Iran

A funeral procession took place Monday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala in central Iraq for General Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in Lebanon along with the leader of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, during an Israeli strike on Beirut in late September, an AFP photographer noted.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, announced Friday that the body of General Nilforushan had been found, "after continuous efforts," at the site of the strike that targeted a Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sept. 27.

His body was flown Monday from Beirut to Baghdad International Airport and then by ambulance to Karbala.

The funeral procession headed to the Husseiniya shrine, where a representative of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, led prayers in front of a large crowd.

Participants waved flags of Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah, while chanting "death to Israel."

The body will be transported to the holy city of Mashhad in Iran, according to the Sepah news agency, which is affiliated with the Guardians.

Another ceremony will be held in Tehran on Tuesday, before a burial scheduled for Thursday in Isfahan, his hometown in central Iran, the agency said.

Abbas Nilforushan was a top commander of the Quds Force, the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards.

The Revolutionary Guards had said that Iran's Oct. 1 strike of nearly 200 missiles on Israel was a retaliatory measure following the assassination of Nilforushan, Nasrallah and the leader of the Palestinian Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed on July 31 in Tehran in an attack attributed to Israel.

Israel has vowed to retaliate.

The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran’s deputy defense minister, senior members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and three airlines over allegations that they supplied drones, missiles and other equipment to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.

Deputy Defense Minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari is one of seven senior officials now banned from traveling in Europe and whose assets in the bloc were frozen. The EU said he “is involved in the development of Iran’s [drone] and missile program,” given his high-level defense role.

Iran Air, Mahan Air and Saha Airlines had their assets frozen. The EU said their planes were “used repeatedly to transfer Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles and related technologies to Russia, which have been used in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

EU foreign ministers endorsed the sanctions at a meeting in Luxembourg.

In March, the bloc had warned that “were Iran to transfer ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia for use against Ukraine, the EU would be prepared to respond swiftly, including with new and significant restrictive measures.”

EU member countries, except for Hungary, have been supplying weapons and ammunition as well as economic and other support to Ukraine worth some 118 billion euros ($129 billion) since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.