Iran Holds State Funeral For Commanders, Scientists Killed In Israeli Attacks
Iran began a state funeral service Saturday for around 60 people, including its military commanders, killed in its war with Israel, after Tehran's top diplomat condemned Donald Trump's comments on supreme leader Ali Khamenei as "unacceptable".
The proceedings started at 8:00 am local time (0430 GMT) in the capital Tehran as government offices and many businesses were closed on Saturday for the occasion.
"The ceremony to honour the martyrs has officially started," state TV said, showing footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the military commanders.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as well as other senior government officials also attended the event.
Images showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the killed commanders in uniform near Enghelab Square in central Tehran.
The United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel's bombardments of Iran's nuclear programme in the 12-day conflict launched on June 13.
Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire, with Iranian leader Khamenei downplaying the US strikes as having done "nothing significant".
In a tirade on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted Tehran Friday for claiming to have won the war.
He also claimed to have known "EXACTLY where he (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. 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!'" the US leader said.
Trump added he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran's main demands.
"But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more," Trump said.
Hitting back at Trump Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the Republican president's comments on Khamenei.
"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 social media platform 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."
The Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.
'Historic' state funeral
The ceremony in Tehran "to honour the martyrs" will be followed by a funeral procession to Azadi Square, about 11 kilometres (seven miles) across the sprawling metropolis.
Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran's Islamic Development Coordination Council, vowed it would be a "historic day for Islamic Iran and the revolution".
Among the dead is Mohammad Bagheri, a major general in Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Iranian leader.
He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all killed in an Israeli attack.
Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be buried with his wife.
Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, who was killed on the first day of the war, will also be laid to rest after Saturday's ceremony -- which will also honour at least 30 other top commanders.
Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children.
'Imminent threat'
During his first term in office, Trump pulled out in 2018 of a landmark nuclear deal -- negotiated by former US president Barack Obama.
The deal that Trump had abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.
Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.
After the US strikes, Trump said negotiations for a new deal were set to begin next week.
But Tehran denied a resumption, and leader Khamenei said Trump had "exaggerated events in unusual ways", rejecting US claims Iran's nuclear programme had been set back by decades.
Israel had claimed it had "thwarted Iran's nuclear project" during the 12-day war.
But its foreign minister reiterated Friday the world was obliged to stop Tehran from developing an atomic bomb.
"The international community now has an obligation to prevent, through any effective means, the world's most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon," Gideon Saar wrote on X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
39 minutes ago
- First Post
Supreme Court ruling sparks confusion over US birthright citizenship
On Friday, the court's conservative majority approved President Donald Trump's request to limit the authority of federal judges but did not rule on the legality of his attempt to restrict birthright citizenship read more The U.S. Supreme Court's decision related to birthright citizenship led to confusion and calls to attorneys as individuals potentially impacted worked to understand a complex legal ruling with significant humanitarian consequences. On Friday, the court's conservative majority approved President Donald Trump's request to limit the authority of federal judges but did not rule on the legality of his attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. This outcome has created more uncertainty than clarity around a right long interpreted as protected by the U.S. Constitution: that anyone born in the United States is a citizen at birth, regardless of their parents' citizenship or immigration status. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lorena, a 24-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who lives in Houston and is due to give birth in September, pored over media reports on Friday morning. She was looking for details about how her baby might be affected, but said she was left confused and worried. 'There are not many specifics,' said Lorena, who like others interviewed by Reuters asked to be identified by her first name out of fear for her safety. 'I don't understand it well.' She is concerned that her baby could end up with no nationality. 'I don't know if I can give her mine,' she said. 'I also don't know how it would work, if I can add her to my asylum case. I don't want her to be adrift with no nationality.' Trump, a Republican, issued an order after taking office in January that directed U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the U.S. who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order was blocked by three separate U.S. district court judges, sending the case on a path to the Supreme Court. The resulting decision said Trump's policy could go into effect in 30 days but appeared to leave open the possibility of further proceedings in the lower courts that could keep the policy blocked. On Friday afternoon, plaintiffs filed an amended lawsuit in federal court in Maryland seeking to establish a nationwide class of people whose children could be denied citizenship. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If they are not blocked nationwide, the restrictions could be applied in the 28 states that did not contest them in court, creating 'an extremely confusing patchwork' across the country, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst for the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute. 