- 7 weeks ago
In this edition of India Today Global, watch Geeta Mohan's ground report from Behesht-e Zahra cemetery where Iranians gathered to pay their respects to fallen commanders and the eighty-seven sailors who died when an American torpedo sank an Iranian ship off the Sri Lankan coast.
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00:11Today, Satya and I have come here in south of Tehran.
00:16This is the Shahadat Street or the Martyrs Boulevard.
00:20And on both sides is the Bahishteh Zehra Cemetery.
00:26This is the largest cemetery of Iran, spanning over 1,300 acres.
00:34And many of the Iranians, particularly people from Tehran, are buried here,
00:41including martyrs who lost their lives in every war that Iran has fought,
00:47including the 12-day war and now the Ramadan or the Ramzan war, as it is called.
00:52And we will be taking you there to explain to you what martyrdom really means to Iran
01:00and for the people of Iran, that they are not scared of death,
01:04that martyrdom is celebrated, why is it celebrated.
01:08We will explain all that to you and we will take you to where people on a Friday
01:14gather just to pay the respects. So let's go.
01:42Part of the cemetery where all the top commanders have been laid to rest,
01:47the top commanders, not just from the recent war, the Ramzan or the Ramadan war,
01:53but also the 12-day war and way before that.
01:56Let's begin with one of the heroes of Iranian revolution and forces.
02:03This is Mushtaba Hashemi.
02:06He is known to be the founding father of asymmetric warfare in Iran,
02:14also famously known in Iran as the Chegwawara of Iran.
02:19But on the left-hand side, if you can see, there are graves of the recently martyred
02:27top commanders of Iran and very important over here is the fact that not just their family members come,
02:36today is Friday, not just the family members come, a lot of people across Tehran come over here
02:45to pay their respects or remember their loved ones, but then they also come to this area
02:50where the commanders are and pay their respects to them.
02:53So a lot of people you are seeing over here may not be family members,
02:56but they bring their family, their children to show a piece of history
03:03because this certainly is a piece of history of Iran where they're trying to tell their children
03:08how much it takes to keep and secure their own country.
03:13That's why this part of the cemetery is very important.
03:18This actually speaks of martyrdom, teaches martyrdom and shahadat,
03:24and that martyrdom is honoured across Iran.
03:35The Supreme Leader was martyred, no less from a missile that was Israeli and American.
03:43What does that signify to Iran?
03:45Actually, I know, reading words history shows you a lot of things, actually.
03:52This is not an extraordinary thing to happen.
03:57America, America and Israel has done a lot of genocides through the history
04:03to a lot of countries, Afghanistan, Iraq, now Iran, Yemen, all those countries, Palestine,
04:10still going on.
04:11So I think nobody got shocked because of these things.
04:16They do this all over the world.
04:18The thing, it is their own property, so they do whatever they want.
04:22But, actually, the thing that we're trying to show them is that you're messing with wrong nation, actually.
04:31We're not like them.
04:32Okay.
04:33Messing with the wrong nation.
04:34A very strong, strong message there to the West.
04:38But the Trump administration and President Trump himself also saying the same thing.
04:44He's threatening all over again, sign the deal or else.
04:47What do you have to say to him?
04:48Actually, you know, we've learned about this American exceptionalism.
04:53That's, you know, that's the way that you're going on in all those things that we learned about history.
05:01But here is something else, actually.
05:04We believe in martyrdom and we believe in resistance.
05:07We know what are we going to do.
05:09And we're not like others, actually.
05:11You're messing with wrong people.
05:13Okay.
05:14Again, this is not just, this is just part of the story, Hannah.
05:19If I go across, how is America going to fight this?
05:24I keep asking this to the world.
05:26I keep putting this question in all my videos.
05:29That you can fight somebody and you can threaten somebody who's scared.
05:33But if a country is prepared to die and is already preparing for the future deaths, look around you.
05:40That's what we're seeing, Hannah.
05:41Look at all this.
05:43Explain what is this?
05:45What is Iran doing?
