Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP)-Thousands of mourning people stood on Saturday along the streets of the center of Tehran for the funeral of the head of the revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.
The Chief Gen. Hossein Salami of the boxes of Guard, the head of the Ballistic Rocket Program of the guard, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the Azadi street of the capital while people sang in the crowd: “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, because Israel launched a war that said it was intended to destroy the nuclear program of Iran, in particular aimed at military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.
There was no immediate sign of the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral. Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since the outbreak of the war, has held prayers in earlier funerals for fallen commanders about their boxes before the open ceremonies, later broadcast on the state of television.
More than 12 days before a ceasefire was declared Tuesday, Israel claimed that it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while the eight nuclear-related facilities became and more than 720 military infrastructure locations. According to Human Rights Activists Group, more than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 citizens.
Iran shot more than 550 ballistic missiles on Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those who came through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
Saturday's ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since ceases -the Fire, and the Iranian state of television reported that they were a total of 60 people, including four women and four children.
Authorities closed government offices to enable civil servants to attend the ceremonies.
Iran has always urged that his nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel regards it as an existential threat and said that the military campaign was needed to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.
The last public performance of Khamenei was 11 June, two days before the hostilities with Israel broke out when he met Iranian MPs.
On Thursday, however, he released a predetermined video, in his first message since the end of the war, filled with warnings and threats aimed at the United States and Israel, the old opponents of the Islamic Republic.
The 86-year-old trivialized American strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites because they have not achieved 'something important' and claimed the victory over Israel.
The head of the Nuclear Waakhondagschap of the United Nations, Rafael Grossi, has characterized the damage by American bunker-buster bombs on the Fordo-Nuclear site of Iran, which was built in a mountain, as “whole, very, very considerable”.
