Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new Supreme Leader, remained absent from public view on Sunday as his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and four members of the family were honoured with state funeral prayers in Tehran. While state television broadcast images of three of Khamenei's sons praying alongside Iran's political and military leadership, Mojtaba's continued absence fuelled attention after Iranian state media said he would skip the funeral ceremonies over security concerns.
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The prayers took place at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, where Khamenei's body has been lying in state since Saturday for public mourning and official farewell ceremonies.
State television showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla. According to AP, Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, later led the funeral prayers, which were attended by the three brothers along with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Revolutionary Guard chief gen. Ahmad Vahidi and Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani.
The new supreme leader is expected to skip the six days of funeral ceremonies over security concerns amid continued Israeli threats to assassinate him. Despite not being seen in public ever since the succession, in a written statement, Mojtaba had authorised the memorandum of understanding signed by the Iranian and US presidents despite holding a "different view", after receiving assurances from senior Iranian officials that it would safeguard "the rights of the Iranian nation and the resistance front".
