Political activist Demir Mahmutćehajić looks at the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Bosnia & Hercegovina during the Bosnian war, and what it means for Bosnia today.
On the 28th of February this year I wrote on my FB profile: “My prayers are with Iran! Without calculation and without fear! Resistance to the genocidal Zionist regime is an obligation! I can not do much, but with prayers and my heart, like a little ant, I want it to be known whose side I am on.”
Yes, I wrote this in Bosnian language. I wrote this while in my home town of Stolac, in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I added #Iran and #FreePalestine, placed the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and then followed news and reactions to my post.
It was not immediately clear that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (r.a.) had been killed. It was not clear that Islamic Republic of Iran was fighting back. The massacre of primary school kids in Minab had not happened yet, but the reactions to my post were immediate. Within a few hours there were hundreds of likes, heart emojis and supports. Currently, thirty-two days later, this post has 1567 reactions, out of which only 11 are negative (laughing), and it has beenshared 38 times.
This is not an academic paper but rather, a simpler, first hand account of feelings from within Bosnia&Herzegovina. To me this is much more important than the collection of quotes, political statements, thin-thank opinions, political calculations and survivalist spins. I am presenting my personal views and experiences, observed street feelings and expressions from ordinary Bosnians, but I will also touch on the “governmental issue”.
There is no united government in Bosnia&Herzegovina. We are not even a fully sovereign state, because we have an overseer, the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together with the Office of the High Representative (OHR), Bosnia and Herzegovina was created in 1995 immediately after the signing of the Dayton Agreement which ended the 1992 -1995 Bosnian War. The purpose of the high representative and the OHR is to oversee the civilian implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The Bonn Powers give the high representative broad authority, including the ability to make and annul laws, as well as appoint and remove officials.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a free and sovereign state! The legitimate Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not allowed to liberate our country from the occupation, rebellion and aggression by, and from, Serbian and Croatian forces both from within Bosnia&Herzegovina and from neighbouring Serbia and Croatia. Aggression by Serbia, and by Croatia, on the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina, an internationally recognized sovereign state, was stopped by the Dayton Agreement in 1995. This was an American imposed peace agreement that, basically, produced no winner and recognized no loser in the 1992 – 1995 war. The Dayton Agreement created a system that is based on three constituent nations (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats). Bosnian Serbs leaned mainly on the neighbouring state of Serbia, while Bosnian Croats leaned on the neighbouring Republic of Croatia, an EU member. All Bosnian Croats automatically have citizenship of the Republic of Croatia with all the attendant perks and privileges. Similarly, most Bosnian Serbs have citizenship of the neighboring state of Serbia. And they also hold the citizenship of Bosnia&Herzegovina.
The Dayton Agreement created a division of power in the way that everything is decided on the bases of equal rights of three constituent nations. Therefore, representatives of both Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats are able to block the decisions of Bosniak representatives . So, to expect a clear and unified stance on any issue is simply foolish. I would compare Bosnia&Herzegovina’s political system to the political system of Lebanon.
As regards the people of Bosnia&Herzegovina we are a divided society. The main divisions are on nationalistic lines, but these nationalistic lines also closely track religious divisions. So, Bosnian Croats are mainly Catholics, Bosnian Serbs are mainly orthodox Christians, while Bosniaks are mainly Muslims. These are, therefore, doubled divisions. Bosniaks are the biggest single group (around 50%) but physically control around 23% of the territory of Bosnia&Herzegovina. Bosniaks do not have any friendly country bordering them and they fear that in the next war against Bosnia&Herzegovina’s Serbs and Croats they will face renewed ethnic cleansing and genocide. This fear is ever-present, and regularly fanned by politicians who revel in inflammatory nationalistic discourse.
We live under constant stress and fear that war may start again. Even though it has been over thirty years since war stopped, unfortunately, war has never ended. For many of us these thirty years feel like yesterday, and the constant threat of war brings insecurity and mental immobility. Most of Bosniaks do not trust Croats and Serbs who live in Bosnia&Herzegovina, and even less so neighbouring Croatia and Serbia. Most Bosniaks feel that we have no one to guarantee our survival as a collective, and at the same time we see that promises of entering EU and NATO are just hollow.
At the same time both Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs are developing very close relationships with Zionists and “Israel”. In the Bosnian Croatian camp we witnessed the sudden arrival of Amir Gross Kabiri. He is an “Israeli” businessman, industrialist, publisher, and art collector. He is also the chairman of the M.T. Abraham Group, CEO of Aluminij Industries, and best known as the owner of The Art Newspaper Israel, President of the M.T. Abraham Foundation, Member at the Board of Patrons of the Conference of European Rabbis, and the President of the Hermitage Museum Foundation Israel.
In the year 2020, he became the owner of Aluminij Industries, an aluminum manufacturing company, with annual revenue of $263 million (USD). The company is the largest exporter and importer of Bosnia&Herzegovina. Aluminij Industries currently employs 350 people, making it one of the largest employers of the region. In December 2021, Aluminij Industries and Glencore International AG signed a two-year contract for the supply of 300,000 tons of primary remelt aluminum.
