pickup truck. We got in the back of his van. From the direction of Jam Poultry, we entered the gardens and entered Abbas Abad from there. We chanted loudly: "War is machine gun war, people wake up!"

"People came out of their houses and asked: "What happened?!"

We said: "Let's go to the side of the road where the soldiers are going!"

Then we went around and went to Abbas Abad.

[February 10; Sir Abbasabad (Mardabad-Karaj road)] there was no traffic around the road. One side was Moshiri garden and the other side was the river that went to Mardabad. When we arrived, we saw that some people from Mohammadabad, Jafarabad, Hisar Tahmasab, etc. had found out and gathered there. After the Mardabad shooting, they had gone and told them: "Get to the Mardabadi people, the army came, killed everyone and left." They had created such an atmosphere that the crowd had rushed in and were blocking the road with car tires. I said: "These do not help. We've created similar obstacles before, but they cleared them all. You must bring a chainsaw to make a fire. Nothing but fire can stop them."

They went and brought some chainsaws. We cut some trees around the road and put tires on them. A huge fire broke out right at the entrance of Abbas Abad. When the soldiers reached "Bahadur Garden", they wanted to go around the bend there and return. People went to the middle of the road and stood in front of their way. The left side of the road was agricultural land and the other side was a garden and a river. They had no escape. They resorted to shooting again. With the sound of air shots, people got scared and pulled themselves aside. The soldiers who reached the fire stopped.

Their commander got down from the jeep and started talking to some of us. From his thick accent, I understood that he speaks Tabrizi and Turkish. He said: "Don't attack us, we will stay here!"

I said: "You announce to the people with the loudspeaker... We are not alone!"

During our conversation, one of the children removed the overcoat from the commander's shoulder and touched his stars, which means he is a colonel.

The commander took a red loudspeaker and stood on the hood of the jeep and began to speak. He said: "You have nothing to do with us, we have nothing to do with you. We will stay here until the order arrives to see what our task is. We are all the people of Iran..."

The sun had risen and it was around eight thirty in the morning. Some people got tired and left. We Mahdasht's comrades gathered and sat on the side where wheat was planted. The soldiers stayed in their place. After some time passed, we went with some people to the army.

The beginning of the army's column was at Abbas Abad and the end of their column was at Shahada Bridge. At the end of the column, there was a dirt road that went towards the mountains of the valley ring. After about half an hour, the commander's jeep drove away. I went near one of the rank-and-file officers, who was short and black, and asked: "Where is the commander going?" He said: "We have been ordered to go back!"

With the movement of the military forces, the residents of Mardabad ran to the cars and boarded them and said: "Then we will walk on the way."

We thought to ourselves that they must be detouring to reach Tehran by another way. They would certainly not return to Qasr Shirin. We went and created a fire on the path behind the column. Now they were caught between two fires. The first soldier who surrendered gave me his gun, which was a pistol. I also took off my coat and gave it to him.

I gave the gun to Vali Bayat, who was a soldier. "Hold the gun, I'll see what happens," I said. The soldier was wearing a jacket and had his pants up to his thighs when they hit him from behind. His commander had seen him about to surrender. The soldier fell there and was martyred.

The shooting started. Many people went under the bridge. I also went to sleep behind the embankment below the bridge. The soldiers emptied a tank under the bridge. One of our comrades, Yousef Torabi - who was newly married - was shot there and was seriously injured. The first person who was martyred and I saw him was Mustafa Molhasani, one of Eshtehard's comrades. A few rank-and-file soldiers, who were the killers of that soldier, were kicked and thrown.

When the commander was shot and fell, the morale of the soldiers weakened and they handed over their weapons to the people. There were about a hundred of them, some of them took their bags from the cars, and others ran away empty-handed. As the soldiers fled, the rank and file went to the cars.

Only a few rank-and-files and soldiers - about twenty people - were left. Inevitably, they picked up the shot commander, put him in the jeep and ran away on the same road leading to the valley. During the retreat, seven or eight of them were constantly shooting at us. They were not two hundred meters away when their jeep stopped moving. They had entered the agricultural fields and the jeep was stuck in the mud. No matter what they did, it did not come out. They dismounted and carried the commander. They were shooting back and forth and going towards the mountains around them, which they did, we went and collected our martyrs and wounded. Other regions also took their martyrs and wounded. Seven or eight soldiers were wounded.

The conflict lasted until eleven-thirty in the morning. This time it was the people who had won over the army. After the fight was over, I was very sad to see a scene. People burned about twenty army vehicles. I shouted, "It's ours, why are you setting fire?" No one listened to me. With my own eyes, I saw a young man with an ax in his hand hitting the tanks of the IFAs, gasoline pouring out, another one setting them on fire with a match. Before that, people had looted everything. Ammunition and other equipment were taken from the cars and set on fire.

That stream ended completely around 4:30 PM. We were the last group to leave the stage. When we arrived in Mardabad, it was evening. At night, we prepared some food and with some of the comrades of Mohammad Abad, we went to the army that had gone to the mountain.

Above the current Hasanabad village, we saw them settled in the valley. We announced to them: "The case is over... the revolution has won and the Shah's rule no longer exists... we have brought you food, come and surrender!" You will perish!.”

They said: "Our commander was injured, we sent him to Karaj hospital. If you want to fight with us and shoot, we will fight with you. We do not want anything from you. We do not have a commander to take orders from. If you come forward, we will shoot!"

We had to leave them and return. The next day, we heard that with the announcement of the victory of the revolution on the radio, they went to the Qazvin road checkpoint and handed over their weapons and clothes. We freed all six people we had kept in Mahmoud's Karbalai house.[1]