TEHRAN, Iran (BN24) — Thousands of mourners filled the streets of Tehran on Saturday as Iran held a state funeral for nearly 60 people, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, killed during the 12-day conflict with Israel that ended earlier this week.
Coffins draped in Iranian flags and adorned with portraits of the dead lined Enghelab Square, where crowds chanted anti-Israel slogans and waved banners in defiance. Authorities had called on the public to attend and provided free buses and metro rides across the capital. Government offices were closed nationwide to mark the occasion.
Among those buried was Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking military officer and chief of staff of the armed forces, who died along with his wife and daughter in an Israeli airstrike. Also laid to rest were Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a prominent nuclear scientist and head of Azad University in Tehran.
State media said a total of 627 Iranians were killed during the hostilities. Israel reported 28 deaths in retaliatory missile attacks launched by Iran.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was injured in an Israeli strike, attended the funeral.
The funeral came days after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he could order more strikes against Iran if American intelligence determined that Tehran’s uranium enrichment posed a renewed threat.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he would “without question” bomb Iran again if necessary.
“Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the war with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie?” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Trump also claimed he had spared Khamenei’s life during the recent escalation. “I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death, and he does not have to say, ‘thank you, President Trump!’” he wrote.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Trump’s remarks as “disrespectful,” warning that such statements could jeopardize any diplomatic progress.
“If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone,” Araghchi posted on X.
He also acknowledged that U.S. airstrikes had caused “excessive and serious” damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said the extent of the destruction or movement of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles and centrifuges remained unclear. He warned that airstrikes would not ultimately prevent Iran from pursuing nuclear capabilities.
“You are not going to solve this in a definitive way militarily,” Grossi told CBS News. “You are going to have an agreement.”
Trump later claimed he had been preparing to ease sanctions to help Iran recover but dropped the effort after Khamenei’s remarks.
“Instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more,” Trump wrote.
