Eight Years of holy defense of the Iranian people against the Baathist aggression were full of epic and self-sacrifice. The first year of the imposed war, was the most difficult year but full of selfless struggles.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the fall of the Shah's corrupt regime, the fledgling Islamic Republic needed time to stabilize, but Iran faced conspiracies from anti-revolutionary elements inside the country and the enemies abroad which were all supported directly or indirectly by the Great Satan, the US. Thus, there was no readiness to counter the invasion of Saddam's Ba'athist regime. It was only the resistance of the popular forces who along the military forces hindered the advancement of Saddam's army inside the Iranian soil. The strategy for confronting the enemy was the irregular defense against Saddam's armed-to-the-teeth army. Lack of cohesion among military forces was not the only weak point of Iran. There was no unison among the officials on how to confront the imposed war along 1458- kilometer borderlines with Iraq. The inconsistency among Iranian officials would nullify all efforts for the maximum use of the country's military capacity to tackle the imposed war. The first Iranian president Abul Hassan Bani Sadr played an important role in creating gap among the officials at different political, security and military levels. He was trapped in the plots hatched by the US and anti- revolutionaries. At this juncture of time, there were some revolutionary figures who performed very well in organizing people to counter anti-revolutionaries especially in Kurdistan province and the Iraqi Baathist army. One of these prominent figures was Mostafa Chamran. One of Dr. Chamran's strategic measures to counter the Iraqi army was the formation of irregular wars headquarter in Ahwaz in the beginning days of the imposed war.

Dr. Mostafa Chamran was a brilliant academic and an outstanding scientist of his era, even before being considered as a revolutionary figure, and a devoted combatant. Martyr Chamran was a top student, at school, high school and university. After finishing high school with top grades, he enrolled at the Engineering Department of Tehran University and graduated after four years in electro-mechanical engineering with top honors and repute. He then obtained a scholarship, available to bright students only, and went to the US for postgraduate studies. After spending years in research, he obtained his PhD in Electronics and Plasma physics, from University of California at Berkley. The theme of Dr. Chamran's dessertation was Plasma Physics and Magnetrons which at that time was considered the latest knowledge of the day in the west.  

Along with his scientific efforts and academic successes, Dr. Chamran had an effective presence in political and social arenas. Since his teens, he participated in Islamic circles such as the classes of interpretation of the Holy Qur'an of late Ayatollah Taleqani in Hedayat mosque in Tehran and was among the first members of the Islamic association of Tehran University students. Despite numerous academic problems in the US and being far from the homeland, Chamran not only did not give up his political campaigns but he founded many revolutionary organizations and associations like the Iranian Student Association and the Islamic Association of Muslim Students in the US. After completing his academic studies, he worked at one of the NASA-affiliated research centers named Bell Laboratory, which was active in the field of satellites, guided missiles and three-dimensional radars. Although several universities invited him to teach even as full professor, he preferred research activities.

Due to his political struggles, Dr. Chamran was subjected to intense pressure by Iran's Shah and his scholarship and salary of Engineering College had been cut since years before. Finally, he left his privileged scientific and social situation to fight the Shah's regime and left the US for Egypt. Arriving in Egypt in 1963 during the rule of Jamal Abdul Naser, he spent two years on learning guerilla warfare and then in 1965, he rushed to Lebanon to help Imam Musa Sadr and the Lebanese Shias and founded the Movement of the Deprived and then Amal organization to fight the Zionist regime. 

The third chapter of Dr. Chamran's life started after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. 10 years after the victory, while he had been far from homeland for 21 years, he returned to Iran and put his revolutionary, combat and scientific experiences at the service of the revolution. Martyr Chamran devoted all his efforts to training the first IRGC groups and as deputy premier in the revolution's affairs, with dedication and courage countered the anti-revolutionary plots and ably administered the turbulent situation of Kurdistan province. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the city turned into the center of the US and Zionist-backed anti-revolutionary groups. A tough fight took place between the revolutionary forces and anti-revolutionary mercenaries. One of the missions of the great leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini (God's mercy upon him) for Dr. Chamran was to mobilize the army and popular forces to break the siege of Paveh city. The competent management of Chamran and the resistance of the popular forces ultimately led to the liberation of the city of Paveh from the siege of western-backed elements. Then, Imam Khomeini appointed Dr. Chamran as Defense Minister and the latter took basic measures for the development of the army and organizing the country’s defense forces.

Dr. Chamran was never in pursuit of power, wealth and fame. That's why, no matter what post he was given, he would defend the cause of the Islamic Revolution and safeguard its bright achievements.

With the outbreak of the war imposed by the Great Satan (the US) through its minion Saddam, Dr. Chamran established the irregular wars headquarter in Ahwaz the capital of Khuzestan province to counter the Baathist army. Chamran succeeded in preventing the advancement of the invaders by organizing the popular forces who had come to Khuzestan to fight the Ba'athist invaders and, in some areas, managed to drive back the Ba'athist aggressors. In the meantime, another figure, who was present in the headquarters of irregular wars was Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

At that time, Ayatollah Khamenei was Imam Khomeini's representative at the Supreme Defense Council, representative of Tehran people at the Islamic Consultative Assembly and Tehran Friday prayer leader. In the next program, we will talk more about the irregular wars headquarter and its role in preventing the advancement of the Iraqi Ba'athist army in the first months of the war.

FK/RM/SS