Today, on the anniversary of the horrific Rex Cinema massacre in Abadan, we honor the memory of hundreds of innocent victims of this tragedy.

A historical fact that many in the Western world are still not aware of is that the crimes of Islamic fundamentalists and their hostility toward Iran, Iranian culture, and modern life began before the Islamic Republic came to power—and the Rex Cinema crime is one of the most evident examples of this.

It is no coincidence that the perpetrators of this atrocity, after the events of 57, rose to positions of power and authority within the structure of the Islamic Republic.

This history must be told and taught. To understand the Islamic Republic and its hostility toward Iran and Iranians, it must be known that this hostility did not begin in Bahman 1357; rather, the Islamic Republic turned it into political and governmental power.