05:47Preparing, ensuring that the graves are set, a message to the world, to America.
05:53What is this?
05:54Exactly.
05:54If you go there and ask their families, martyrs' family, they will tell you that they're looking for martyrdom.
06:01We love it, actually.
06:03It is our wishes.
06:04And maybe they will thank America to make their wishes come true.
06:09So we're not afraid of being martyred.
06:11It is our wish.
06:13We're looking after it.
06:15Okay.
06:16Any message from the youth?
06:19You represent the youth.
06:20Any message from the youth of Iran in maybe following the path of peace,
06:26but telling them also to follow the path of peace?
06:29How would Iran want to do with them?
06:31Actually, I think one of the most important things that we are facing now
06:35is that the youth generation, maybe those Gen Z that we talk about them a lot,
06:41they understood this imperialism that's trying to control the world.
06:46And they're kind of awake.
06:48They don't want it anymore.
06:50And I think it is a really big threat to U.S. and Israel and those countries like this.
06:57They're trying to free the world from those cruel governments like U.S. or the Israeli regime
07:06and these kind of things.
07:06Okay, finally, as again somebody representing the youth, what got us really looking at Iran
07:15is not just how Iran has resisted American pressure, but how you've done the narrative war online.
07:23We are seeing Lego videos, we are seeing spoofs, we are seeing mimicry.
07:30What is all that about?
07:31Actually, I'm really happy about this because Iran's media is going to do great about those Lego videos
07:39and, you know, songs that they've made.
07:42I'm really happy about that.
07:45And basically, I think we're that nation that we're going to, you know, be happy
07:55and we're going to continue this spirit right here.
07:59We'll love martyr them, but we will resist.
08:02And we're looking for the one that they're trying to, you know, fight with us, attack us.
08:11We're here.
08:12We're waiting for them and we're happy about it.
08:22On the 4th of March, an Iranian ship that was participating in the International Fleet Review
08:29in Visakhapatnam was sunk by an American torpedo off the Sri Lankan coast in the Indian Ocean.
08:4087 sailors died that day, of which one of them, Mohamed Vaziri, he was from Tehran.
08:50The bodies were repatriated or brought back to Iran and were sent to their families in various parts of the
08:57country.
08:58But Mohamed Vaziri was laid to rest right here.
09:02A soldier, a sailor, who was on a friendly visit to India was sunk and his ship was sunk by
09:13the Americans.
09:14There was outrage across the world when it comes to a ship, an unarmed ship being sunk by America.
09:22But America called it a win.
09:25And many of the family members of those 87 sailors who lost their lives and when the ship was sunk
09:34have been laid to rest.
09:36Mohamed Vaziri is one such sailor who's been laid to rest over here in Tehran.
09:50Mohamed Vaziri, President Trump says he is doing this for the people of Iran.
09:57What do you have to say to him?
09:59To who?
09:59President Trump.
10:02There's no one that I want to talk to him.
10:05I mean, we don't even consider him as a person, let alone a president.
10:12So everybody in the world knows what his main purpose is and what he wants.
10:19He just became, I don't know, just Netanyahu, who played with him, maybe faulty.
10:30Or maybe he wanted the people's mind to be distracted from all the Epstein and Files and everything, all the
10:39corruption that he is engaged in.
10:41So, and we have, I mean, Iran is a very rich country, is a very, I mean, it's geopolitic, is
10:49a magnificent and it's specific.
10:52So, of course, all the powers want to have this.
10:57But we are ready.
10:59I mean, we are not going to.
11:01I can see that.
11:02I can see the youth ready.
11:03I can see them more united than ever before.
11:05Has Trump made a big mistake with this because what he thought he will do, a regime change, breaking the
11:13country, it has done the absolute opposite?
11:16He dug his grave.
11:18You know, what he did, he actually dug his grave.
11:22He dug his grave is what Zahra is saying at a cemetery where they are paying respect to their loved
11:29ones and almost celebrating shahadat and martyrdom, Zahra.
11:35Honestly, I have, I mean, I am not connected.
11:38Even more important.
