Iran Marks 36th Anniversary of 1990 POW Return, Vowing No Retreat on Rights

1 articles · Updated · Mehr News Agency - English Version · Aug 18

President Masoud Pezeshkian used the 36th anniversary of Iran’s POW repatriation to cast the captives’ ordeal as a symbol of national resilience under mounting external pressure.
August 17 marks the day in 1990 when the first Iranian prisoners began returning from Iraq after a swap deal, two years after the 1980-88 war ended.
Iran’s Armed Forces paired the commemoration with a hardline statement, calling the return a blessed day and saying the country would not retreat from its legitimate rights.
More than 218,000 Iranians were killed in the war with Saddam Hussein’s regime, a conflict Tehran still frames as a defining chapter of sacrifice and national pride.