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Tehran, July 1: Iran’s Judiciary has announced that the death toll from the recent Israeli military onslaught—backed by the United States—has risen to at least 935, including dozens of women and children.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir cited updated figures from the Forensic Medicine Organization, saying that the victims include 38 children and 102 women, several of whom were pregnant. The 12-day assault by the “illegitimate Zionist regime,” he said, constituted a clear act of aggression against a sovereign nation.

Jahangir highlighted that the attack on Tehran’s Evin Prison alone resulted in 79 deaths, including prisoners' family members, aid workers, and prison employees.

“The world saw who started this war. Iran was attacked in the middle of diplomatic negotiations and had every right to defend itself on the battlefield,” Jahangir said.

He accused both Israel and the United States of violating international law, particularly by targeting Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities—despite Iran being a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Jahangir warned that Iran remains vigilant and ready to deliver a “proportionate response” to any future aggression. He also accused foreign powers of attempting to stir unrest inside Iran by targeting key figures, including military commanders and scientists. However, he said that Iran's internal stability was preserved through national unity and swift action by authorities.

“Despite assassination campaigns and sabotage plots, the enemy failed to break Iran’s resilience. Under the guidance of Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, capable successors were quickly appointed and infiltration networks were dismantled,” he added.

The crisis escalated on June 13 when Israel launched a surprise military operation against Iran, killing numerous military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians. Days later, the US joined the assault by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites—a move Tehran labeled a serious breach of the UN Charter and the NPT.

In retaliation, Iran targeted strategic Israeli positions and struck the US-operated al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

By June 24, Iranian armed forces had carried out a series of retaliatory operations, ultimately forcing a halt to what Tehran called “illegal and unjustified aggression.”

A rape case has been filed against Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj, a monk associated with the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga unit in Murshidabad, West Bengal. The 2024 Padma Shri awardee has been accused by a woman of repeatedly raping her over the past decade under the pretext of offering her a teaching job.

According to the FIR filed with Nabagram police, the woman said she first met Maharaj in December 2012, when he offered her a position at a school run by the ashram. She was accommodated at the school hostel in early 2013 but claims Maharaj began summoning her to a room on the fifth floor and raped her repeatedly. She further alleged that she was also raped at other ashram branches and was forced to undergo an abortion after becoming pregnant that same year.

The survivor said that on June 13 this year, two men claiming to be Maharaj’s associates assaulted her, threatened her to stay silent, and pushed her out of a vehicle near a correctional home after she tried contacting him again.

In her complaint, she also expressed concern that other women may have faced similar abuse. Maharaj has denied all allegations, calling them part of a conspiracy to damage his reputation. “Ask the women who work here — we treat them like mothers,” he said.

The complaint has triggered fresh political debate in the state, especially as it comes close on the heels of a high-profile gangrape case at South Calcutta Law College and last year’s rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College — both of which have stirred public anger and political sparring between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

Police said an investigation is underway.

Tehran, June 28: Iran is holding a grand funeral service for those martyred in the 12-day aggression by Israel and the US against the Islamic Republic.

The funeral in capital Tehran for 60 nuclear scientists, military commanders and civilians martyred in Israeli strikes began at 8:00 am (0430 GMT) in Enqelab Square on Saturday, proceeding to Azadi Square, about 11 kilometers across the sprawling metropolis.

A huge crowd of mourners is participating in the procession, accompanying coffins with chants of "death to Israel" and "death to America" and carrying placards.

"Boom boom Tel Aviv," read one banner, referring to Iranian missiles fired at Israel during the conflict in retaliation for its attacks on Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other senior government officials and military commanders including head of the Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani are also attending the event.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who attended the procession, paid flowing tributes to the martyrs in a message on X.

“Today, the zealous people of Iran carry on their shoulders, with heavy sorrow but standing steadfast and powerful, some of their purest and most patriotic sons and daughters - commanders, elites, athletes, women and children of this land - who were martyred during the war imposed by the aggressor Zionist regime, and with indescribable respect, they lay them to rest on the soil of their homeland like mythical heroes; so that each one may become a seed for the growth of other heroes," he wrote.

Images showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the martyred commanders in uniform near in the iconic Enqelab Square in central Tehran.

Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran's Islamic Development Coordination Council, called it a "historic day for Islamic Iran and the revolution".

Among the martyrs is Mohammad Bagheri, a major general and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all martyred in an Israeli attack in Tehran.

Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also martyred in the savage aggression, will be buried with his wife.

Chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, who was martyred on the first day of the unprovoked aggression, will also be laid to rest after Saturday's ceremony — which will also honor at least 30 other top commanders.

Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children.

Iranian officials say more than 600 people, mostly civilians, were martyred in Israeli and US aggression against Iran.

The ceremony coincides with the second day of the Islamic month of Muharram, which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam, and his 72 companions.

In 680 AD, Imam Hussein (AS) and his followers fought bravely for justice against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid I, in the Battle of Karbala, in southern Iraq.

“Iranians have proven that they are the nation of Imam Hussein; a nation that, in the battle of truth against falsehood, relying on faith, steadfastness, and national solidarity, has the ability to overcome any evil," Baghaei wrote.