In brief
At the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, more than fifteen million people gather in black robes to honor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in late February by combined US‑Israeli strikes. The funeral ceremony will run for six days before the body is buried in Mashhad, with coffins of family members lying beside the late leader. Protest slogans against the US echo across the city as crowds chant for revenge, echoing the regime’s narrative of martyrdom. Authorities have deployed a city lockdown to secure the procession, while the newly appointed Supreme Leader, his son Mojtaba, remains in the shadows of the ceremony. The event promises to be the largest funeral in Iran’s history, as religious officials guide the journey across Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala and finally Mashhad.
Large crowds of black‑clad mourners gathered outside Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on the first day of the funeral commemorations for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
His body lies in state at the mosque opposite a huge portrait of him, as thousands chant slogans that flirt with profanity against the United States and call for vengeance.
Officials anticipate 15‑20 million people attending the six‑day procession across Iran and Iraq, after the death that occurred more than four months ago in US and Israeli air strikes.
In the courtyard, a 37‑year‑old professor named Reza told AFP, “We came because we promised the supreme leader we would stand by him to the very end, for a long time we shouted that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but it was he who sacrificed himself for us.”
41‑year‑old Arash Rahimi told Reuters: “Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of our supreme leader. We have a blood feud with the United States; our relations will never be good.”
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump joked that he gave Iran a week off for a funeral as a gesture of kindness, while the funeral is expected to be the largest in Iran’s history relative to the population.
The body will lie at the Grand Mosalla for three days, together with the remains of Khamenei’s family members who were also killed in the strikes.
From Tehran, the funeral is scheduled to travel to Qom, Najaf in Iraq and Karbala, before the body is finally buried at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad on Thursday.
After the six‑day ceremony, commemorations will continue throughout the country for 40 days, culminating on the first anniversary of the burial.
While the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in public since he assumed the role, whether he will appear at the funeral remains a key question for a carefully choreographed ceremony of national mourning.
