Hundreds of thousands of mourners joined a funeral procession through Tehran on Monday for supreme leader Ali Khamenei, as some chanted for revenge against the West for his assassination.
His flag-draped coffin, and those of his family, also killed on 28 February in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the US, were carried on board a truck through the streets of the capital, as daily life ground to a halt to make way for large crowds of mourners.
Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a massive crowd stretching from Azadi, or Freedom, Square for miles. The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, which drew over 1 million.
“We are here for the funeral of our leader. It’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him; we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”
Iranian authorities have shut down streets and closed their airspace for several days of mourning, which began on Saturday. The period of mourning will end on Thursday after the former leader is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
The new supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not attend the funeral of his father, although three of his other sons prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday.
State TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex.
One disappointed mourner said she had hoped to see the new supreme leader during the funeral events.
“Until the last moment, before the prayer began, I kept telling those around me that I hoped [Mojtaba Khamenei] himself would come. That was our only wish,” the woman wearing makeup and sunglasses told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Iranian mourners were seen carrying signs calling for the killing of both US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US federal agencies have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Gen Qassem Soleimani, who had led the elite Quds Force.
Several hardline Iranian newspapers have joined the call for avenging Ali Khamenei’s killing in their editions published this morning.
The Asr-e Iranian newspaper devoted its front page to the demand, using the headline: “Blood for blood”, according to Iran International.
It said that the revenge was “the right of the people and the duty of officials”.
The Nobonyad newspaper asked: “Why shouldn’t we kill the one who killed our leader?”
In a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic, the mass funeral processions for Khamenei will be held for around a week, including taking his remains to Shi’ite religious sites in neighbouring Iraq.
After a day lying in state indoors for senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to visit, Khamenei’s coffin was displayed outdoors on Saturday under glass, along with those of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter.
On Sunday, tens of thousands more mourners, including soldiers and students, filed into the Mosalla to pay their respects to Khamenei and his family, waving flags emblazoned with promises of revenge against America and Israel.
Others prayed in unison at the complex named after Iran’s first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, whom Khamenei succeeded in 1989.
The farewell ceremony was extended by about an hour to 10pm (18:30 GMT) due to the high number of people taking part, state media reported.
Regular flights at Mehrabad airport and Imam Khomeini airport were suspended during public ceremonies in the capital on Monday, according to Iran’s civil aviation organisation.
Mehrabad airport is expected to resume normal operations on Tuesday, while Imam Khomeini airport will remain closed.
