A few hundred Iraqi Christians flocked on Saturday to Bartella, a northern town recently retaken from the ISIS terrorist group, to celebrate Christmas for the first time since 2013.
Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri in separate messages congratulated his Christian counterparts on the birthday anniversary of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the new Christian year.
While most of the Middle East is gripped with turmoil, terrorist attacks or displacement of both Muslim and non-Muslim residents due to military conflicts, Iranian Christians are smoothly making preparations for Christmas in over 300 churches across the country.
Jesus came to say that God is one and for all humanity and there is no such thing as a superior, better ethnic group, said President Rouhani in his New Year congratulatory message.
Iran's parliament speaker congratulates Jesus Christ's birth, saying violence and extremism are the main concerns of all nations and followers of divine religions.
