TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation Saeed Ohadi says Israel’s recent 12-day assault, intended to collapse Iran, only served to unite the nation more deeply than ever before.

In an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times newspaper on Saturday, he revealed that despite losses—including civilians, women, and children—the people of Iran rallied in solidarity, honoring their martyrs and standing firmly behind their government and armed forces. 

The full text of the interview is as follows, 

Following the recent war with Israel in June, what is the Martyrs Foundation's immediate response in terms of identifying and supporting victims and their families?

Before answering your question, I’d like to say a few things about the recent imposed war that lasted 12 Before we get into your question, I would like to mention some points about this imposed war, which happened during these 12 days, and the comparison between this imposed war and the 8-year war that we had a long time ago at the beginning of the Iranian Revolution. It is a fact that the time period of this war is not comparable to the 8-year imposed war, because we had 12 days of war; at that time, we had 8 years of war.

So, this is one difference between these two wars. The second difference is the geographical area of the war and the region where the war was happening. Actually, this imposed war—the second imposed war, as we call it—basically happened in Tehran and some other provinces, but the 8-year imposed war basically happened along all the borders from the north to the south of Iran.

Geographically, the 8-year war was very vast and expanded. But there is a very significant difference, which is the depth of this war. I believe that despite the area and the time period of the war, the depth of this war is completely different from the 8-year war.

The depth of this imposed war is so deep and vast that the consequences and the result of this war are also very far-reaching, and I think we have to concentrate on the consequences of this war. During these 12 days of war, you know that we lost many of our great commanders. Each one of them was like a history of the Iranian Revolution and the war, from the beginning of the revolution until now. We lost many of our scientists, who were university professors, and they were martyred. During these 12 days of war, many of our civilians were also martyred. They were oppressed people, living their lives in their homes, and they were bombarded by the Israeli Zionist regime.

At the beginning, the Zionist regime claimed that they were targeting and planning to destroy Iranian nuclear energy infrastructure. This is what they claimed. They said that they wanted to solve and destroy all these infrastructures.

We were in the middle of negotiations with the United States. Our foreign ministers and U.S. delegates were having these talks and negotiations in Oman.

Why did they start the bombardment? Why did they begin these attacks against us in the middle of negotiations? What I'm trying to say is that the aim and goal of the enemy were far from what they claimed—way beyond what they claimed. It now seems, based on analysis and studies over this war, that their aim was to demolish and destroy everything in Iran.

They actually attacked the dignity, the culture, and the civilization of the people. This is what they were targeting. They wanted to collapse it all.

They were aiming to collapse the entire country during this war. This was their main goal. If you consider that, if you recognize that—as I mentioned during the negotiations that we had with the U.S. delegates, and as both the U.S. delegates and the Iranian foreign ministers emphasized—they were getting to some good results and nearing the final points.

Why did the Zionist regime attack at this time? Because they attacked the people. They didn’t just want to attack the infrastructure—they thought they could demolish and destroy the entire country.

This is what they had in mind. What was the result? They thought that with their huge bombardment, they could intimidate the people with this horror, create an atmosphere of fear and terror among the population, and that people would be scared. Because of all these bombardments, because they had killed and martyred high-ranking commanders, they thought people would rise up in the middle of this game. They thought people would come into the streets, stage demonstrations, and maybe revolt against the country and the government.

It was the opposite. Because people believe in this country. People believe in the commanders of the country.

People respect the leaders of this country. People love and respect them. When the dignity of the people is attacked, when the culture of the people is targeted, it is the people who rise to defend everything.

And the consequence, the result of this attack, was the unity of the people. We saw that people were unified. People were supporting the government.

People were supporting their armed forces, who were launching missiles at Israel. What I'm trying to say is that it was Israel—the same regime—that was finally defeated and asked for a ceasefire, because they knew there were no other choices.

They knew that the goal they had—to hurt the unity of this people and this country—only resulted in strengthening and reinforcing the unity and solidarity of the people. And what we recognize now—believe me—is that in every house of these martyrs we visit, what we hear from the people is: "We have sacrificed everything. We have sacrificed our children."

They were martyred for the dignity and the future of this country. This is what we should respect. To get back to your question: I think on the first or second day of this attack, this foundation decided that we had to carry out our mission, our responsibility toward the families and the martyrs.

So what we decided to do—because of security reasons—was that we couldn’t hold funeral ceremonies in the streets, like we usually do. As you know, we usually have huge funeral ceremonies. Even for martyrs from the war 40 years ago, when their bodies return, everyone comes into the streets.

