Explainer: How a tragic consulate attack inspired Iran's Journalists' Day

By Press TV Website Staff

Today, August 8, Iran commemorates the 27th anniversary of the deadly siege and attack on its consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, which that killed eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist.

The martyred men were identified as Nasser Rigi, Noorollah Norouzi, Karim Heidarian, Rashid Pariav Fallah, Heydar-Ali Bagheri, Mohammad-Ali Ghiyasi, Majid Noori Niyarki, and Mohammad-Nasser Naseri—all diplomats—and journalist Mahmoud Saremi.

The tragic episode unfolded after heavily armed Taliban fighters seized the strategically important capital city of Balkh province and stormed the Iranian diplomatic mission.

The attack came amid intense fighting between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, a legendary anti-Taliban figure in northern Afghanistan. At the time, the city was a key stronghold of anti-Taliban resistance forces.

The unprovoked and unjustified assault on the Iranian consulate was met with widespread condemnation. While the Taliban denied involvement, claiming it was the work of others, suspicions were also directed toward Pakistan’s Takfiri terrorist group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).

Initially, reports suggested that at least eleven diplomats and a journalist had gone missing under suspicious circumstances. It was later confirmed that eight diplomats and one journalist had been killed.

Just two days after the heinous attack, on August 10, 1998, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on then-Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to launch an investigation into the killing of IRNA correspondent Mahmoud Saremi.

The Taliban, however, refused to investigate and denied responsibility.

Since that year, August 8 has been designated in Iran as ‘Reporters’ Day’ or ‘Journalists’ Day’ to honor the memory of Saremi, who was martyred while reporting from the consulate.

In an IRNA report published on August 8, 2018, Saremi’s wife, Khadijeh Rouzbehani, recounted her final phone call with him, made just hours before his martyrdom.

“My husband asked me to listen to the sound of the Taliban tanks barreling into the neighborhood, holding up the phone in the air,” Rouzbehani said. “I could clearly hear the tank treads screeching.”

Shortly before the consulate was stormed, Saremi filed an urgent dispatch to his editors in Tehran, warning of the Taliban’s swift and surprise military advances.

“Mahmoud Saremi. Correspondent of the Islamic Republic News Agency. Urgent news: I am reporting from Iran's consulate in Mazar e Sharif. Some Taliban members are seen entering the premises of the consulate. Let me know what I should do,” he wrote, as cited in the same IRNA report.

That message turned out to be his last communication with the newsroom.

“As his wife, I repeatedly asked him to resign from his job and escape the horrible situation in Afghanistan. But he would insist that he should stay until the end of his mission (in the country),” his wife added.

The incident triggered heightened tensions along the Iran-Afghanistan border, with military units placed on alert. However, Iran chose a path of restraint, preventing the crisis from escalating into open confrontation.

Iran, which shares a 921-kilometer border with Afghanistan and has consistently prioritized regional peace and stability, refrained from retaliation in the aftermath of the horrifying tragedy.

Still, Iran's foreign ministry has continued to demand from successive governments in Kabul that the incident be fully investigated, with lingering questions about the perpetrators remaining unanswered.

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said the terrorist assault stands as "one of the most heinous examples of gross violations of international law in the domain of diplomatic and consular relations."

"Islamic Republic of Iran continues to stress the necessity of clarifying all dimensions of this terrorist crime—including the identification of its perpetrators and those who ordered it—and insists on taking concrete measures to ensure justice is served. The matter remains under serious and ongoing pursuit," read the statement.

A film dramatizing the events, Mazar-e-Sharif, directed by Abdolhassan Barzideh and released in August 2015, poignantly portrays the attack and its lasting impact on Iran.

It centers on Allahmadad Shahsavand, an Iranian diplomat who miraculously survived the ordeal and later narrated his harrowing 19-day journey to safety.

Years later, Shahsavand reflected on the experience, telling ISNA that the diplomats had conducted themselves with dignity, even offering fruit and tea to the terrorists, but were still executed in cold blood.

Shahsavand survived thanks to the courageous intervention of a local Afghan man living near the consulate who helped him escape.

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