First vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi, in the closing ceremony of the 15th Holy Defense Book of the Year Festival lauded the large number of the published works on the war but appealed to the Holy Defense writers to create works that are more substantial.

IBNA: The closing ceremony was held in the presence of a number of high-profile government officials including first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi, head of the Majlis Cultural Commission Gholamali Hadadadel, and Commander Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Holy Defense Values and Works Preservation and Publication Foundation. The gathering was arranged at the Persian Gulf hall of the Sacred Defense museum garden.

In his opening speech, Rahimi remarked the liberation of Sousangerd and stated that the Holy Defense was the spring of the best moments for our nation. "Even though the war was one of the most unfair cases in the human history, it succumbed to withstand the sacrifices and braveries Iranian comrades exhibited in the war fronts," he asserted.

He dubbed the Holy Defense as an unparalleled opportunity for recognition of potentials and discovery of independence [of the country] saying "Saddam's regime invaded Iranian soil taken by the fancy that they can eliminate the Islamic Revolution and occupy parts of the country; it actually did whatever it could to that end, but [Iranian] warriors headed to the war fronts to defend Islam and Islamic values; besides, Imam Khomeini always insisted that their movements were derived from their faith."

The veep further outlined Imam Khomeini's views on Iranians' resistance against Iraqi forces and stated that the variety of the published books and word on the defense is not compatible with the dimensions of the sacrifices made by Iranians during the war.

He termed the war period as the brightest point in Iran's history and called on Holy Defense writers and artists to shoulder their weighty responsibility duly by creating more impressive works.

Vice president Rahimi further argued that for the present time youths to learn about the Holy Defense, artistic works should be resorted. "An artist is one who obsesses his audience with his artistic work. Artists of the Holy Defense should believe in its truth so that they can transmit messages to their target audience," he added.

A lot can be done regarding the Holy Defense and time fails to wear its freshness out, he further added.

Later in the ceremony, Gholamali Hadad Adel highlighted the significance of the Holy Defense, which still needs to be fathomed out.

laureates of the 15th Holy Defense Book of the Year Festival were praised in the concluding part of the ceremony.

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