TEHRAN - The bodies of 85 Iranians martyred during the Sacred Defense years were recently excavated in Iraq. They will be brought home on Monday, February 16. 

They will arrive at Khorramshahr Port via the Arvand River border crossing in southwestern Iran.

The bodies were unearthed thanks to the efforts of excavation teams in former war zones inside Iraqi soil.

The general public may attend the ceremony welcoming the bodies back home.

They were martyred during Iraq’s war on Iran in the 1980s. Iran’s resistance against the invaders is known as the Sacred Defense

The former Baghdad regime under Saddam Hussein invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, triggering a war that lasted for eight years. Iraq initiated the war by launching airstrikes on Iranian air bases and military installations, followed by a ground invasion into Iranian territory. The United States and some other Western countries supported Iraq militarily during the war.

One of the most horrific aspects of the war was Iraq's systematic use of chemical weapons provided by European countries, especially Germany. Iraq used chemical agents, including mustard gas and nerve agents like Tabun and Sarin, against Iranian troops and civilians. This was a clear violation of the 1925

Geneva Protocol, which Iraq had ratified. Chemical weapons caused tens of thousands of Iranian casualties, leading to long-term suffering and death. The most infamous chemical attack was the bombing of the Kurdish town of Halabja in northern Iraq in March 1988, which killed thousands of civilians. This attack highlighted the brutality of the regime's tactics during the conflict.

The war eventually ended on July 20, 1988, with the acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 598.