Tehran Calls on World Artists to Design General Soleimani’s Statue

Sculptors in Iran and around the world have been called to participate in the international contest to create the statue of General Qassem Soleimani who was martyred by the US terrorist army on January 3 in Baghdad.

Sculptors can send their works to farakhnart@gmail.com until July 5. The selected work would be erected in a location in Tehran.

Tehran Municipality added that the call is aimed at the commemoration of the martyr's honest and unrivaled efforts in fighting terrorism and defending the country.

General Soleimani was martyred in a targeted assassination attack by US aircraft at Baghdad International Airport early January 3 morning.

The airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashad al-Shabi. The PMF media arm reported that the two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.

On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.

Ein Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.

The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.

Iraq said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the Iraqi army.

It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.

The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.

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