A STATE funeral has been held in Iran for about 60 people, including military commanders and nuclear scientists killed during the 12-day conflict with Israel.
Coffins draped in the Iranian flag, bearing portraits of deceased commanders, were flanked by crowds near Tehran’s Enghelab Square.
The conflict ended with a ceasefire earlier this week, after the United States (US) became directly involved by bombing key nuclear sites in Iran.
Huge crowds of mourners dressed in black chanted slogans, waved Iranian flags and held portraits of those killed.
Ahead of the event, a media campaign urged people to participate, with authorities providing free bus and metro rides. Government offices were shut for the day.
Among those laid to rest on Saturday, June 28, was Mohammad Bagheri, the highest-ranking military officer in Iran who was chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces.
Bagheri was to be buried with his wife and daughter, who were killed in an Israeli strike.
In total, Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, while Israeli officials said 28 people were killed there following missile attacks by Iran.
Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and nuclear scientists, including Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, head of Azad University in Tehran; armed forces chief, Major General Mohammad Bagheri; Revolutionary Guards commander, General Hossein Salami; and Guards Aerospace Force chief, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were among those laid to rest.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square, with state television dubbing the funeral as “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were prominent figures, including Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian; Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who himself was injured in an Israeli strike; as well as Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honour and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began.
In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
It comes after US President, Donald Trump, said he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again.
Responding to a question from the BBC’s Nomia Iqbal at a White House press briefing on Friday, he said he would “without question” attack the country if intelligence concluded Iran could enrich uranium to concerning levels.
The American leader also repeated his assertions that Iran was “decimated,” writing: “Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war-torn country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the war with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie.”
Trump also claimed to have known “exactly where he (Khamenei) was sheltered,” saying he “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,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, warned Trump against making “disrespectful” comments about Khamenei, who claimed US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites had achieved “nothing significant.”
“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,” Araghchi posted on 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,” he added.
Araghchi has admitted that “excessive and serious” damage was done to Iran’s nuclear sites by the recent bombings.
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