Resurfaced Video: Muslim Children in Houston Pledge to Be Martyrs

As warnings of possible Islamic terrorist attacks within the U.S. intensify, a resurfaced clip shows hundreds of American children from the heart of Texas chanting references to Iran’s supreme leader and pledging allegiance to him, while praising martyrdom.

The chilling video, indicating a terrifying influence within the U.S. of the Islamic Republic — the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide — was aired by Iranian state media last year.

Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with other Iranian outlets including the Mehr News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), promoted the video in which young children and teenagers are shown in traditional Islamic dress outside the Houston Islamic Education Center.

In the two-minute clip that was originally posted on the Islamic Education Center of Houston’s Facebook page but subsequently removed from YouTube, the Houston-area children — donning headbands and waving flags — are seen singing a trending Iranian religious song, some parts in English, as they swear allegiance to the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to the center’s flier advertising the event for “boys and girls ages 4-14,” the song is described as “an expression of one’s love for the Imam of our age.”

Lyrics of the chant, titled “Salam Farmandeh” or “Salutations, commander,” include expressions of desires to become child soldiers for Khamenei as well as the taking of an oath to become a martyr.

The original Persian song also references slain Iranian General Qassim Soleimani with one line stating, “I promise to be your Haj Qasem.”

Houston Imam Faheem Kazimi, chairman of the Islamic Education Center’s board of directors, compared the song to a “catchy” Beatles track.

“A lot of people translated it in their language and adapted it,” he said. “And when you have religious activity, that people are asking that if they can (perform it), we do have that religious freedom and expression of speech so we said, ‘Sure, why not?’”

According to the Tehran Times, the song, which expresses support for the Islamic Revolution, “has revealed the vivid hopes Iranian families and their children pin on the Islamic Republic in their quest for achieving the goals of the Revolution.”

Al Arabiya reported the video showed the Texas children singing “an Iranian-sponsored religious anthem that includes references to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and slain military commander Qassem Soleimani,” and was shared by Iranian state media.

The Houston Chronicle featured a frontpage piece expressing concerns over the matter, claiming that Houston-area school children had become “the face of Iranian propaganda.”

Houston-based Iranian entrepreneur Karim Zangeneh, who is affiliated with the Organization of Iranian American Communities, warned of the clip’s agenda.

The Houston center had previously sparked controversy when, in 2019, it held a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, wherein children sang, “Khamenei is our leader, we are his soldiers.”

At the time, Iranian state media published a video clip boasting of the regime’s nuclear capabilities, claiming it can — in a moment’s notice — “transform” its nuclear program into an “atomic military” one, creating a “nightmare” for Israel and the West, while warning of its “ability to turn New York into a heap of rubble from Hell.”

The clip was released by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-affiliated Bisimchi Media Telegram channel, and titled “When Will Iran’s Nuclear Bombs Wake Up from Their Sleep?”

According to the BBC, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, appeared to confirm many details in the video, saying the regime has the “technical ability” to construct a nuclear bomb but has yet to make the political decision to do so. 

The statement echoed a similar one by senior Iranian adviser Kamal Kharrazi who had said the Islamic Republic “has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one.

Gabriel Noronha, who served as Special Advisor for Iran in the U.S. State Department from 2019-2020 during the Trump administration, highlighted this week the Islamic Education Center of Houston’s radical ties, noting the center has been hosting these types of events since 2013.

The matter comes as FBI Director Chris Wray warned Americans to stay “vigilant” as the bureau saw an increase in reports after Hamas threatened to carry out a “Day of Jihad.” 

Wray called for vigilance in order to protect “our communities” from the uptick in reports of dangerous threats:

In this heightened environment, there’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we have to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own. And I’d encourage you to stay vigilant, because as the first line of defense in protecting our communities, you’re often the first to see the signs that someone may be mobilizing to violence. And I’d also ask you to continue sharing any intelligence or observations you may have.

“On our end, we’re committed to doing the same, so that together, we can safeguard our communities,” the FBI director added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has seen increasing apprehensions of individuals from countries of special interest amid broader security concerns related to potential terrorist threats.

On Thursday, two Lebanese nationals were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection at the southern border in Texas, identified as “special interest aliens.”

Republican officials have long criticized President Joe Biden’s open border policies that have allowed in “military aged men from all corners of the world,” warning of potential terror attacks in the U.S. and the likelihood of terrorist “sleeper cells.”

According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report reviewed by Breitbart Texas, 61,471 migrants from “Special Interest Countries” entered the United States in Fiscal Year 2023. 

A source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed that most of the migrants, mainly single adult males from countries subject to travel warnings by the U.S. State Department due to terrorism, were released into the United States to pursue asylum claims.

Meanwhile, President Biden’s administration is overseeing a surge in illegal aliens crossing the United States-Mexico border who are on the government’s “Terrorist Watch List.”

Since October 2022, Biden’s DHS has encountered 149 illegal aliens at the nation’s northern and southern borders who were revealed to be listed on the federal government’s Terrorist Watch List.

According to an interim report assembled by GOP House Judiciary Committee staff, the Biden administration is potentially failing to track millions of migrants who have illegally entered through the southern border as monthly encounters surge.