Extract of Ayatollah Jami War Memoirs

Selected by Faezeh Sasanikhah
Translated by Zahra Hosseinian

2023-10-25

Early in the morning, I got a phone call which alarmed that the situation on the Khorramshahr front is extremely dangerous, and I was strongly asked to inform the authorities. Immediately, I called the imam's office and emphasized that the situation is crucial. Then I went to the gendarmerie regiment and the war room. Everyone was worried there. Negotiations were held with the relevant officers. Then I went to the radio station for the daily message and like the previous days, I gave a message to the fighters and people of Khuzestan. I came home around noon. We had neither water nor lunch. to quench my thirst, I sucked on a pomegranate, and then managed to find some potatoes and hard-boiled eggs.

It wasn't noon [that] my friend, Mr. Karamati[1] came from Khorramshahr, confused and worrying. He said that the situation in Khorramshahr is very critical and dire; the Iraqi army took Khorramshahr under artillery and mortar fire; and a large number of combatants and civilians have been martyred. He asked me to do something.  It was said that our forces were in disarray [and] most of them have retreated. In Khorramshahr, the situation is such that the Iraqis entered the city and took a position in the houses of Taleghani neighborhood, and targeted the people. The congregational mosque was hit by cannons and mortars, and Khorramshahr was about to fall. At the same time, we had a phone call from the governor's coordination headquarters that asked us to go to the gendarmerie regiment immediately. Also, they informed us that the soldiers were fleeing from the Khorramshahr front and Khorramshahr has fallen into the hands of the Iraqis. I left immediately and went to the gendarmerie regiment. There was a commotion there. The forces were all gathered and Colonel Razavi was lecturing and encouraging them to move towards the Khorramshahr front. The governor of Abadan also spoke a few words. After that, I spoke in the same context too, that is, encouraging them to move to the front. Then the troops moved to Khorramshahr front.

The night slowly came and we are all worried and thinking about Khorramshahr. Close to the end of day I visited the staff of radio station. I saw that they were busy digging a well there because the water was cut off, and everyone was digging trenches. They were also worried about the critical situation in Khorramshahr.

I came home around evening to go to the mosque with Mr. Karamati. I found out that Mr. Mousavi and Sadaqat, the scholars of Khorramshahr, had come to Abadan due to the critical situation in Khorramshahr. They spent the night in my place. In deed, Mr. Mousavi came to my house to call the Imam's office, and while reporting the situation, asked for help to save Khorramshahr.

Finally, with Mr. Mousavi's permission, I left him at home and went to the mosque. After praying, I returned home. We were all worried about Khorramshahr. It was an unforgettable night. As far as I could, I phoned the authorities whom I thought would be effective, and asked them to send all forces from the IRGC, Basij, Gendarmerie and ordinary people, armed and unarmed to save Khorramshahr.

The truth was [that] the situation [was] extremely critical and dangerous and they considered Khorramshahr to be fallen. Almost all the organizations based in Khorramshahr had left. The police personnel, for example, had evacuated Khorramshahr’s police and came to Abadan. Only some security guards and armed men from the gendarmerie, etc. were in the congregational mosque, who were also in serious danger. In short, we spent the whole night in anxiety, and we all thought about what news we would hear in the morning. But Khorramshahr was completely fallen, [now] the flag of the hated Baath regime should be replaced by the flag of the Islamic Republic, and the photo of the infidel Saddam should be replaced by the Imam’s photo; what value and meaning will life have for us anymore.

The revered Mr. Mousavi was up for almost the whole night. He spent the night praying and supplication, and after midnight, he was still engaged in praying. Yes, these prayers always have helped us.

Finally, with all the worries, the night was over and the morning came. We didn’t hear anything new. I immediately telephoned the war news centers. It turned out that the warriors of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gendarmerie and the military and volunteer forces have created an epic. With the spirit of martyrdom and sacrificially, and having unequal forces, they have attacked the enemy forces, which were equipped with cannons, tanks, and modern light and heavy weapons; [and] by many sacrifices and martyrs, they got a blow in the enemy, and inflicted heavy losses on them, and drove them out of the city. The spirit of monotheism and Islamic education really work wonders.