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Inside Iran: Signs of the Apocalypse

Inside Iran: The Young and the Restless

Inside Iran: The Ultimate Martyrdom

Inside Iran: Truth and its Consequences

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Inside Iran

Inside Iran: Waiting for Paradise

By George Thomas
CBN News

CBN.com – TEHRAN, Iran - You can't miss them. They are practically everywhere -- on billboards and on the side of buildings -- huge posters of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iranian suicide bombers.

They show three, four, five individuals -- Iranians who have sacrificed their lives as martyrs in the Iranian revolution back in 1979.

For decades, Iran's rulers have praised such acts of death, calling them "blessed." In 1979, Ayatullah Khomeini, the man who led the Islamic revolution in Iran, said that the "tree of Islam should be watered with the blood of martyrs."

Fast forward to 2006. Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pledged to revive the spirit of the Islamic revolution by calling on the faithful to water the tree of Islam.

"Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine,” asked Ahmadinejad, “and more eternal than the art of martyrdom?"

Ali Saeedi is waiting for it. To prepare himself, he spends time living among the dead.

"I have come to Behesht Zahra to pray for our martyrs," Saeedi said.

It's Thursday afternoon, and like on all Thursday's, Saeed is at Behesht Zahra, Iran's famous cemetery. Located southwest of Iran's capital city Tehran, Behesht Zahra means "Paradise of Zahra."

Saeedi said, "We believe that those who have become martyrs are alive and we who are alive are really dead."

There is a section of the cemetery that's reserved just for martyrs. Here, thousands of young men and boys are buried. They died either during the Islamic revolution or the war with Iraq.

"This is something that you cannot understand,” said Saeedi, “martyrs never die, and I am praying to become one."

On this day, Saeedi prays and recites the Koran at the side of his brother's grave who was killed during the revolution.

"These men are the symbols of all the things that I could not achieve," Saeedi confessed.

Saeedi is not here alone. Hundreds of Iranians come to Behesht Zahra each week to keep alive the memory of the martyrs until they can join them.

Megghdad Hamedinia has brought his wife and 19-month-old daughter to the cemetery.

Hamedinia said, "I'd like to see the children who come here follow the example of these martyrs. My goal is to raise my daughter so that she will follow the same path."

Fifteen-year-old Mahri Riyahi has come to pray for her cousin who was killed in the Iraq-Iran war.

"I hope that I am worthy enough to be equal as these martyrs one day," she said.

The spirit of martyrdom is so important to the regime here in Iran. In fact, in one of his first acts, Ahmadinejad came to this cemetery to give honor to the hundreds of thousands of men and women who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of Islam.

Behesht Zahra has become an ideal place to scout for potential suicide bombers. Late last month, a radical Muslim group with ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps held a recruitment drive for suicide bombers at the cemetery.

Under a large banner showing coffins draped with American and British flags, more than 150 men and women reportedly signed up to blow themselves up in suicidal missions against Americans, Britons, and Israelis.

"This is a warning to Americans that there are forces ready and trained inside Iran to retaliate against their possible aggression," said Muhammad Ali Samadi, spokesperson for Lovers of Martyrdom.

The would-be suicide bombers vowed that Iran would "damage the U.S. worldwide" in retaliation against any U.S. attack.

"If the United States launches any military attack against Iran, I am ready to do whatever I can as a religious obligation," said would-be suicide bomber Sadati.

Iran's nuclear ambitions may have attracted the anger of the world. But in some corners of this country, it has strengthened Ahmadinejad's standing and fueled a desire for a confrontation with the West.

One Iranian man who supports Ahmadinejad said, "Ahmadinejad is a wonderful president and the kind of person who will never bend to any pressure whatsoever….We will punch all the aggressors in the nose. We will pull the ears of all the aggressors and we will force them to the ground, and we are all ready to die for our leader and for Islam."

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