IRAN NEWS
Iran Regime's Mercenaries in Syria Will Be Granted Iranian Citizenship
- Tuesday, 14 March 2017 08:18
NCRI - As the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) agreed to grant Iranian citizenship to the mercenaries fighting in Syria, the Head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs announced that granting citizenship to these people was ordered by the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
In an interview with the state-run Javan News on March 12th, Mohammad Ali Shahidi stated that Ali Khamenei in a meeting asked him to grant Iranian citizenship to Fatemiyoun Division forces. This division consists of Afghan mercenaries and Zainebiyoun Brigade includes Pakistani mercenaries residing in Iran and fighting to defend the Assad regime in Syria.
According to the reports, Khamenei stressed that: “we are obliged to keep these families. Therefore, make sure to grant them the Iranian citizenship. They shall also be covered by the Foundation of Martyrs."
In this regard also, the Head of the Foundation of Martyrs in Razavi Khorasan Province, Abedin Abedi-Moghaddam on Monday, March 6th announced that the SNSC agreed with a proposal of Khamenei's representative in the Province, Ahmad Alamolhoda to grant Iranian citizenship to the first-degree relatives of the so called foreign Defenders of the Shrine.
Hours after the news released, the Secretariat of the SNSC called the speeches given by the Head of the Martyrs' Foundation of Razavi Khorasan Province as "inaccurate". In fact, the Secretariat neither confirmed nor disproved these speeches.
Earlier, the current Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, Hossein-Ali Amiri, delivered a speech regarding the decisions of the SNSC to grant Iranian citizenship to the families of those foreigners killed in fighting in Syria.
On September 27th 2015 in an open session of the Parliament, he had announced that the plan of "granting Iranian citizenship to the children of non-Iranian martyrs" does not require approval.
As Hossein-Ali Amiri stated, the Foundation of Martyrs will resolve the problems of those who do service for the goals of the Islamic Revolution within the framework of legislation and regulations.
The current Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior had earlier announced that there are 230 cases related to this issue in this Ministry.
The regime's officials did not provide an exact figure regarding those Afghan forces killed in Syria.
The head of the Foundation of Martyrs in Qom Province, Javad Hashemi in a meeting with the families of those mercenaries of Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun Brigades said that 235 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war and were buried there as well.
The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Iran pays five hundred dollars a month and gives residence permits to thousands of Afghan refugees in order to hire them for fighting in Syria for the Assad regime.
The Head of the Foundation of Martyrs in part of his speech reiterated that 2 thousand forces of the Defenders of Shrine have been killed in the past two years and 10 thousand members of their families in average have been covered by the Foundation of the Martyrs.
It is noteworthy that the Iranian officials employ the word "the Martyrs of the Shrine Defenders" for those Afghan and Pakistani mercenaries affiliated with the Iran regime and have been killed during the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
