DUBAI – In downtown Tehran on Saturday, thousands gathered to mourn the loss of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and several top commanders and nuclear scientists who were killed during a 12-day conflict with Israel.
The chief of the Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, along with Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, were among those whose caskets were paraded on trucks down Azadi Street. The crowds chanted slogans like “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Salami and Hajizadeh both fell on the war’s first day, June 13, as Israel initiated an offensive purportedly aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities, targeting military leaders, scientists, and nuclear sites.
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.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was on hand, and state television reported that Gen. Esmail Qaani, who heads the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, and Gen. Ali Shamkhani were also among the mourners.
Shamkhani, an adviser to Khamenei who was wounded in the first round of Israel’s attack and hospitalized, was shown in a civilian suit leaning on a cane in an image distributed on state television’s Telegram channel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since it was established, it has evolved from a paramilitary, domestic security force to a transnational force that has come to the aid of Tehran’s allies in the Middle East, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq. It operates in parallel to the country’s existing armed forces and controls Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
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.
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 views it as an existential threat and 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 hostilities with Israel broke out, 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.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, has characterized the damage done by American bunker-buster bombs to Iran’s Fordo nuclear site, which was built into a mountain, as “very, very, very considerable.”
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