Iranian school textbooks might reportedly soon feature the recent conflict – which began with US-Israel attacks on Iran on February 28 - in a proposed move to preserve the “strength of the martyrs”.
Tehran plans to add the conflict in school textbooks in the country, Iranian education minister Alireza Kazemi said. The minister referred to the conflict as the “third imposed war”, while stating that the move would reflect and preserve the “strength of the martyrs.”
“We will try to ensure that the memory of the martyrs and the strength of the Islamic Republic in the third imposed war are properly reflected in our textbooks,” Iran International quoted Kazemi as saying.
The education minister further stated that a special working group has been formed to include the different accounts of the conflict, which would be presented and passed on to the new generation. “We are carrying out special work to include narratives… from parts of the third imposed war and the martyrdom of the leader,” Kazemi said. “We will present this history using all available capacities and pass it on to the new generation,” the minister added.
This comes after an initiative by Tehran last year, wherein it had introduced new curriculum materials presenting the previous conflict with Israel as a national success, according to the Iran International report. This was aimed at strengthening unity, patriotism and deterrence among students, Tehran had said.
No confirmation on US-Iran talks yet
Meanwhile, peace talks supposed to be held in Islamabad have been stalled owing to Iran's refusal to attend citing “excessive” demands from Washington. One of the sticking points between the two sides is Iran's nuclear programme, with the US asking Tehran to give up its enriched uranium.
This has led to Pakistan's capital city waiting for nearly a week for the talks to take off, with no signs of the two sides meeting. However, Islamabad seems optimistic, with large parts of the city remaining sealed off by authorities, Reuters news agency reported. “We have been told that the talks could be held any day,” an official said.
Trump had on Thursday said that the US is under no pressure to end the war with Iran, while claiming that the “clock is ticking” for Tehran. The US President clarified that he would not be using any nuclear weapon in the conflict. “A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody,” he told reporters at the White House.
Amid Trump's remarks, a third US aircraft carrier, USS George HW Bush, arrived in the Middle East to join the USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln, in what seems to be a massive buildup of America's naval strength in the region.