11:40Even more important that a lot of people are meeting over here, have not lost a loved one.
11:46They are coming here to pay respect.
11:48Exactly.
11:48They are showing their respect for the ones who laid down their lives for Iran.
11:53As I said, we are a family.
11:54Maybe we have never seen each other, but we are a family.
11:58And we respect what they did to us, I mean, for us.
12:02Many of them are the soldiers that they protected us.
12:05They lost their lives just to protect us.
12:08And many others were just innocent people, people like me, like my family.
12:14I mean, they were just living their lives.
12:17And I could be one of them.
12:19I may be one of them in the future, so.
12:22Is that difficult?
12:23Because you might have kids in the family, children that you see, school of menard that was hit.
12:30The future generation, kids do not deserve war.
12:34They deserve education.
12:36This is why we are standing, I think.
12:38I mean, we are standing firm because we don't want this war to happen in the future.
12:45You know, we want to, I mean, I think that countries who think that there's super power,
12:52they are always doing this to countries and to the nations that they think they're weak.
12:58You know, I mean, the U.S. did this to Venezuela.
13:05They did this to Syria.
13:07They're doing it with Lebanon, you know.
13:10They think that they can get, I mean, and I mean, these countries, for example, Libya,
13:15they have been engaged with probably permanent war.
13:19So what we are standing here to show them that, I mean, this is the last step for them.
13:25And this is not going to happen anymore in the future.
13:30So what they did was the last.
13:33So Iran is putting a stop to America's adventurism.
13:36Exactly.
13:37That's an important message, that if they do not stand up today, that it will be many
13:42other countries tomorrow.
13:44And Iran does not want that for others.
13:46Exactly.
13:47And nor does it want it for Iran.
13:48Exactly, yeah.
13:49That's the voice of youth.
13:50It's not coming from us.
13:52It's not coming from anywhere else.
13:53You come here to the ground and you hear the youth of Iran.
13:58Educated women.
13:59A lot of people think that education, this is not Taliban.
14:04This is Iran.
14:06Women in Iran are educated.
14:07Sure.
14:08Right, Zahra?
14:09I am an electrical engineer and I have a master's in aeronautics.
14:15Master's in aeronautics.
14:16That's the future over here.
14:18That's the reason why they're so highly skilled when it comes to technology.
14:23Zahra, thank you so much for joining us.
14:25That was a pleasure for me.
14:32The story of Iran does not end with this war.
14:35It begins with this revolution and resistance that Iran has believed in.
14:41The idea of martyrdom, the idea that they will be willing to die even if Iran and America
14:47continue with the war.
14:49America might want to end this war, might want to annihilate Iran.
14:55But how do you fight a country and a nation where the people do not believe in just succumbing
15:01or compromising, but in taking on with death and with martyrdom?
15:14Every day since the attack on Benab School that claimed 168 lives on the first day of the war,
15:22here at Tajri Square, people have come for rallies every single night and remembered the children
15:31of Benab.
15:32There are people who come with these little kids.
15:34But the photos that you see over here are of those who no longer are here to enjoy a day
15:44that's
15:44called International Mother's Day with their mothers.
15:48And those mothers who've lost their little girls in the city of Benab clearly are not celebrating
15:56this day, will not be celebrating this day anymore.
16:04We are here with one of the mothers who comes here with her family and her child almost every
16:11other night, whenever they find time.
16:13Zahra, thank you so much for taking our time.
16:16Your first thoughts, because when I saw the Tajri Square and when I saw these children of
16:22Benab, I realized how important children are to the people of Iran and that you are not
16:28going to forget what happened in Benab.
16:30Sure.
16:31Because I'm a mother too, so I understand how heartbreaking is that to lose a son or a daughter.
16:40Just imagine that, for example, you say goodbye to your kid to send them to school and they
16:48never come back, never.
16:50And you won't be able to find even parts of their body.
16:53Just, for example, a book of her or him for memories.
16:59And that's not just heartbreaking, that's horrible.
17:03That's a disaster.
