The Iraqi Cultural Center in Tehran is set to screen for the first time a film about the eight-year war imposed by the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam on the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 1980s.

The movie, titled “Until Ahmed Returns,” was produced by Iranian filmmakers in cooperation with their Iraqi counterparts. It will be shown to an audience of officials and diplomats from several dozen countries on Monday in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Mudhafer al-Rubai, the head of Iraq’s Cultural Center in Tehran, told reporters on Saturday that the film, which will be screened at his country’s mission in the Islamic Republic, “aims to tell the story of brotherhood between the Iraqi and Iranian soldiers during the war.”

Rubai further said Iran and Iraq share a similar culture and heritage, stressing that “we work together to safeguard this culture that represents both” neighboring nations.

Our message is to show close cooperation between Tehran and Baghdad and to strengthen cultural relations between the two nations, especially through film-making, he added.



Mudhafer al-Rubai, director of the Iraqi Cultural Center in Tehran

Supported by regional and international powers, the Saddam regime invaded Iran via land and air in September 1980. The war that followed lasted for eight years and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Despite Iraq’s imposed war on Iran during the Saddam era, both countries now enjoy great political, cultural and religious ties.

Iran also officially inaugurated its own cultural center in Iraq on Friday.