Mordad 17 on the Persian calendar, which this year fell on August 7, has been designated as the Journalist’s Day to honor Iranian journalist Mahmoud Saremi who was killed along with eight Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998.
The Iranian president congratulated journalists and reporters in Iran on the occasion.
In a message on Wednesday, Massoud Pezeshkian said, “The essence of journalism is to sympathize with people and to deeply understand their concerns.”
Pezeshkian also held his first press conference later in the day, promising he would help the media better relay their messages.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry also released a statement to felicitate the day.
In his message on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani honored the memory of the victims of the 1998 tragic incident perpetrated by the Taliban, and praised journalists for “sacrificing their lives in the most difficult working conditions and dangerous environments” to deliver their messages.