17:04And how the world can be silenced and not say anything in front of all of that.
17:11We come here all night just to say that we will never forgive them.
17:16We will never forget them.
17:17And we are here beside their mothers, their families, and we will do all in our power to
17:27say that we are beside them every moment, every minute of that hard moments that we will
17:35not be able to understand how they feel exactly.
17:40You know, from the very beginning of the war, we have a very strange kind of feeling.
17:50We, from one side, we understand that, okay, we are faced with the unequal war, which imposed
18:00to us.
18:02And from other side, we know that we should resist.
18:05Okay, we cannot go to the war battle.
18:11We cannot go to, you know, preparing the launcher or everything.
18:18Our battle is this.
18:20We know that we should come here and we should, you know, make this message to our soldiers that
18:31we support you with all our power, with all our strength.
18:36And we want you to know that you are not alone.
18:42We are here at the Tadrish Square and everywhere that you see, you see the Iranian flag flying
18:49high.
18:50And every nook and corner of this Tadrish Square or any square that has these rallies every night,
18:58you see little shops that are selling flags, that are selling caps with the national flag,
19:05selling photographs of leaders.
19:08But what is interesting is, we were speaking to a few people and they do not want to come
19:12on camera, but most of them say that at the beginning of the war, the sale of these flags
19:19went very, very high.
19:22And it was skyrocketing in terms of sale, prices, somehow right now, because everybody
19:28owns a flag, the sale has come down, but a lot of flags, Iranian national flags, got sold
19:37at the peak and the beginning of the war with the United States of America and Israel.
19:43And it's not just that.
19:45Let's just go across to the young boys over here.
19:48A lot of messaging here in the streets of Tehran, look at this, these are T-shirts that
19:55say, Hormoz is ours, and this one says, fight like an Iranian.
20:01Clearly, over here, after what Iran has done in this war, where America has not been able
20:09to declare victory, the message is that nobody fights better than the Iranians do, and claiming
20:17the Strait of Hormoz clearly.
20:19What made you think of this message on T-shirts that you put?
20:25We all are fighting, and this is the way we young people can fight for our country.
20:31This is the way we can fight for our country.
20:32Okay.
20:33Not on the battlefield, but certainly here in Tehran, everybody making an effort, doing
20:40their bit, ensuring that they stand with their country, is that correct?
20:44Yes.
20:44Mikhail over here with his friends, they're a band of musicians, and they've been doing this
20:50for a while.
20:53Do you come here every night?
20:54Yes, of course.
20:55Every night for at least two weeks.
20:58At least two weeks?
20:59Yeah.
20:59And are these the only two T-shirts, or do you have other messages also?
21:03No.
21:04Show us.
21:05Okay.
21:06All right.
21:07There you go.
21:08Solidarity with Iran.
21:09Another T-shirt over here.
21:11There.
21:13So a lot of messaging.
21:14They're doing their bit, fighting the war from wherever they can.
21:20And like I said, every person that you see or every other person certainly is holding
21:26what we know as the Iranian national flag.
21:44This over here is the Dharmaan street.
21:47We as the India Today crew were here just a couple of days before the war to interview
21:55Foreign Minister Raochi.
21:57And this is how Dharmaan street looked even then.
22:01Today, after the war, and it's been two months, it still remains the same.
22:07It sees file, both sides are holding file, so things look normal.
22:12But this is how a weekend at the Dharmaan street looks like.
22:16Where people come out with their families, with the children, to have a good evening.
22:22And have a meal with the family and friends.
22:25The color, the splendor, the light, the colorful street food, all of that still there.
22:34And the music still playing.
22:36Just have to wait and see whether if it will continue being this.
22:42And if this is going to be the new normal.
22:44Should there be a deal between US and Iran.
22:48With British journalist Satya Raochi, at Dharmaan street in Tehran.
22:53Geeta Mohan for India Today Global.
22:55Builders.
22:56Hundred and French militias.
23:00So.
23:05Is in the community a better country.
23:08You didn't allow Gracias.
23:09No, I want you, exactly.
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