Iranian crowds chant Death to America, Israel during funeral for top commanders, scientists killed in Israeli strikes

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.The caskets of Guard’s chief Gen.Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”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.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.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was on hand, and state television reported that Gen.Esmail Qaani, who heads the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, and Gen.

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.Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.Since it was established, it has evolved from a paramilitary, domestic security force to a transnational force that has come to the aid of Tehran’s allies in the Middle East, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq.It operates in parallel to the country’s existing armed forces and controls Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip....