Battle Paths

Each year, the Revolutionary Guards run tours to some of the most important battlegrounds of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), which claimed the lives of up to a million people. Battle tours are popular around the world — after all, it is a good chance to educate the public on vital points in history, and to ensure people never forget what so many of their fellow citizens experienced. But in Iran it has an added dimension. Those who take the tour, called Rahian-e Noor, or Path of Light, view it not only as an educational pursuit, but a religious, devotional one too. But the initiative is not popular with everyone: Critics say it is often used as a tool for propaganda, designed to distract people from their current problems, and to lash out against reformists and the Green Movement. Still, given the emotional weight of the Path of Light tours, it is clear that the scars of the war have still not faded even today.