Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in war with Israel
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People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran on June 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TEHRAN - Iran began a state funeral service on June 28 for around 60 people, including its military commanders, killed in its war with Israel, after Tehran’s top diplomat condemned US President Donald Trump’s comments
The proceedings in Tehran for the nuclear scientists and military commanders killed in Israeli strikes began at 8am (12.30pm, Singapore time).
“The ceremony to honour the martyrs has officially started,” state TV said, showing footage of people in black clothes waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain military commanders.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other senior government officials and military commanders – including Mr Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards – attended the event.
Mr Khamenei’s senior adviser Ali Shamkhani, who was targeted and wounded during the war, also took part in the ceremony, using a walking cane, state TV showed.
Images also showed mock-ups of Iranian ballistic missiles as well as coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the dead commanders in uniform near Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran, where the march began.
Commanders, scientists to be buried
A patriotic eulogy blared from loudspeakers as the procession set out across the sprawling metropolis towards Azadi (Freedom) Square, 11km away.
“Boom boom Tel Aviv,” read one banner, referring to Iranian missiles fired at Israel during the conflict in retaliation for its attacks on Iran.
Among the dead is Mr Mohammad Bagheri, a major-general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Iranian leader.
He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all killed in an Israeli attack.
Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be buried with his wife.
Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, who was killed on the first day of the war, will also be laid to rest after the June 28 ceremony – which will also honour at least 30 other top commanders.
Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children and four are women.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to the state media.
No sanction relief
The US had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend
Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire, with Iranian leader Khamenei downplaying the US strikes as having done “nothing significant”.
In a tirade on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump blasted Tehran on June 27 for claiming to have won the war.
He also claimed to have known “exactly where he (Mr Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces... terminate his life”.
“I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death, and he does not have to say, ‘Thank you, President Trump!’” the US leader said.
Mr Trump added that he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran’s main demands.
“But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” Mr Trump said.
Hitting back at Mr Trump on June 28, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the Republican President’s comments on Mr Khamenei.
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei,” Mr Araghchi posted on social media platform X.
“The great and powerful Iranian people, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had no choice but to run to ‘daddy’ to avoid being flattened by our missiles, do not take kindly to threats and insults.”
The Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran’s Health Ministry said. Iran’s attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.
Mr Trump said at a White House news conference that he did not rule out attacking Iran again, when asked about the possibility of new bombing of Iranian nuclear sites if this was thought to be necessary at some point.
“Sure, without question, absolutely,” he said.
Mr Trump said he would like inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency or another respected source to be able to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites after they were bombed last weekend.
He has rejected any suggestion that damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.
‘Imminent threat’
In 2018, during his first term in office, Mr Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal – negotiated by former US president Barack Obama.
The deal aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.
Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Mr Trump withdrew from the agreement.
After the US strikes, Mr Trump said negotiations for a new deal were set to begin next week.
But Tehran denied a resumption, and Mr Khamenei said Mr Trump had “exaggerated events in unusual ways”, rejecting US claims that Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back by decades.
Israel had claimed it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” during the 12-day war.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar reiterated on June 27 that the world was obliged to stop Tehran from developing an atomic bomb.
“The international community now has an obligation to prevent, through any effective means, the world’s most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon,” Mr Saar wrote on X. AFP, REUTERS
