TEHRAN - Around one million mourners gathered in central Tehran on Wednesday, according to local estimates, for the funeral procession of senior Iranian military commanders and civilians killed by the United States and Israel on the first day of the ongoing war.

The ceremony began at Enghelab Square, where crowds assembled hours before the official start. By midmorning, the square and nearby streets were filled with people carrying Iranian flags and portraits of the martyrs. Trains arriving at Enghelab metro station discharged steady streams of passengers who joined the growing crowd.

Among those being mourned were Lt. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces; Lt. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander in chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps; Adm. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the country’s defense council; and Maj. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, the defense minister. Also honored were Mohammad Shirazi, head of the office of the late Leader, several other commanders, and civilians, including families killed together in the U.S.-Israeli attacks. The youngest martyr was a two-month-old girl named Zeynab.

The ceremony opened with a recitation from the Quran and the playing of Iran’s national anthem. Religious singers then delivered elegies for the martyrs, and at one point, Tehran’s air defense systems were activated, prompting chants of “Allahu Akbar” and “Death to America” from parts of the crowd.

The funeral procession moved from Enghelab Square toward Vali-Asr intersection, one of the capital’s main thoroughfares. Throughout the march, mourners chanted religious and political slogans while accompanying vehicles carrying the coffins draped in Iranian flags.

Teachers attending the ceremony said they were also mourning more than 165 female elementary students who were killed in an American missile strike on a school in the southern city of Minab.One teacher, speaking to Iranian media, said anger over the tragedy had made it difficult to speak but pledged loyalty to the country’s leadership.

Hossein Simaei, Iran’s minister of science, research and technology, told the crowd that the large turnout showed that threats would not deter the public.

“Over several decades these people have proven they can bring the enemy to its knees,” he said. “They do not grow tired.”

The procession concluded at the Meraj-e Shohada, a hall used for receiving the bodies of those martyred in war. There, families and officials held a final farewell ceremony before burial.

The second Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was martyred by the U.S. and Israel on the first day of the war too. His funeral ceremony will be held later, likely with the presence of his son, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected to serve as the third Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran early this week.