A huge number of people gather. But because of security measures, we were not able to have public funeral ceremonies. 

Instead, we arranged for ceremonies to be held in Behesht Zahra Cemetery. We prepared special halls there so that families could mourn and honor their loved ones respectfully.

We also coordinated with the Ministry of Defense to set up a DNA identification center. Some of the bodies were severely damaged due to the intensity of the attacks. This facility helped identify martyrs quickly and respectfully. The entire process was designed to take less than 24 hours, so families wouldn't have to wait or worry.

Beyond that, the Martyrs Foundation operates about 50 centers, including hospitals and clinics. In Tehran, we have major facilities like Khatam al-Anbiya Hospital, Sasan Hospital, and Sayyid Mustafa Khomeini Hospital. We spoke with the hospital directors to increase capacity—some facilities by up to 200%. We even prepared tents to handle overflow if needed, though thankfully, we didn’t reach that point.

We also provided childcare for hospital staff. For instance, nurses with children were able to bring them to special centers within the hospital, allowing staff to focus on their work without worrying about their families.

What are the latest casualty figures, and how were civilians affected?

As of now, we’ve confirmed that 1,064 people were martyred. Among them, 47 were under 17 years old—including a two-month-old and a nine-month-old baby. These were innocent civilians, not nuclear scientists or military personnel.

We also lost 162 women. Again, they weren’t members of the armed forces. They were ordinary people, living their lives at home.

What I'm trying to say is that, you know, nowadays we see that the human rights organizations always claim that they are defending human rights, law, and regulations for people all around the world.

Where are these people? Where are these organizations? Have any of these organizations ever come to Iran and tried to follow up on one of these cases that I talked to you about? This two-month-old baby who was martyred and killed—what was the reason he was killed?

Among the people I mentioned—162 women were martyred, and 47 of them were teenagers, plus the babies and children—we had some families who were martyred together. Regarding the figures you were asking about, I can say that 32 families were martyred.

Two persons from one family were martyred together—either the father and mother, or the father and son or daughter, or the mother and son or daughter—they were martyred. We have one family in which the mother was martyred while feeding her baby in the middle of the night.

In the case of the Bahmanabadi martyrs, the mother was feeding the baby late into the morning. The baby was only nine months old, and both were martyred while the baby was hugging the mother.

Also, in the same Bahmanabadi family, there was Haniyeh, who was only three and a half years old. Her sister was eight and a half years old. When the bombardment happened, Haniyeh was afraid and ran to her sister, hugging her. Both were martyred at the same time.

Is this human rights? If so, where are those organizations and NGOs—those who claim they are supporting human rights? Why are they not speaking about any of these events that happened in Iran?

Among the figures I already mentioned, we have about 267 civilians who were martyred.

Out of the 1,064 people I mentioned, most were in Tehran and are buried in Tehran. We have two families in which eight members were martyred at the same time—the babies, the father, the mother, and even the grandfather and grandmother were all martyred in the same house. These are the figures I mentioned.

What specific support mechanisms are being activated or implemented for families who have lost loved ones or have been otherwise affected by the recent war?

Actually, we have, I can say, two ways of addressing your question. One way is that, in this foundation, we decided to mobilize everybody in the organization—to go to the homes of the martyr’s families and meet them face-to-face.

Up to now, out of these 1,064 people, we have visited more than 985 houses of these martyrs. I think this is a great blessing from Allah for our foundation.

We went to their houses, and when we go, we have two main reasons or goals. One is to meet these people—because they are the families of the martyrs.

And believe me, when we go to their homes, we see many consequences of the martyrdom. These people have so much to share.

If we are talking about this imposed war, and if we believe that its depth is quite different from the first imposed war—that it was so huge and deep—then we must try to document the stories of this second imposed war. We must write the history of these people.

We must write the history of this imposed war for the next and future generations of this country. Because we believe that through these narratives and through recording this history as a value, we can pass it on to the next generation.

We believe that if Karbala is still alive after more than 1,400 years, it’s because Hazrat-e Zaynab (PBUH) was the one who started to narrate the events of Karbala.

Every detail of how the household of Imam Hussein was martyred in Karbala was preserved and passed down—from heart to heart, chest to chest, throughout history.

At that time, we didn’t have mass media or the technologies we have now.

