Hello and welcome to Newsout from the BBC World Service coming to live from the BBC Studios in London with me, Sean Lay.

Iran's capital Tehran has been thronged with crowds clad in morning black

as the country officially marked the funerals of senior figures in the military and scientists killed in the aerial war with Israel.

Many family members of those targeted were also killed.

Saturday's public event is in one sense a display of defiance by the

authorities who insists the Iran regime is resilient despite the loss of so many of its senior figures,

including the Chief of the Armed Forces, as well as members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard,

an important political power base. While the BBC's Chief International correspondent,

Leis Doucette, has been on the streets of Tehran as the funeral procession took place.

She's allowed to report on condition none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian service.

That's a law which applies to all international media agencies operating in Iran.

Lees, thanks very much for coming up to talk to us here on Newtower from there

in Tehran. How would you describe the atmosphere and the scene on the streets this morning?

The scene was very emotional, very angry. It is the fifth day of a fragile ceasefire. It is still holding.

And this is the day when Iranians, most of them the most loyal supporters of the regime,

absolutely packed some of the central streets of Tehran as this procession with 60 coffins on pickup, on flatbed trucks, move slowly

from one major square in the city to another. It was meant to be a show of strength, a show of

sorrow. As Iranian said, farewell, to a whole generation of top commanders, leading nuclear scientists

who had built Iran's nuclear program, who had carried out its major security operations.

So it was very much a defining moment.

But of course, the authorities used this as a moment as well to send a broader message to the world

because it wasn't just

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