People mourn over the flag-draped coffins of Iranian army generals, nuclear scientists and their family members who were killed in Israeli strikes, during a funeral ceremony in Tehran. Iran. AP
The caskets of Guard's chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital's Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran's nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities. Several strikes hit residential areas, killing family members and civilians nearby.
There was no immediate sign of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral.
Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the outbreak of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for fallen commanders over their caskets before the open ceremonies, later aired on state television.
Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites.
More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.
In response, Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
Saturday's ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.
Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.
Khamenei's last public appearance was June 11, two days before Israel launched attacks on Tehran, when he met with Iranian parliamentarians.
On Thursday, however, he released a pre-recorded video, in his first message since the end of the war, filled with warnings and threats directed toward the United States and Israel, the Islamic Republic’s longtime adversaries.
The 86-year-old downplayed U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites as having not achieved “anything significant” and claimed victory over Israel.
Although, US President Donald Trump has claimed the US strikes “completely and fully obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, insisting it has been set back by decades, Iran is believed to have moved a portion of its highly enriched uranium stockpile ahead of the strikes, something it told the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it planned to do.
Still, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, told Radio France International that damage to the Fordo site—located deep in a mountain—was “very, very, very considerable”.
He said the site’s centrifuges, “quite precise machines”, would likely have suffered “important physical damage” from multiple 30,000-pound bombs. “These centrifuges are no longer operational,” he said.
Grossi has faced growing criticism inside Iran for issuing contradictory statements that officials say created political cover for US and Israeli attacks on the country.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had not yet decided whether to grant access to IAEA inspectors to assess the damage. “They will be kept out for the time being,” he said, speaking on Iranian state television late on Thursday.
He added that US military intervention had further derailed diplomatic efforts. “The American decision to intervene militarily made it more complicated and more difficult,” he said, referring to the prospects of resuming talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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