In December 2021, Mr. Kabiri was appointed Chairman of the Board of HŠK Zrinjski football club and his M.T. Abraham Group became the general sponsor of the club. In August 2023, the Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport alleged that Zrinjski Mostar had historical ties to the Ustasha.
The Bosnian Serb camp, headed by Milorad Dodik, has been trying for decades to develop a close relationship with “Israel” and Zionists. Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska (RS), maintains strong, pro-Israel relations, branding himself as a key ally in the Balkans and voicing firm support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His alliance focuses on shared security concerns regarding radical Islam, economic cooperation, and ideological alignment on sovereignty, with relations reaching a high point in 2025-2026.
Dodik frames Republika Srpska and “Israel” as facing common existential threats from radical ideologies. He has publicly supported “Israeli” actions in the Gaza genocide.
In early 2026, Dodik visited Israel, met with officials including Minister Zeev Elkin and Gideon Sa’ar, and received the Jabotinsky Prize for Liberty. Following October 7, 2023, Dodik ordered the RS presidential building in Banja Luka to be illuminated in Israeli colours, strengthening the image of the Serbian entity as a friend of Israel. Dodik frequently compares the struggle of the Serb people in Bosnia for autonomy with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, positioning his policies within a narrative of national survival.
So, what is the main uniting issue between ustasha fascist, (ultra-nationalists Croats) chetnik fascists, (ultra-nationalist Serbs) and the war criminal Zionists? It is a shared hatred of Muslims. And Bosnian Bosniaks are mainly Muslims!
As a Bosniak I very clearly remember that Islamic Republic of Iran helped us survive joint aggression from Serbia and Croatia. Form the Islamic Republic of Iran we received money, arms, logistics, technical support when no one else dared to help us! These are facts! Also, these facts are very emotional. I know what my father told me. “If it was not for the help from the Islamic Republic of Iran we (Bosniaks) would not have survived.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran was the first country to actually break the UN arms embargo and sent weapons to Bosnia&Herzegovina. Estimates suggest thousands of tons of weapons delivered. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard trained the Bosnia&Herzegovina army. This was crucial because in 1992 – 1993, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina (ARBiH) was poorly armed and outgunned. Western countries were enforcing an arms embargo that hurt the Army of the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina more than its enemies. So, in this critical early phase, weapons from the Islamic Republic of Iran helped the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina survive militarily.
Furthermore, operatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran helped build parts of Bosnia&Herzegovina’s intelligence structures and trained selected units. This contributed to better coordination and gradual professionalization of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina.
Historians generally assess the Islamic Republic of Iran’s role as the earliest and the most active supporter of the besieged nascent Bosnia&Herzegovina. Once Bosnia&Herzegovina had survived the initial onslaught with the help from the Islamic Republic of Iran, other factors came to the fore
I agree with these historians. They claim that Western/NATO interventions (1994-1995) were crucial for ending the war. I agree but I do not think the war has ended. The Western/NATO interventions, especially when the genocide in Srebrenica had already happened, did not end the war. These interventions stopped the war! They stopped it when our army, Army of the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina, had gained the ascendancy and was on course to liberate whole of the Republic of Bosnia&Herzegovina! They stopped our army with the threats that NATO would bomb us if our army liberated Banja Luka. Our army was in the suburbs of Banja Luka and soldiers of the Serb army were running away. The only reason that our army did not liberate Banja Luka, and indeed the whole of Bosnia&Herzegovina, was because under western pressure, our political leadership ordered our military commanders to cease all military activities.
Despite Iran’s historical assistance, views about the illegal aggression against Iran among Bosniaks are not always sympathetic. Around half of the population of Bosnia&Herzegovina are not sympathetic towards Iran, because of help that their enemies, meaning Bosniaks, received from the Islamic Republic of Iran. They would have won the war if it was not for that help. The other half of the population, Bosniaks, are lost, confused, frightened and misled by their politicians.
In my simple, non-academic, understanding why Bosniaks are lost, confused, frightened and misled by their politicians on the issue of our support of the legal and moral right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to resist Zionist/American aggression I will start with how I see an ordinary Bosniak’s position.
Most ordinary Bosniaks remember and cherish the help and support that we got from the Islamic Republic of Iran. A large majority of Bosniaks support the IR of Iran, but many are lost because of thirty years of Saudi/Salafist rubbishing of the IR of Iran. These highly paid Zionist agents used immense wealth to influence some preachers, politicians, media and “intellectuals” to portray Iranians as non-Muslims. Their subversive activities were partly successful in destroying the notion that Iranians helped us out of brotherly duty. They presented that help as a calculated project of turning Bosniaks into Shias to serve Iranian interests in Europe.
Over these thirty years a number of events outside Bosnia&Herzegovina reinforced the suspicion and hostility that had been engendered. One of the most divisive events was the Syrian civil war and the involvement of Hezbollah and Iranian forces. These Zionist paid Salafist, and by then even some naïve ordinary Muslims started a very powerful propaganda drive that Iranian Shias were murdering innocent Sunnis in Syria. That misconception is still present, and it is very powerful anti-Iran tool.
