Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei stressed that martyrdom is a force that pushes countries ahead, hailing martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani as an exceptional martyr that united Iran against its enemies.

Khamenei underlined the necessity of conserving and consolidating the path of martyrs, as well as passing on their lifestyle to future generations, during a meeting on August 13 to commemorate the 3,400 martyrs of Iran's Ardabil province.

"Consider, for example, someone like Martyr Soleimani was martyred on the path of God," the Iranian leader pointed out, explaining that as a result of the General's martyrdom, "an entire nation was moved. An entire nation began a movement, it eliminated all these imaginary barriers between different groups of people, and it became one united nation."

He said that because younger generations did not experience the martyrs and their significance firsthand, it is the responsibility of scholars, intellectuals, academics, and government officials to play a role in this matter.

"The way to counter the cognitive, economic, political and security war of the enemies of the Islamic Revolution is to continue the path of the martyrs and follow their lessons, that is, Mujahidah (struggle), perseverance, and resistance," Sayyed Khamenei underscored.

Elsewhere, the Iranian leader hailed the people of Ardabil for being forerunners in the fields of struggle, stating that approximately 35,000 fighters were sent to battlefronts from Ardabil during the Iraq-Iran war, 3,400 of whom were martyred, demonstrating the sacrifice and struggle of the Ardabil people.

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