This is misleading. The Iran-Iraq War was not a just war from either sides. Khomeini wanted to export his “Islamic revolution” and Saddam his Pan-Arabism and the victims were the peoples of two countries. Women who participated in this war, whether due to ideology or self-defense, did not become “liberated”. Look at the situation of women in Iran today. If khomeinist women run the women ward of women in Evin Prison, or participated in “morality policing” and so on, it is not because they have become “liberated” rather they have become part of the repressive forces of a theocratic regime. This is very different from the impact of Second World War on American women. Look at the situation of American women today. Besides, contrary to the Iran-Iraq War, war against Hitler was a just war . No one defines the participation of Nazi women in Hitler army as “the liberation of women”! ...

Majid Naficy
November 20, 2021