Iran FM Commemorates 1998 Mazar-i-Sharif Martyrs

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has, in a message, honoured the memory of the Iranian diplomats and journalists killed by the Taliban during a siege of the Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan back in 1998. The full text of the message follows:

Nineteen years have passed since a number of elite Iranian reporters and diplomats were martyred in Mazar-i-Sharif while on duty and offering sincere services abroad. The tragedy tore the hearts of Iranians as well as all Muslims and justice-seekers across the world.

The contravention of international laws and human principles as well as resorting to violence and terror to violate the immunity of the Iranian diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif was among the darkest and most painful events in Iran’s history, which has had many ups and downs.

Now, nearly two decades on since the sorrowful and heinous crime was committed, those who serve at Iran’s diplomacy apparatus together with the country’s journalists still mourn the demise of their colleagues.

I commemorate those who lost their lives in the painful tragedy and renew allegiance to all martyrs who gave their lives for Islam and the 1979 Revolution. I ask God Almighty to bestow his blessings upon them and wish their families success, dignity and prosperity.