Iranian Religious Scholar Mohammad-Bagher Heydari Kashani Praises Child Martyrdom: 7,070 Of Our Martyrs In The Iraq-Iran War Were Under The Age Of 14

Iranian religious scholar Mohammad-Bagher Heydari Kashani said in a September 8, 2020 lecture that aired on Channel 2 (Iran) that children should aspire to be martyrs, and that each and every one of Iran's offspring can become like Qasem Soleimani. He also said that 36,000 Iranian primary school students had been killed in the Iran-Iraq War, and that these students, 7070 of whom had been under the age of 14, are a source of Iran's pride and are God's favorites.

Mohammad-Bagher Heydari Kashani: "All the theoreticians in the world mistakenly believe that population size and growth are a symbol of power... We're talking about Islamic Iran, which needs to build a cadre and manpower for the movement that is expecting [the Hidden Imam]. We're talking about Islamic Iran, where each and every one of its offspring can become [like] Hajj Qasem Soleimani.

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"We had 36,000 student martyrs [in the Iran-Iraq War], 7,070 of whom were under the age of 14.

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"They were a source of pride for us, and we must thank God for them. Many of us are ungrateful.

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"They achieve a status in which they become God's beloved, his favorites. Sometimes, we are the ones who love God, but other times, He is the one Who, in His divinity, falls in love with us. This is the horizon that our children should aim for."