Iranian Artists Commissioned to Honor Qassem Soleimani

The Islamic Republic of Iran has launched a call for artists to commemorate General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad on January 5, 2020. Thirty artists, including painters, sculptors, and graphic designers such as Mehdi Farrokhi, Ahmad Qolizadeh, Hassan Ruholamin, Shahram Shirzadi, and Malek-Dadyar Garusian, are participating. The completed works will be exhibited across Iran. Hassan Ruholamin has already unveiled a painting depicting Soleimani embraced by Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a central figure in Shia Islam, whose martyrdom is commemorated annually on Ashura. This imagery carries strong symbolic weight, aiming to elevate Soleimani's status and emphasize the perceived sacrilege of the US attack. The initiative reflects the Iranian government's use of art for political propaganda and memory preservation, a practice seen in street murals in Tehran and other cities that often express anti-American sentiment, with the Statue of Liberty a recurring motif. The article also suggests that the exhibitions serve to fulfill the state's promise of vengeance and eternal remembrance, following a retaliatory strike on a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed 176 civilians, which the author claims was a calculated response to avoid direct military confrontation.