The Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation said that the fatalities followed the “largest, most extensive and most complex terrorist operation” since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, citing data provided by the country’s Legal Medicine Organization.

In a statement, the foundation said those killed included both security personnel and civilians from various segments of society.

It added that many of those killed were bystanders who were struck during shootings or indiscriminate acts of violence, while others were protesters who were hit by gunfire from organized terrorist groups.

The foundation compared the victims to those killed during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, saying they were all “children of this nation” and would be honored as such.

The following is the full statement, issued to honor the victims and their families:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

“Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah; of them some have fulfilled their obligations, and some of them are still waiting, but they have never changed in the least.”

The treacherous hand of Iran’s enemies, through the agency of trained terrorist operatives and in continuation of the 12-day war, has once again stained itself with a great crime.

With hearts full of sorrow, overflowing with crushing grief and a tremendous calamity, we inform the vigilant nation of Islamic Iran that, according to information received from the Legal Medicine Organization, in the terrorist incidents of recent days—which recall the ruthless and brutal crimes of Takfiri and Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) groups—2,427 of our innocent and oppressed citizens of dear Iran, including security forces and various segments of the people, out of a total of 3,117 fatalities in those incidents, have attained the rank of martyrdom.

The Iranian nation today is united in mourning the pure and innocent souls of these blood-soaked martyrs.

“By what sin were they killed?”

Truly, for what crime were these oppressed children of Iran slain?

The pure blood of unparalleled youths was spilled with cruelty and mercilessness by trained terrorist operatives.

Their pure bodies were burned, torn limb from limb, their heads severed from their bodies, and even their lifeless remains were shown no mercy.

Many of the martyrs were passersby who were targeted for killing or fell victim to indiscriminate terrorist shootings and savagery.

Others were among the protesters who were deliberately shot amid the crowds by organized terrorist elements.

All of them, like the martyrs of the eight-year Sacred Defense and other martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, are the children of this nation, and the embrace of the Iranian nation will forever remain open to its martyrs.

Undoubtedly, the Iranian nation will not let go of the terrorists affiliated with the criminal Zionist regime and their accomplices and agents—who were supported, equipped, and armed by the criminal leaders of the United States of America and who spared no transgression or savagery against the lives, property, and sanctities of the Iranian nation.

The murderers of the children of this land and their backers will be held accountable for their evils.

How can we speak of the pain and grief of martyring innocent three-year-old and five-year-old children and other child passersby, and how should we deal with their killers so that justice is served for this savagery and crime?

We offer our deepest condolences and sympathies from the bottom of our hearts to the presence of Imam al-Zaman, His Holiness Baqiyyat Allah al-A’zam (may God hasten his reappearance), the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, and the grieving families of these oppressed and noble martyrs.

We beseech Almighty God to grant the martyrs the highest ranks and to bring about the destruction, humiliation, disgrace, and exposure of the perpetrators of this crime.

“And those who have wronged are going to know to what (kind of) return they will be returned.”