Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders, scientists killed in Israeli strikes
Dubai (AP): 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.
Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.
Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.
Saturday's ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.
Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel views it as an existential threat and said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.
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 US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites as having not achieved “anything significant” and claimed victory over Israel.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, has characterized the damage done by American bunker-buster bombs to Iran's Fordo nuclear site, which was built into a mountain, as “very, very, very considerable.”
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Trump repeats claim he ended conflict between India and Pakistan
New York/Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump Thursday said he had threatened to put 200 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they didn't stop the fighting last summer, reiterating the claim that he stopped the war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Trump repeated the claim that he stopped eight wars within the first year of his second term in the White House as he addressed an event of the Board of Peace in Washington.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the event along with leaders of the other nations who have signed up to join the Trump-led organisation.
As he addressed the event, Trump listed the conflicts he helped end and asked leaders of the countries to stand up as he mentioned the nations.
Trump asked Sharif to stand up and then said, "I spoke to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. He's excited. He's watching us right now."
"Pakistan and India. That was a big one. I think you should actually stand, come please stand just for a second. Pakistan and India. Thank you very much," Trump said.
As he spoke about ending the war between India and Pakistan last summer, Trump said he likes Sharif and the country's Field Marshal and Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir, whom he called a "great guy".
"…There was some fighting going on when I got to know him (Sharif) and your Field Marshal General. Great, Great General. Great Field Marshal, a great guy,” he said.
Trump repeated the assertion that Sharif had claimed he saved “25 million lives” when he stopped the war between India and Pakistan.
Earlier, Trump had claimed that Sharif said he had saved 10 million lives by ending the conflict between the two nations.
"You made that statement," Trump said to Sharif. “I said 25 million lives, could have been much more actually, but it was really a beautiful thing…. That war was raging. Planes were being shot down, and it was Pakistan and India.
"And I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew him (Sharif) a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well, actually. I got to know Pakistan through a little trade. They were trying to make too good a deal, and I would get a little upset with them. And in the end, they got what they wanted, right? And they made a good deal, and I got to like them, the Prime Minister, the Field Marshal, who's a tough man, a tough good fighter, serious fighter. I like good fighters, actually,” Trump said.
“And when I heard that they were fighting, I pick up a certain newspaper.… and I saw that Pakistan and India were really going at it. And then it got worse and worse, and… many planes were shot down. It was all out. And I called them, I said, ‘Listen, I'm not doing trade deals with you two guys, if you don't settle this up’. They said, ‘No, no, no’,” Trump said, adding that neither of the two countries wanted to do that.
“I said, ‘No, it has to. If you don't do it, I'm not doing a trade deal. We're not doing a trade deal’," he added.
“And they do a lot of business with the United States, and they sort of softened up all of a sudden. And all of a sudden, I read where there was a little bit of a pullback by one, then the other, and all of a sudden, we worked out a deal. But I said, ‘If you fight, I'm going to put 200% tariffs on each of your countries’,” which essentially would have meant that they could not have done any business with the US.
“One of them, I won't say which one, said, ‘No, can't do that’. They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, ‘I guess we don't want to fight’. And we solved that deal in two-three days.
“And we did. We said these are two very powerful, two nuclear nations. And I don't want to say what was going to happen, but, you know, bad things happen. So, Prime Minister, I want to thank you, because that was a very big deal. People have no idea. A lot of them say, ‘Oh, well, they weren't fighting’. They were fighting, 11 jets were shot down, very expensive jets, and they were all in. Both of them were all in, and now they're not.
“And I think we'll always be able to settle up with them. I really do. I think… a lot of progress was made, even in the relationship. And Prime Minister Modi also is a great man. He's a great guy. They're all great, but I was very proud of it.”
He, however, did not specify which country's jets he was referring to.
Trump has claimed credit for stopping the India-Pakistan conflict more than 80 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that the two neighbours had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after talks mediated by the US.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 last year, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
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