So, we have the same mission—to follow the same path. This is one of the goals: *Bonyad al-Shahid* is trying to collect all these stories and histories, and compile books on every one of these martyrs.

The second point of these visits is that, like any people, these families have problems—because their houses have been bombarded, everything has been demolished and ruined.

All their homes have been destroyed. All their documents and belongings are buried under the rubble. They have accounts, they have normal lives.

So, what we must do is to solve the problems they face. For example, people were going to school, and now they don't have any documents. Everything is under the ruins of their house.

So, the second goal is to follow up on their problems and resolve anything they are facing.

And one of the most important things—you mentioned what major actions we have taken for the people—according to the law, this foundation, *Bonyad al-Shahid*, is responsible for the families of the martyrs. The law has defined special regulations for them, which specify how these families must be served.

So, another point is that we must register all these people. We have spoken with the relevant organizations, and all this information must be collected in Martyr’s Foundation.

Every one of these martyrs has a special record. According to these records, we must provide whatever services they are legally entitled to

Beyond immediate financial and medical support, are there any long-term support programs in place?

Absolutely. We provide various types of assistance, including specialized schooling for children who lost parents in the attacks. We have schools specifically for the children of martyrs with trained staff who are experts in caring for children with trauma or special emotional needs.

University admissions also include provisions for the children of martyrs. We are committed to ensuring they receive their rights without delay.

They are special schools with teachers and staff who are specially trained to care for these kinds of children. So besides financial support and medical care, this is another responsibility that we must fulfill.

As I mentioned, schools and universities also provide special rights to these people, so that they can enter and continue their education. We are trying not to delay or withhold these rights, which legally belong to the martyr families.

How does the Foundation ensure that the sacrifices of those who are recognized as martyrs in the recent war are properly commemorated and honored in Iranian society?

As I said earlier, this is our main responsibility—to support the families of the martyrs. For example, because the martyrdom of these individuals has begun a new chapter, many families are now organizing ceremonies and memorials across different regions.

Next week on Thursday, we will have a national ceremony marking the 40th day of martyrdom for these individuals in Iran. In different cities and provinces across the country, national media, cinema, and other platforms will work to spread the message, the ideas, and the school of thought of these martyrs among the people.

This is a very important tool to help introduce these individuals, before people encounter similar tragic events in their own lives.

For example, we had people who were martyred in Syria during the time when Daesh was attacking cities. This is also a very important point that I should mention: the United States and Israel themselves brought Daesh to power in Syria. They supported them and lifted all sanctions against Syria at the time.

Those people who were defending Syria—those who defined their lives as martyrs, defending peace—gave everything for Syria. Syria was a unified country with national unity. But now, what about Israel? A few days ago, parts of Israel were falling apart. The unity of that country is crumbling.

With the experiences that we’ve had—like the martyrs of Syria and the long history of martyrdom in Iran—we know that this second imposed war is completely different from all previous wars. It was the first time in history that, with the cooperation and support of the U.S. regime, such an attack happened using all this modern technology.

It was the first time in history that the United States was involved in such a way.

So, the message that we want to send to international organizations and to the people of the world is this: 1,064 oppressed people were martyred in Iran. Families were killed in their own homes—children, women, girls, teenagers, doctors, scientists. They were martyred.

We were in the middle of negotiations. We are a member of the NPT—a country that has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, which is not even a legitimate state, and is not a member of the NPT, attacked us.

What was the reaction from international organizations? What was the response of the world? Where is the Secretary-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency? What did he do? Did he condemn this attack?

None of the countries said a word.

What message does the Foundation hope to convey to the international community regarding the victims of the recent war?

According to the NPT, it is our legal right to carry out research and development in the field of nuclear energy. We have announced to the world that we are not pursuing a nuclear bomb.

Our great leader, our highest authority, has repeatedly declared that according to our school of thought, it is religiously forbidden to pursue an atomic bomb.

But all of a sudden, in the middle of these negotiations—when we were reaching reasonable points—they started this war. And all the human rights organizations remained silent.

Hopefully, the people of the world today are smarter and more aware. Nowadays, we see protests and discussions in different universities—in the United States and in other countries. A few days ago, there were huge demonstrations in London, in Paris, and elsewhere.

We believe that day by day, we are reaching a point where the people of the world are becoming aware. Hopefully, this awareness will lead to the recognition of Palestine as a country. Some countries have already supported this idea.

And we believe that the most important thing that we must preserve in Iran is the unity of our great people, who showed incredible resilience and unity during this crisis.