The Three Hundred and Seventy-Third Night of Remembrance – Part One

Compiled by the Iranian Oral History Website
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2026-2-2

The three hundred and seventy-third session of the Night of Remembrance featured recollections by former prisoners of war and veterans, including Nabiollah Ahmadlou, Mohammad Hadi, Mahmoud Shabani, Ali Moradi, Mohsen Jannat, Hadi Eizi, and Abbas Pirhadi. The event was held on Thursday afternoon, 23 October 2025, at the Sooreh Hall of the Artistic sect of the Islamic Republic, and was hosted by Davoud Salehi.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the start of the ceremony, the host stated: Operation Karbala-5 was conducted over a period of twenty-one days and unfolded in three phases. In program number 366, held on 20 February 2025, we reviewed the first phase of this operation through the experience of the Al-Mahdi Battalion. In that same session, the respected commander of the Al-Mahdi Battalion, Dr. Ahmadlou, provided a comprehensive account of the operation’s initial phase. In the first segment of tonight’s recollections, I would like to invite him to share a memory from Operation Kheibar, as a prelude to entering the narrative of the three-day siege.

The first narrator of the evening then took the stage, warmly welcoming the audience and expressing sincere gratitude for their presence. He remarked: I hope that tonight our dear comrades—especially the heroic former prisoners of war—will be able to convey, in eloquent terms, those precious and enduring memories which are, in truth, an integral part of the history of the Islamic Revolution.

Continuing, he reflected on Operation Karbala-5: Perhaps among all military operations, this was the most intense and arduous engagement of the eight years of the Sacred Defense, ultimately culminating in the adoption of Resolution 598. The Supreme Leader has stated: “Operation Karbala-5 constitutes the Nights of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr) of the Islamic Revolution.” It was an extraordinarily severe war, in which the concepts that truly mattered were self-sacrifice, resistance, and devotion to God. These noble individuals, who carry within their hearts such beautiful and selfless memories, must recount them to you—fathers, brothers, and children—so that future generations may know that through trust in God, with bare hands, and through obedience to the Guardian Jurist, great honors were forged.

At that time, we were grappling not only with war but also with shortages and immense pressures; yet we never extended a hand of need to anyone except to God, the prominent and Most High. During Operation Kheibar, from the arid terrain near Zeyd Outpost to the Majnoon Islands, there was an approximately fourteen-kilometer water route—a marshland of reeds that had been surveyed and could only be traversed by boat. For the movement, we designated a specific boat. At that juncture, I was serving in the Ali-Asghar Battalion, and, in the same boat as the radio operators, we prepared to depart. A DShK heavy machine gun had been installed inside the boat and firmly secured, so that in the event of enemy searchlights, helicopters, or especially aircraft appearing, we would be able to defend ourselves.

The men had prepared the DShK, and I personally loaded it and left it ready to fire. At that moment, I was unaware that the division commander, the honorable martyr Haj Aziz Rastgar, intended to board our boat. He arrived and asked whether the weapon had been tested. I replied that it was fully ready and that I myself had loaded and previously fired it.

Our movement was expected to take approximately three hours, as the boats were unable to travel at high speed, and the route had already been explored and clearly marked. About an hour into our journey, after entering the water from the Zeyd Outpost area, two enemy aircraft suddenly appeared overhead. At that moment, Haj Aziz Rastgar was unaware of their presence; one of his hands rested on the barrel of the DShK, while the other was on his waist as he surveyed the surroundings.

Without noticing this, I leapt behind the DShK and attempted to fire, but the weapon did not discharge. Upon closer inspection, I realized that Haj Aziz Rastgar’s hand was placed on the barrel. Had the weapon been fired by God’s will at that instant—before the operation had formally begun and before the division had entered combat—one of his hands would undoubtedly have been severed, inflicting a grave loss and serious hardship upon the division.

Thereafter, Martyr Rastgar himself took hold of the DShK and, to our utter astonishment, fired it without even pulling the charging handle. This incident was among the divine miracles. Many such events and manifestations occurred throughout the war, and our comrades must undoubtedly recount them to you and to your children.

To be continued…