Excerpt from the Memoirs of Reza Amir Sardari

Mersad

Selected by Iranian Oral History Website
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2025-7-29

After Iran’s acceptance of the ceasefire resolution, in addition to many prisoners of war, the Iraqis themselves anticipated that with the normalization of relations between the two countries, the fate of POWs would soon be resolved. From the very next day after Iran’s official announcement of the resolution, Iraqi newspapers launched an extensive propaganda campaign centered around Clause 6 of the UN Security Council Resolution. They published lengthy lists of statistics, figures, and historical events that had taken place prior to the war, attempting to demonstrate that Iran had been the aggressor. They swore vehemently that throughout the entire conflict, Iraq had merely acted in self-defense and had repeatedly sought reconciliation with Iran.

Every day, several pages of the English-language newspaper Baghdad Observer were dedicated to such claims. However, it didn’t take long for them to realize that invoking Clause 6 would not be as straightforward as they had hoped. At the same time, delving into the other clauses was not in their best interest either. After all, one of the prerequisites for peace was still being deliberately withheld by Iraq — Naft Shahr remained under their occupation. Thus, the focus on Clause 6 vanished, and the newspapers shifted their discourse toward Iraq’s “historic rights over the Arvand River,” crying foul and accusing Iran of usurping their rightful claims over the waterway.

What was particularly noteworthy was their clumsy attempt to rationalize the occupation of Naft Shahr. Their narrative was that “we are holding Naft Shahr so that we can secure our rights in other regions. Besides, we haven’t done anything new — Iran did the same during the Ottoman era, seizing parts of northern territory to extract concessions in the south!”

Around the same time, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) also launched a massive propaganda campaign across various media — television, radio, newspapers, and colorful magazines — focusing on Iran’s acceptance of the ceasefire. In their view, this acceptance signaled the downfall of the Islamic Republic. Massoud Rajavi even delivered a speech to his so-called “National Liberation Army,” during which he recited several verses from the Qur’an and proceeded to proclaim himself “Moses” and Maryam Rajavi as “Aaron”! With remarkable seriousness, he declared that he and his sister were divinely appointed to “save the Iranian people.”

Rajavi, however, was aware that he needed to offer some justification for the MEK’s humiliating defeat in Mehrān. So he claimed that during the fighting there, they had realized they possessed enough strength to launch an assault on Tehran itself. It was from this line of thinking that the infamous slogan, “Today Mehran, tomorrow Tehran” was born. Rajavi was confident that with the help of the “heroic and oppressed people of Iran,” who he believed were “thirsty for freedom,” victory was within reach — a victory that would be shown in a “democratic people’s government.” In the end, he shouted: “Forward to Operation Eternal Light! (Forugh-e Javidan)^[1].”

Shortly after Rajavi’s speech, reports began to emerge that the MEK had launched their offensive. During this time, their television network claimed that the people of Eslamabad and Kerend-e Gharb were offering their full support. With brazen audacity, they even asserted that Iranian forces had suffered 60,000 casualties at the hands of the so-called “fighters of Eternal Light.”

Shortly after Rajavi's speech, news arrived that the Monafeqin (MEK) had launched their offensive. During this time, through television broadcasts, they repeatedly claimed that the people of Eslamabad and Kerend-e Gharb were giving them full support — and with bold shamelessness, they went so far as to assert that the Iranian army had suffered 60,000 casualties in clashes with the "Forough Javidan" combatants!

However, just a few days into the operation, the MEK’s tone shifted dramatically. It became apparent they had come to terms with the fact that conquering Tehran was not going to be as easy as they had fantasized. Their blind advance came to a halt. While they tried to rationalize their withdrawal from Mehran, claiming it was to prevent their forces from stagnating, there remained no plausible excuse for the absurd and catastrophic failure of Operation Eternal Light.

In the end, the MEK found themselves in a disastrous situation and decided to remain silent about the operation altogether. Had they been more shameless, they might have even denied that the operation had ever taken place. A week after the failure, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi held a ceremony in which the bodies of the MEK fighters killed in the operation were buried in Karbala and Najaf. The group’s monthly publication later printed photos of Iranian martyrs — lifted from Iranian newspapers — in a desperate attempt to prove their false claim of 60,000 Iranian casualties. Ironically, in order not to appear anti-popular, they claimed those martyrs belonged to the IRGC. Honestly, a pumice stone has more shame.^[2]