'Would individual doctors, individual hospitals be having to try to figure out how to determine the citizenship of babies and their parents?' she said. The drive to restrict birthright citizenship is part of Trump's broader immigration crackdown, and he has framed automatic citizenship as a magnet for people to come to give birth. 'Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into our country under birthright citizenship, and it wasn't meant for that reason,' he said during a White House press briefing on Friday. Worried calls Immigration advocates and lawyers in some Republican-led states said they received calls from a wide range of pregnant immigrants and their partners following the ruling. They were grappling with how to explain it to clients who could be dramatically affected, given all the unknowns of how future litigation would play out or how the executive order would be implemented state by state. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lynn Tramonte, director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance said she got a call on Friday from an East Asian temporary visa holder with a pregnant wife. He was anxious because Ohio is not one of the plaintiff states and wanted to know how he could protect his child's rights. 'He kept stressing that he was very interested in the rights included in the Constitution,' she said. Advocates underscored the gravity of Trump's restrictions, which would block an estimated 150,000 children born in the U.S. annually from receiving automatic citizenship. 'It really creates different classes of people in the country with different types of rights,' said Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, a spokesperson for the immigrant rights organization United We Dream. 'That is really chaotic.' Adding uncertainty, the Supreme Court ruled that members of two plaintiff groups in the litigation - CASA, an immigrant advocacy service in Maryland, and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project - would still be covered by lower court blocks on the policy. Whether someone in a state where Trump's policy could go into effect could join one of the organizations to avoid the restrictions or how state or federal officials would check for membership remained unclear. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Betsy, a U.S. citizen who recently graduated from high school in Virginia and a CASA member, said both of her parents came to the U.S. from El Salvador two decades ago and lacked legal status when she was born. 'I feel like it targets these innocent kids who haven't even been born,' she said, declining to give her last name for concerns over her family's safety. Nivida, a Honduran asylum seeker in Louisiana, is a member of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project and recently gave birth. She heard on Friday from a friend without legal status who is pregnant and wonders about the situation under Louisiana's Republican governor, since the state is not one of those fighting Trump's order. 'She called me very worried and asked what's going to happen,' she said. 'If her child is born in Louisiana … is the baby going to be a citizen?'
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Iran Denies Any Ceasefire Deal; Says Enemy ‘Pleaded' to End War
/ Jun 28, 2025, 04:40PM IST Iran has claimed that it never agreed to any ceasefire with Israel and that the truce was unilaterally announced by its enemies. A top Iranian cleric and former judicial official alleges that Israel and the U.S. "begged" for the halt after suffering major losses. Tehran says no deal was made, and that surrender was never an option. Meanwhile, mass funeral processions were held for 60 people, including top IRGC commanders killed in Israeli strikes. Watch
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
‘Good luck with that': Trump's border czar hits back at Mamdani's anti-ICE plan for NYC
US President Donald Trump's immigration chief Tom Homan has issued a fiery challenge to Zohran Mamdani, the newly victorious NYC mayoral primary candidate, after Mamdani vowed to 'kick the fascist ICE out of New York City.' Responding on Fox Business' Kudlow a day after Mamdani's win, Homan scoffed, 'Good luck with that,' before adding: 'Federal law trumps him every day, every hour of every minute.' 'We're going to be in New York City, matter of fact, because it's a sanctuary city and President Trump made it clear a week and a half ago, we're going to double down and triple down on sanctuary cities.' he said. Homan, tapped by Trump to spearhead his border crackdown, said agents would focus on areas 'releasing public safety threats and national security threats back to the street.' Trump's border czar asserted that if immigration enforcement officials can't arrest people in jail, they would 'find them' in neighbourhoods or work sites, adding, 'so game on, we're coming.' New: 🚨 Border Czar Tom Homan on Zohran Mamdani for wanting to protect illegal aliens who are p*dos and r*pists. 'Good luck. Federal law trumps him every day, hour, and minute. We're going to be tripling down in NYC.' 👊🏻 — Jay 🇺🇸 Rapid Response Guy (@RapidResponseXY) June 25, 2025 The warning comes amid rising tensions over immigration enforcement in the Big Apple. Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and Queens assemblyman, declared victory in the June 24 Democratic primary with a pledge to 'Trump-proof' the city. His campaign criticised Trump's use of ICE to target immigrant families, and he pledged sweeping changes to protect undocumented New Yorkers. But Homan made clear the administration has other plans: 'Not only are we going to send more agents to the neighborhood, we are going to increase worksite enforcement tenfold.' In contrast, Homan praised current Mayor Eric Adams for cooperating with ICE on 'significant public safety threats' and helping trace the 300,000 missing children trafficked across the US. He described Adams as a law-and-order mayor whose 'hands are tied in many ways.' Mamdani has clashed with Homan before. In March, he confronted him at the New York state Capitol and posted video of the encounter during his campaign. The Astoria politician was protesting ICE's arrest of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, detained for allegedly lying on his visa application. Today I confronted 'border czar' Tom Homan who came to Albany to do Trump's bidding — push for mass deportations, carry out the assault on working class New Yorkers, and justify the unjustifiable detention of legal permanent resident and father-to-be, Mahmoud Khalil. — Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) March 12, 2025 Now, Homan says, the fight over immigration enforcement in New York City is far from over: 'We don't have this problem in Florida… so we're going to double up and triple up on New York.' Meanwhile, Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday: 'It's finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line. Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We've had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous.' Trump continued: 'He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he's not very smart, he's got AOC+3, Dummies ALL, backing him, and even our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, is groveling over him. Yes, this is a big moment in the History of our Country!'
