Iran held a state funeral on Saturday June 28 for around 60 scientists and military commanders who were killed during its recent war with Israel. This came as Iran’s foreign minister condemned a fresh tirade from the White House directed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
State television showed thousands of mourners dressed in black chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” while holding up photographs of the deceased. One banner read, “Boom, boom, Tel Aviv,” referencing the missile attacks Iran launched in retaliation during the 12-day conflict.
The broadcast also displayed models of ballistic missiles similar to those Iran used in the strikes positioned beside coffins draped with Iranian flags.
President Masoud Pezeshkian was seen attending the funeral, alongside Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei, who walked with a cane after being injured in an Israeli airstrike. However, Khamenei himself was absent from the ceremony. He had already addressed the nation in a video message on Thursday, declaring “victory” following the truce that ended the fighting earlier in the week.
As the procession moved through the city, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi honored the fallen in an Instagram post.
“Iranians gave blood, not land; gave their loved ones, not honour; they withstood a thousand ton rain of bombs, but did not surrender,” he wrote, stressing that “Iran does not recognise the word ‘surrender.’”
Among those killed was Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, who will be buried with his wife and daughter a journalist, who also died in the conflict.
Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, another casualty, will be buried beside his wife.
Hossein Salami, a Revolutionary Guards commander who was killed on the first day of the war, will be laid to rest on Sunday.
Of the 60 people being buried, four were children and four were women.
Last weekend, the United States joined Israel in launching airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, aiming to cripple Iran’s nuclear capabilities. While both Israel and Iran claimed victory, their narratives differ.
Israel declared it had “thwarted Iran’s nuclear project” and warned it would act again if Iran attempted to restore it.
The U.S. said its strikes had pushed back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
Khamenei, however, downplayed the impact, saying they had done “nothing significant.”
Former U.S. President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday with a fierce response to Khamenei’s victory claim.
He wrote, “I had known EXACTLY where (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!’” Trump added.
He also claimed he had been working on lifting sanctions against Iran one of Tehran’s major demands but abandoned the effort after what he described as Iran’s ungrateful response.
“But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more.”
Iran’s foreign minister responded on Saturday using Trump’s signature style of capital letters.
“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 X.
He added, “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.”
According to Iran’s health ministry, at least 627 civilians were killed by Israeli strikes. Israel reported that 28 people were killed by Iranian retaliatory fire.
After the U.S. strikes, Trump said new nuclear negotiations were expected to begin the following week.
But Iran denied this and instead passed new legislation suspending its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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