Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh

In September 1980, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran, sending five armoured and mechanized divisions across the Shatt al-Arab to attack the oil-rich Khuzestan Province in southern Iran, quickly seizing several towns in the area. By 10 November, Iraqi forces had captured the key city of Khorramshahr after a protracted battle with Iranian resistance.

According to his official biography,{{cite web | url=http://www.iranian.com/AssalBadrkhani/2003/October/Peace/index.html |title = Put a stop to it|date = 8 October 2003 |first1=Assal |last1=Badrkhani |publisher=The Iranian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607155528/http://iranian.com/AssalBadrkhani/2003/October/Peace/index.html |archive-date= Jun 7, 2023 }} Fahmideh was a 13-year-old boy from Qom who, at the outbreak of the war in 1980,{{cite web |url=http://www.impact-se.org/docs/reports/Iran/Iran2006_ch8.pdf |title=Chapter Eight: Martyrdom |website=Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education |accessdate=2009-03-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084851/http://www.impact-se.org/docs/reports/Iran/Iran2006_ch8.pdf |archive-date= Mar 4, 2016 }} left his home without his parents' knowledge to go to southern Iran and aid in the defence of Khorramshahr, then a city at the frontlines of the conflict.{{cite web |url=http://fbilibrary.fbiacademy.edu/bibliographies/suicidebombers.htm |title=Suicide bombers |publisher= FBI Academy Library |first1=Robert J. |last1=Bunker |date=2007 |accessdate=2009-03-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905175413/http://fbilibrary.fbiacademy.edu/bibliographies/suicidebombers.htm |archivedate=2008-09-05 }} In the besieged city of Khorramshahr, he fought side-by-side with older Iranian soldiers.{{cite web |url=http://english.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=8608070681 |title= Commander Stresses IRGC Readiness to Combat Enemy Troops in PG |website=Fars News Agency|date=2007-10-29 |accessdate=2007-10-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031223126/http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8608070681 |archivedate=2007-10-31 }} Fahmideh was amongst the Iranians who engaged in fierce house-to-house battles in which thousands of Iraqis and Iranians were killed. At one point, Iraqi forces had pushed the Iranians back as they were passing through a very narrow canal. Due to a lack of RPG-7 rockets and the sensitive formation of the Iraqi tanks, Fahmideh, seeing that his older comrades were already dead or wounded,{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Jolyon|title=Promoting peace, inciting violence : the role of religion and media|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=9780415557467|page=49}} wrapped himself in a grenade belt from a nearby corpse, pulled the pins out, and jumped underneath an advancing Iraqi tank, killing himself and disabling the tank. This led the Iraqi tank column to believe that the Iranians had extensively mined the area, and ceased their advance. Later, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcast a breaking news story describing the incident.

In Iran, Fahmideh's story inspired many Iranians during the war to risk death to protect the country, and has been heralded by leaders in Iran from Ruhollah Khomeini to Mohammad Khatami.{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Joyce|title=Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance, and Despair in the Middle East |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGXgCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |date=2004|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781403966810|pages=49–50}} Khomeini declared Fahmideh to be an Iranian national hero,{{cite web |url=http://www.naderdavoodi.net/?cat=imposedwar&id=226 |title=Father of Martyr at Soccer Field |date= January 6, 2007 |website=Nader Davoodi's Collection |access-date=2009-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111120209/http://www.naderdavoodi.net/?cat=imposedwar&id=226 |archive-date=2013-11-11 |url-status=dead }} and made references to him in several of his speeches:

{{quote|Our leader is that 13-year-old child, who, with his small heart—worth more than hundreds of tongues and pens—threw himself with a grenade under the enemy tank, destroying it and drinking the nectar of martyrdom himself. }}

Fahmideh is buried in the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran in section 24, row 44, number 11.{{cite web|url=http://www.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=4108 |website=tebyan.net |title=شهادت دانش آموز بسیجی محمد حسین فهمیده}} A monument to him was erected on the outskirts of Tehran and has become a place of pilgrimage for young religious Iranians.{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/|title=The Times & The Sunday Times|website= The Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204223418/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |archive-date= Feb 4, 2024 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.irib.ir/Occasions/Nojavan%5CNojavan%20en.HTM |title=Nojavan en |work=occasions |publisher=Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting |access-date=2007-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102124331/http://www.irib.ir/occasions/Nojavan/Nojavan%20en.HTM |archive-date=2007-11-02 |url-status=dead }} In the years following Fahmideh's death, murals have been erected throughout Iran, book bags displaying him were sold to children, and, in 1986, a postage stamp was issued in his memory.{{cite journal|url=http://web.mit.edu/isg/IAQ242005.pdf |title=Divine Suffering In Shiism: Origins And Political Implications |first1=Valerie |last1=Saturen |journal=Iran Analysis Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=4 |date=2005 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2020-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308084021/http://web.mit.edu/isg/IAQ242005.pdf |archive-date= Mar 8, 2016 }} Streets, hospitals, schools, and a sports stadium have been named in his honour. The day of his death, 30 October, marks the "Student Basij Day" in the official calendar of the Iranian state.{{Cite web |url=http://www.irdc.ir/en/calendar/387/default.aspx |title= The martyrdom of Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh, the 13-year old student |website=Islamic Revolution Document Center |date=October 30, 1980 |access-date=2015-07-31 |archive-date=2015-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708191417/http://www.irdc.ir/en/calendar/387/default.aspx |url-status=dead }}

Fahmideh was posthumously awarded the first-grade Order of Fath on 27 September 1989 after the Iran–Iraq War, becoming its first recipient.{{Cite web |url=http://www.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=13921029000489 |title=از «اقدس» تا «فتح»؛ مدال‌هایی که بر سینه سرداران ایرانی نشسته است |website=خبرگزاری فارس |access-date=2015-07-31 |archive-date=2014-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121104930/http://www.farsnews.ir/newstext.php?nn=13921029000489 |url-status=dead }}

• Martyrdom in Iran

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Category:1967 births

Category:1980 deaths

Category:Child soldiers

Category:Children killed in wars

Category:Iranian military personnel killed in the Iran–Iraq War

Category:Recipients of the Order of Fath

Category:Volunteer Basij personnel of the Iran–Iraq War

Category:People from Qom