Hundreds of thousands of people in mourning bordered the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the chief of the revolution goalkeeper and other best nuclear commanders and scientists killed during a 12 -day war with Israel.
The coffins of the general of Garde-Général Hossein Salami, the leader of the goalkeeper’s ballistic missile program, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were taken to trucks along Azadi street in the capital while people in the crowd sang: “Death To America” and “Death to Israel”.
Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war on June 13, as Israel launched a war He said it should destroy Iran’s nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.
The state media reported more than a million people proved to be for the funeral procession, which was impossible to confirm independently, but the dense crowd packed the main road of the Tehran along the road nearly three miles.
There was no immediate sign of the supreme chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameneiin the dissemination of state of the funeral. Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the start of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for commanders who fell on their coffins before the open ceremonies, was then broadcast on state television.
Vahid Salemi / AP
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, was on the spot, and state television reported that General Esmail Qaani, who heads the foreign wing of the revolutionary guard, La Force Quds and General Ali Shamkhani were also one of the mourning people.
Shamkhani, a Khamenei advisor who was injured in the first round of the attack on Israel and hospitalized, was shown in a civil costume based on a cane in an image distributed on the Telegram of State Television.
The Revolutionary Guard of Iran was created after its Islamic revolution in 1979. Since its creation, it has gone from a paramilitary security force to a transnational force which came with the help of the Allies of Tehran in the Middle East, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq. He operates parallel to the existing armed forces of the country and controls the arsenal of ballistic missiles from Iran, which he used to attack Israel twice during the War of Israel-Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
More than 12 days before the cease-fire declaration on Tuesday, Israel said that he had killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight Nuclear -related installations And more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the group of human rights activists based in Washington.
Iran has drawn more than 550 ballistic missiles in Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those who have suffered damage in many regions and killed 28 people.
Vahid Salemi / AP 
Saturday ceremonies were the first public funeral for the best commanders from the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.
The authorities have closed government offices to allow civil servants to attend the ceremonies.
Many in the crowd have expressed feelings of anger and challenge.
“It’s not a cease-fire, it’s just a break,” said Ahmad Mousapoor, 43, waving an Iranian flag. “Whatever they do, we will certainly give an overwhelming answer.”
The state media published images of an open plot in the cemetery of Behrest-E-Zahra de Tehran where the chief of staff of the army, General Mohammad Bagheri, who was killed on the first day of the war, was to be buried next to his brother, a commander of guards killed during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
Many others had to be buried in their hometown.
Vahid Salemi / AP 
The Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary confirmed that the main prosecutor notorious prison Evin had been killed in an Israeli strike on Monday.
He reported that Ali Ghanaatkar, whose pursuit of dissidents led to general criticism by human rights groups, would be buried in a Sanctuary of Qom.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel considers him as an existential threat and said that his military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.
Khamenei’s last public appearance took place on June 11, two days before hostilities with Israel, when he met Iranian parliamentarians.
Thursday, however, he published a pre -recorded videoIn his first message since the end of the war, filled with warnings and threats directed to the United States and Israel, long-standing opponents of the Islamic Republic.
The 86 -year -old man minimized They strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites As not having reached “something important” and claimed victory over Israel.
The head of the United Nations nuclear surveillance agency, Rafael Grosi, has characterized the damage Made by American bunker bombs on the Fordo nuclear site of Iran, which was built in a mountain, as “very, very, very considerable”.
