Iran Embraces its Martyr of Resistance

Date: 15 October 2024 - 22:33

News ID: ۱۳۲۴۸۹

TEHRAN -- The funeral of an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) general martyred alongside Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of people in Iraq and Iran for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on the occupying regime of Israel.
The head of the IRGC’s Quds Force Gen. Esmail Qa’ani attended the procession in a black jacket wiping away tears early Tuesday morning at the body repatriation of Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
Mourners carried the martyr’s coffin, draped with the national Iranian flag, on their shoulders on Tehran’s iconic Imam Hussein Square.
Gen. Nilforoushan was martyred in an Israeli bombing of residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh on September 27.
His remains were taken from Beirut to the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, where a large crowd attended his funeral, including representatives of Iraqi political groups, with a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani leading prayers over his body.
Another funeral procession was held in Najaf that houses the holy shrine of Imam Ali (AS), the first Shia Imam.
On Tuesday, Gen. Nilforoushan’s body was transferred to Tehran where his casket was paraded through the packed streets of Tehran after a funeral ceremony at Imam Hussein Square in the city center.
Tens of thousands attended the funeral procession, many of them carrying yellow Hezbollah banners and Iranian and Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Israel.”
His remains were taken to another farewell ceremony in Tehran later in the day before leaving for another procession in Qom.

He will be laid to rest in his hometown Isfahan on Thursday after being taken to the holy city of Mashhad for another ceremony on Wednesday.

Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday the Islamic Republic will use “all its capacities” to bring Israel to account over the assassinations.

On October 1, Iran launched 200 missiles on Israeli military and intelligence bases in the Tel Aviv area in retaliation for the assassination of Gen. Nilforoushan and Nasrallah, in its second-ever direct attack on the occupying regime.

The attack was also in retaliation for Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in July while he was in Tehran to attend an inauguration ceremony for Iran’s president.

Iran has in recent days engaged in high-level diplomatic talks around establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as ways to prevent the conflict from spreading across the region.

On a visit to Baghdad, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said that Iran was “fully prepared for a war situation,” but added that “we do not want war, we want peace.”

In April Tehran fired a volley of missiles and drones at Israeli occupied territories in retaliation for a terrorist strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus that martyred several IRGC members.