Ayatollah Ali Khamenei missing during Iran top military commanders, nuclear scientists funeral! Is Supreme Leader alive?
Live Events
Iran State Funeral
FAQs
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Thousands of Iranian people in Tehran gathered on Saturday and raised slogans like "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as Iran conducted the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel. 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, as per AP report.Ayatollah Ali 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 the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites as having not achieved 'anything significant' and claimed victory over Israel.The caskets of Guard's chief General Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard's ballistic missile program, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were driven on trucks. Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran's nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was on hand, and state television reported that General Esmail Qaani, who heads the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, and General 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.A1. Iran's Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.A2. Iran's Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 86-year-old.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
25 minutes ago
- Time of India
Salal dam gates opened amid rising Chenab water levels after heavy rainfall in J&K
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Authorities have opened multiple spillway gates of the Salal Dam in Jammu and Kashmir 's Reasi district due to a continuous rise in water levels in the Chenab River following heavy rainfall in the have issued advisories urging locals to stay away from the riverbanks and follow all safety gates were opened to safely discharge excess water and prevent any possible flooding to a prior report, Heavy rainfall across parts of Jammu and Kashmir led to a rise in the water level of the Chenab River, causing an overflow at the Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Shridhar Patil, acknowledged the situation and urged people to stay away from rivers and overflowing streams. While speaking to ANI, DIG Patil said, "All of you must have noticed that the water level has risen in the Chenab River. One incident has also come to our notice in the Doda district, in which some people have lost their lives. I appeal to all people not to go near the rivers... The water level is very high. Do not put yourself at risk."The opening of the gates comes amid a sensitive geopolitical backdrop. Just last month, the gates of the Salal Dam had been kept closed following heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, after the Pahalgam terror attack. India had put the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance as an immediate response to the "barabaric" attack, as part of a broader policy shift announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under "Operation Sindoor."One of the gates was briefly opened last month to manage overflow due to increased water levels from rainfall, but operations at the dam were largely kept under tight control due to the ongoing diplomatic Indus Waters Treaty , signed in 1960, is a water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan that governs the use of six rivers in the Indus Basin--Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. Under the treaty, the waters of the eastern rivers--Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, were allocated to India, while the western rivers--Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, were given to Pakistan, with India allowed limited non-consumptive has used this treaty to develop hydroelectric projects like the Salal and Baglihar Dams on the Chenab. These are "run-of-the-river" (ROR) projects, meaning they do not divert or store large amounts of water but still require careful management of flow levels, especially during the monsoon May 12, PM Modi stated that after the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes, Operation Sindoor reflects India's ongoing and firm response to terrorism. Referring to the treaty, he declared, "Water and blood cannot flow together," emphasising India's decision to put the treaty in abeyance after the Pahalgam in May, the Baglihar Dam , located on the Chenab, was forced to open its gates on May 8 due to intense rainfall. The coordinated dam management has so far helped avoid major flooding incidents.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Japan auto trade 'unfair', could buy more US oil, Trump tells Fox News
Japan engages in "unfair" automobile trade with the United States and should increase its imports of U.S. energy resources and other goods to help reduce the U.S. trade deficit, President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Tokyo is scrambling to find ways to get Washington to exempt Japan's automakers from 25% automobile industry-specific tariffs, which are hurting the country's manufacturing sector. Japan also faces a 24% so-called reciprocal tariff rate starting on July 9 unless it can negotiate a deal. "They won't take our cars, and yet we take millions and millions of their cars into the United States. It's not fair, and I explained that to Japan, and they understand it," Trump said in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo". "And we have a big deficit with Japan, and they understand that too. Now we have oil. They could take a lot of oil, they could take a lot of other things." The automobile sector accounted for about 28% of the total 21 trillion yen ($145 billion) worth of goods Japan exported to the U.S. last year. Live Events Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
CIA chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear programme set back years with strikes on metal conversion site
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical US lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran's lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran's nuclear programme that would take years to overcome, a US official said on Sunday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for US lawmakers last week. Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday's ceasefire with Israel took hold. "It was obliterating like nobody's ever seen before," Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures". "And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time." Live Events Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that the intelligence community assessed the vast majority of Iran's amassed enriched uranium likely remains buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordo, two of the three key nuclear facilities targeted by US strikes. But even if the uranium remains intact, the loss of its metal conversion facility effectively has taken away Tehran's ability to build a bomb for years to come, the official said. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the three Iranian sites with "capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree". But, he added, "some is still standing" and that because capabilities remain, "if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again". He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing in inspectors. "Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there," Grossi said. Trump has insisted from just hours after three key targets were struck by US bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles that Iran's nuclear program was "obliterated." His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said they were "destroyed". A preliminary report issued by the US Defence Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities. As a result of Israeli and US strikes, Grossi said that "it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it's not total damage". Israel claims it has set back Iran's nuclear program by "many years". The metal conversion facility that Ratcliffe said was destroyed was located at the Isfahan nuclear facility. The process of transforming enriched uranium gas into dense metal, or metallisation, is a key step in building the explosive core of a bomb. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in comments at the NATO summit last week also suggested that it was likely the US strikes had destroyed the metal conversion facility. "You can't do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility," Rubio said. "We can't even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. You can't even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It's gone. It's wiped out." The CIA director also stressed to lawmakers during the congressional briefing that Iran's air defence was shattered during the 12-day assault. As a result, any attempt by Iran to rebuild its nuclear programme could now easily be thwarted by Israeli strikes that Iran currently has little wherewithal to defend against, the official said. Ratcliffe's briefing to lawmakers on the US findings appeared to mesh with some of Israeli officials' battle damage assessments. Israeli officials have determined that Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a weapons-grade level was neutralised for a prolonged period, according to a senior Israeli military official who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter. Tehran's nuclear programme was also significantly damaged by the strikes killing key scientists, damage to Iran's missile production industry and the battering of Iran's aerial defence system, according to the Israeli's assessment. Grossi, and some Democrats, note that Iran still has the know-how. "You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have," Grossi said, emphasising the need to come to a diplomatic deal on the country's nuclear programme.
