Funeral ceremonies for Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commenced. Scores of mourners including top officials from the state government and across the world. Photos circulating online show mourners mostly clad in black coloured clothes gathered at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran. The mosque is open to the public for a farewell ceremony. Processions have been scheduled in several locations in Iran and Iraq in the coming days.
People were seen waving flags, while some wiped off tears amongst the thousands who gathered at the funeral of the former supreme leader. Mourners beat their chests rhythmically in the intense summer heat, the wails of women cutting through the noise as the body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was unveiled beneath a glass case at the Grand Mosalla. “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” the crowd chanted, according to the local Press.
Visuals from the funeral showed Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi breaking down in tears on Friday. Top Iranian officials on Friday paid their final respects to the country’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of a week of funeral ceremonies, with allies and mourners converging on Tehran where his body is lying in state.
While officials did not comment on the timing, crowds gathered in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!”, a slogan that has been widely used in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the takeover of the US embassy and the hostage crisis. Trump was also a focus of attention in Tehran. At the Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag carrying the message: “#KillTrump.”
One of the striking images were those of a tiny coffin lying beside the supreme leaders coffin. The granddaughter of Khamenei was also killed in the 28th February air strikes in Tehran. Also honoured during the ceremony were Khamenei’s son-in-law, his eldest daughter and the wife of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.