When pictures of famous Iranian religious singer Saeed Haddadian and his son wearing military fatigues in Syria surfaced online in late January it caused such a stir that Saudi Arabian media a few days later published false reports that they had both been killed. To clear up questions about the pictures and explain his reasons for traveling to Syria, Haddadian spoke to Tasnim News Agency, which published a Q&A on Feb. 3.

Haddadian said he was opposed to the pictures being published online. One picture shows Haddadian standing in the Syrian countryside with a walkie-talkie in hand. Another pictures shows his son, Mohammad Hossein, crouching behind a machine gun inside a bunker. A third picture shows father and son taking what appears to be a selfie.

According to Haddadian, his son sent the pictures to his brother and friends in Iran, who then published them online. The pictures of Haddadian, whose association with Iran’s hard-liners has made him one of the handful of famous religious singers in the country, quickly spread across conservative Iranian media.

When asked about the reason for his trip to Syria, Haddadian said he went to Syria to pay his respects to the fighters in Syria because “what we say with words they do in action.” He claimed that at one point he was within 500 meters (a third of a mile) from the front line.