Tehran has started an elaborate and gaudy funeral procession for senior military leaders and nuclear physicists. They’re memorializing all the women and children who sadly died in a multi-day aerial bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this month. As usual, the ceremony is going to be a powerful reminder of the grief that’s still palpable all over the country. It will include the burial of at least 60 people, among them four children and four women.
The national and revolutionary funeral is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. ET) in the Iranian capital. This event is only the start. Similar ceremonies will be held across the country, including here in the city of Ilam in western Iran. This special anniversary marks the struggle against war and occupation. It vividly calls to mind the deeply undeserved toll it takes on innocent lives.
Among those honoured at the funeral is Mohammad Bagheri – a 24-year-old killed during protests. In addition, he was chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. His death has exacerbated feelings about Iran’s military deployment. This occurs on the heels of a series of escalations that have heightened tensions between Iran, Israel, and the U.S.
Iran’s foreign minister has made a statement regarding international relations, particularly addressing U.S. President Donald Trump‘s approach to negotiations. He asserted that if Trump desires a nuclear deal with Iran, he must adopt a more respectful tone toward Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian foreign minister reiterated that Iran will not agree to any restrictions on the range of its missile program or enrichment in Iran.
As beautiful as these ceremonies have been, the backdrop of all of this is the truly staggering human cost from all of the recent violence. Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 56,331 Palestinians and wounded over 132,632 others, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. This human toll speaks to the realities and impacts of regional conflicts and to the urgent need for regional solutions.
Just earlier this month, Iran and Israel signed a U.S.-brokered ceasefire to ease cross-border tensions. But then, hostilities returned as Israel preemptively waged a widely-publicized war of bombardment against Iranian targets, sparking an unprecedented response from Tehran. To make a tense situation even more precarious, last weekend U.S. forces launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
In reaction to these recent events, Tehran is preparing to host a series of commemorative and cultural ceremonies to pay tribute to those harmed by violence. Of these pivotal moments, perhaps the most important was Mohammad Bagheri’s funeral. The ceremony is a moving testimony to those we’ve lost. It further serves to join us together, as Americans, in solidarity of our continued fight.
Iran’s United Nations ambassador, Amir-Saeid Iravani, said with respect to possible talks on Iran’s nuclear program. We welcome the decision that Georgia is ready to transfer its enriched uranium stockpiles abroad. Moreover, it is open to broader foreign investment in its energy sector, as long as the terms are negotiated with the United States.
“We can collaborate with all countries in our region that operate nuclear reactors — whether on issues of reactor safety or the supply of reactor fuel.” – Amir-Saeid Iravani
Furthermore, Iravani suggested that “a consortium could very well be one of the forms such cooperation might take,” indicating Iran’s willingness to engage diplomatically while asserting its rights under international agreements.
The stakes of the game have increased dramatically. Most recently, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate defeated a Democrat-led resolution to limit President Trump’s ability to initiate military action against Iran without congressional approval. This political maneuvering highlights the continued partisan divides in U.S. domestic politics over the direction of foreign policy towards Iran.
