Iran to Bury Top IRGC, Missile Commanders in National Funeral After Israeli Strikes
Iran will hold a large funeral procession in Tehran Saturday for 60 people killed in its 12-day war with Israel, including top IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists. Iranian officials describe it as a rare national event marking major losses, with mass public mourning expected.
By Kamaran Aziz
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) — Iran will hold what officials have described as a “historic” funeral procession in Tehran on Saturday, honoring 60 individuals killed during the country’s 12-day war with Israel, including several top military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians. The announcement was made by Iranian officials and broadcast via IRIB News Agency on Friday.
The commemorative proceedings will begin at 8:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) in Enghelab (Revolution) Square, in central Tehran, and continue with a large funeral procession toward Azadi (Freedom) Square, located approximately 11 kilometers away.
“A brief ceremony will be held there, then the processions of the martyrs will go toward Azadi Square,” Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran’s Islamic Development Coordination Council, stated in a televised interview with IRIB News.
Mahmoudi called the event a pivotal moment for the Islamic Republic:
“Tomorrow will be a historic and divine day [Yomollah] recorded in the calendar of the Islamic Revolution—a day when the Iranian nation will, with a massive presence, declare its loyalty to the blood of the martyrs and the ideals of the Revolution.”
He highlighted the exceptional nature of the tragedy:
“Some of these martyrs were martyred as entire families—a father alongside his wife and child, a journalist beside the father who was a commander. These characteristics make tomorrow’s funeral one of the rarest events in the history of the Revolution.”
Among those to be honored is General Mohammad Bagheri, a major general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of Iran’s armed forces under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He will be buried with his wife and daughter, the latter reportedly a journalist.
Also to be honored is Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was killed on the war’s first day. According to IRNA, Salami will be buried in central Iran.
Another prominent figure to be commemorated is Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force and key architect of Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The funeral will also include tributes to nuclear scientists, chief among them Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, who will be buried alongside his wife, as well as four women and four children killed during Israeli airstrikes.
The war, which erupted on June 13 after Israel launched airstrikes it said were aimed at halting Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, has inflicted heavy losses on both sides. Tehran has consistently denied that it is developing a nuclear bomb.
Iranian health ministry officials report that at least 627 civilians were killed and nearly 4,900 wounded in Israeli airstrikes across the country.
Local Iranian media state that 30 top commanders of the IRGC were killed in Israeli strikes.
On the Israeli side, authorities have confirmed that Iranian missile and drone strikes killed at least 28 people.
There is currently no confirmation on whether Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will attend the funeral. While he has participated in ceremonies for high-ranking officials in the past, including for the late President Ebrahim Raisi, his presence on Saturday remains uncertain.
The funeral is expected to draw tens of thousands of mourners and will likely serve both as a national day of mourning and a demonstration of Iran’s defiance amid one of the most intense military escalations in recent decades.
