TEHRAN – The 17th edition of the Resistance Theater Festival has established an award named after commander Qassem Soleimani to honor a play every year.

“Due to the importance of the resistance issue and the need to promote the teachings of the popular figure of Iran’s resistance culture and the leader of the resistance front, Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani, we plan to honor a top play with an award named after Hajj Qassem Soleimani this year for the first time,” Hamid Nili, the director of the festival announced on Monday.

“The award will be presented in the next editions of the festival to represent its organizers’ committed devotion to the divine commander,” he added.

The Association of the Revolution and Sacred Defense Theater organizes the festival every year in collaboration with several other institutions.      

This year’s edition is scheduled to be held during November or December.

Soleimani was martyred during a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on January 3. Thereafter, several other cultural events in Iran have also established awards in memory of the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

First of them was the Fajr Film Festival, which announced it would honor films on resistance and jihad with an award named after Soleimani.  

The award went to “Abadan 11, 60” directed by Mehrdad Khoshbakht about the people’s fight against Iraqi forces in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan during the early months of the Iran-Iraq war.

Photo: Quds Force commander Lieutenant-General Qassem Soleimani.

MMS/YAW