Then there is a general fear within Bosniak community that we are isolated from the Muslim Ummah, that the Muslim Ummah is weak and that West is powerful, that we need to seek protection from NATO and the EU, that we are different from the rest of Ummah because we are European Muslims and that our Islam is different, normal, civilized… With these indoctrinations, from all sides, we, as a community, saw collective security within the NATO umbrella. Also, a very important factor here is that Turkey, until recently the only Muslim country that we perceived as powerful, is also a NATO member. In contrast, the Islamic Republic of Iran was perceived weak, distant, foreign, different, alien… and fighting for its own national interests.
After the attempt of Palestinians to break out from the concentration camp called Gaza on October 7, 2023, there were certain shifts in the public perception of the IR of Iran.
What is the Islamic Republic of Iran waiting for? Why doesn’t it intervene?
Yes, there were flashes of power, but then they quickly faded away. We started hearing of internal divisions, of struggles between “moderates” and “hardliners”, of widespread mistrust and betrayals… Confusion, loss and fear increased. We saw genocide in Gaza slowly disappearing from our daily lives. Depression, desperation, hopelessness spread around. Many of those “preachers” loudly pointed that they were telling us that Iran will not fight, that they are negotiating, that they only care about their own interests…
Does this mean that Bosniaks are ungrateful? No, we are not ungrateful, but our situation is not simple and easy to explain. Do we see who the aggressors are? Yes, we do. What can we do about it? Well, it depends on many things, but if you are lost, confused, afraid then you cannot do much. Also, if your “leaders” are immoral, hypocritical, self-serving individuals than you are discouraged from doing anything. At the same time, it is important to realize that the Islamic Republic of Iran was absent from Bosnia&Herzegovina for almost thirty years.
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (r.a.) appointed Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati to establish and lead the Bosnia&Herzegovina Support Headquarters, that aid from the Islamic Republic of Iran was unconditional! This is very important. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati framed the Islamic Republic of Iran involvement as part of defending oppressed Muslims (mostazafin). Iran asked for nothing in return for that help and support.
Shortly after the war the Islamic Republic of Iran left Bosnia&Herzegovina. I would need another 2500 words just to open up this claim of mine, but what I am aiming at is that revolutionarily elements left and diplomats replaced them. The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran became, slowly and for a number of reasons, an embassy of Iran. The cultural center of the Islamic Republic of Iran, located in a prominent place in Sarajevo became an Iranian cultural center. Iran dialled down its revolutionary fervour. Bosniaks were left without an organized revolutionary educational process. In over thirty years we were not even able to establish regular Al-Quds Day march in Sarajevo. If we have had regular events such as the Al-Quds Day march in Sarajevo we would have been able to build a resistance attitude.
I am not trying to find excuses. We should be louder, clearer, braver in condemning Zionism, American terrorism, aggression on Iran, genocide in Gaza… and we should be fearless in the belief that life without dignity is not worth living. We should, because of everything we have been through. Who better to understand what Palestinians are going through than us, Bosniaks, who have survived genocide? Who better to understand resistance to genocidal Zionists than us, Bosniaks, who have resisted genocidal Serbs?
I have tried to explain to you that many hearts are beating for the Islamic Republic of Iran, but for those hearts to beat fast and furious they need to feel that it is a mutual connection. For some time that connection was lost, thinned, broken. The martyrdom of Imam Khamenei (r.a.) and the power of Islamic resistance to the American aggression has stirred them again.
The whole world needs, to learn about greatest revolutionary of all times. the Prophet of Allah, Muhammed ibn Abdullah (saw). We need to teach younger generations about his revolution. Imam Khomeini (r.a.) was the greatest revolutionary of our time. We need to teach our kids about him and the Islamic Revolution that he led. Imam Khamenei (r.a.) is the greatest, and the best, student of Imam Khomeini. He was a torch bearer, flag carrier, resistance builder, hope giver, and we need to get the whole world, not only Bosnia&Herzegovina, to learn about him. We, the freedom loving people of this world are not in love with the culture of Iran, or the history of Iran, or the Persian language and literature. Many of us, Bosniaks specifically, also have a very distinguished history, many lost and won battles, cultural and linguistic masterpieces, and self-consciousness. The unique and most important lesson that Iran can teach the world is the Islamic Revolution! Imam Khamenei was an amazing teacher. Only when we lost him did we realize that we were very bad students and that we did not appreciate him. With his martyrdom everything changed. Iran became, again, the hope of the oppressed, the guiding light, the clear path, the fear breaker of all humanity, regardless of faith, or no faith, of skin color, of nationality, of age or gender, of ideology or creed. Iran became again the Islamic Republic, the home of the resistance.
Demir Mahmutćehajić is from Stolac in Bosnia. After some years in the UK where he helped found the Islamic Human Rights Commission in 1997, and later became the president of the London Islamic Community of Bosnians, he returned to Bosnia. Since 2005 he has been constantly engaged in the civil rights movement in the Bosnia and Herzegovina, at one time leading the DOSTA! (Enough!) movement. He has written and spoken about genocide in Bosnia, its causes and consequences over the last 25 years. Many of these speeches, reports and articles can be found on the IHRC website. Find him on Twitter @stolac92.