Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its regular army issued statements on Sunday marking the anniversary of the return of prisoners of war from Iraq in 1990, praising their resilience and pledging readiness to confront threats against the country.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the anniversary of the release of Iranian captives during the 1980s war with Iraq recalled “divine patience, iron will and steadfast faith” that upheld the dignity of the Iranian nation.
“The Iranian nation... is prepared to crush any enemy front and any malicious plan against the security and future of its land,” the Guards said.
The statement described the former POWs as “the true symbols of active resistance and strategic hope,” adding that their example had shown “the power of faith, national unity and revolutionary steadfastness can bring the biggest war machines and imperialist policies to their knees.”
The IRGC pledged to remain committed to the ideals of the Islamic Republic’s late founder Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian nation.
The Iranian army issued a separate statement commemorating the date, describing the return of the POWs as a moment of national pride. “The 26th of Mordad (August 17) reminds us of the glorious return of the liberated, whose patience and faith demonstrated the greatness and endurance of the Iranian nation to the world,” it said.
The army praised the sacrifices of those held in captivity and said their memory would “shine like a beacon on the path of future generations.”
It vowed to continue the path of resistance and expressed confidence that, “by divine grace, oppressed nations of the region will also expel Zionist and American occupiers from their lands and expand the geography of resistance to the horizon of ultimate victory for the Islamic nation.”
August 17, 1990, marked the return of the first group of Iranian captives after years of imprisonment in Iraq. Nearly 50,000 Iranians, many of them volunteer fighters, were eventually repatriated in exchange for a similar number of Iraqi prisoners of war.
