Tehran, Iran’s capital, on June 28 was filled with hundreds of thousands of people mourning at a funeral for military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians killed during the 12-day war with Israel. News outlets reported that Saturday’s funeral was for 60 people, among them four women and four children.
Those being mourned included armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri; Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Reuters reported. Crowds waved flags, tried to touch the caskets and threw rose petals on the coffins, which were taken to Azadi Square.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, attended the funeral. Pezeshkian on X said he “bid farewell to the martyrs of our homeland.”
“Serving such a noble nation is the honor of my life,” he wrote. “Forever Iran.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Telegram that “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.”
News outlets reported that Khamenei was not seen in a broadcast of the funeral by the state. On X Saturday morning, he posted a statement saying that “the reason for the opposition to America is that they want Iran to surrender, and this is a great insult to the Iranian nation.”
This will “never happen,” Khamenei added. He did not mention the funeral.
US strikes on Iran nuclear sites
On Saturday, June 21, the United States military struck three nuclear sites in Iran. Called “Operation Midnight Hammer,” the attack on Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan was announced by President Donald Trump on Truth Social.
It followed a series of missile strikes between Iran and Israel, which began June 13 when Israel struck Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Over the 12-day war between the two countries, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side and 4,700 injured, per the country’s health ministry. Israel said 28 people were killed and 3,238 were wounded on their side.
While the Trump administration has touted the operation, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged the strikes caused “serious damage,” questions remain about just how much it affected Iran’s nuclear program. The Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency’s preliminary assessment found that the assault might only delay Iran’s nuclear work by a few months.
Bombs caved in entrances and damaged infrastructure at the Fordo nuclear enrichment site, the assessment said, but underground facilities did not collapse. The White House pushed back on the DIA assessment, calling it premature and incorrect.
When asked at a Friday, June 27 press briefing if he’d consider bombing Iran again if intelligence reports indicate concerns about Iranian uranium enrichment, Trump said, “sure, without question, absolutely.”
