TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi has hailed the “brilliant record” of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the fight against terrorism, saying late commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani has become the hero of anti-terror battle in the region.
Marking the National Guards Day in a meeting with a number of IRGC forces in West Azarbaijan Province, Raisi said the Iranian forces have always created security and foiled the enemies’ evil acts.
He added that enemies are fearful of the IRGC forces because they have always safeguarded divine values, the Iranian people, and the country.
Enemies have wrongly thought that they would be able to cause fear among the Iranian people and forces by assassinating the country’s forces and commanders, Raisi said.
He noted that the IRGC forces are playing a role across the country while countries in the region owe their security to the bravery of the IRGC.
“The arrogance has created Daesh and terrorist groups but the IRGC’s presence leads to security,” the president said.
“General Soleimani is the hero of the fight against terrorism in the region and battle against the insurgents and those who foment insecurity,” he added.
General Soleimani, Commander of the IRGC Quds Force, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated in a U.S. drone strike authorized by former U.S. president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Raisi said enemies have sustained numerous defeats from Iran in various sectors and “they themselves have announced it.”
Pointing to the enemies’ miscalculations in dealing with the Islamic establishment, the president emphasized that anyone who seeks to conduct an act of evil against the country or threaten it would be defeated.
In a related development, an Iranian Ph.D. student has said he will not present his thesis at Stockholm University if authorities violate the freedom of speech and do not let him honor Iranian “heroes” such as General Soleimani.
Vahid Saadattalab, who is set to defend his thesis at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry on March 3, recently published his work for public reading. In addition to appreciating his family in the initial greeting, the student also commemorated General Qassem Soleimani and Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari.
The act has not been welcomed by some at the university. An employee described it as a “big deal” in an interview with SVT, signaling efforts to block the seminar.
“If this is a normal thing that you dedicate it to your family, then Soleimani is also my family; he is like a father to me, he is like a brother to me,” Saadattalab told SVT.
“He saved my country so why not dedicate it to my family in a bigger picture?” he asked.
According to reports, university authorities have called for an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to address the issue.
The student noted he should be allowed to do what he intends “if there is freedom of speech in Sweden.”
Asked about the reason for naming these figures at the outset of his

thesis, Saadattalab said, “They are heroes. They were the ones who saved humanity from the evil force in the Middle East actually.”
“I was able to continue research on science in light of the security that we get from them,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t have defended my thesis without that.”
Asked whether he would present his thesis if university authorities ask him to put that lines away, Saadattalab answered, “I will never at all.”
The March 3 seminar has been removed from the calendar on the institution’s website.
The Swedish outlet has quoted the head of the related department as saying that the acknowledgment section is “completely outside the scientific part” of the thesis and that the university has no say in that.
Ayatollah Motahhari was a prominent Muslim scholar and philosopher. Revered as one of the most influential contemporary Iranian clerics in explaining Islamic teachings, the great teacher has written more than 70 books in various fields including Islam, Iran, and history. He was assassinated a few months after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.