Iran marks 85th anniversary of WWII Allied invasion, spokesman warns against repeating history

Tehran - BORNA - Esmail Baghaei wrote on X social media platform on the anniversary of the Allied military invasion of Iran in September 1941, which lasted six years and caused extensive damage and losses to the country.

He wrote: "Today, September 3, marks the 85th anniversary of the invasion of Iran by parties engaged in a devastating war. At dawn on September 3, 1941 — just 85 years ago — our homeland was brutally occupied for the second time in less than three decades, despite the official declaration of neutrality by the monarchy."

Baghaei described how the Soviet Union attacked from the north and east, and Britain from the south and west, by land and air. "The Iranian army collapsed within days. Major cities fell, all of Iran was occupied, and the king abdicated just 22 days after the invasion, without resistance, and was exiled in a humiliating manner to a remote British colony in the Indian Ocean," he wrote.

He said the bitter experience has never been forgotten by Iranians. "In both world wars imposed on the world by Europe, more than the destruction of the country, the loss of countless lives, and the looting of Iranian assets, it was the insult to the dignity of a noble nation that had no role in those conflicts."

Baghaei concluded: "A powerful Iran, which has proudly overcome severe crises, now faces another fateful test. We have learned that safeguarding national dignity and independence requires self-belief and a firm will to resist, and national authority with all its components is the only effective deterrent against foreign excess and aggression."

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