A mammoth crowd gathered in Tehran, the Iranian capital on Monday for the third day to mourn the slain Spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic Ali Khamenei as authorities and supporters called for revenge against the US and Israel.
Mourners threw flower petals on the coffins of Ali Khamenei and his family members along a street during their funeral procession even as authorities in Tehran hailed the government’s resilience during the United States-Israel war on Iran and promised vengeance for his assassination.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, Khamenei’s body began a 12-hour journey on Monday through the capital, accompanied by large crowds of mourners.
Khamenei, 86, was killed in an air strike on February 28, the first day of the war, after ruling Iran for nearly 37 years.
Mourners gathered in Imam Hussein Square in eastern Tehran and hanged an effigy of US President Donald Trump, according to state media.
Others carried placards with images of US Vice President JD Vance, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the words: “There will be blood.”
Thousands filled the Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects to Khamenei. The other remains on display were Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter who were all killed alongside him.
As well as laying Khamenei to rest, Iran’s authorities are using the weeklong funeral ceremonies to promote their resilience during a ceasefire with the US.
Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, hailed on social media the way the “proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran unanimously” paid tribute to its “martyr”.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
Three of Khamenei’s sons made a rare public appearance at the funeral on Sunday, further highlighting the absence of Mojtaba Khamenei, who was named supreme leader shortly after his father’s killing but has yet to appear in public.
Officials have said he was wounded in the air strikes that killed his father, but the severity of his injuries remains unclear.
While Iranian authorities have been eager to present a united front, none of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s surviving predecessors, who had tense relations with Khamenei, have so far been seen at the ceremonies.
The US-Israel war on Iran has been halted during the ceasefire with the US. Both Washington and Tehran have warned they are ready to resume military action, and vengeance has been a major theme at the weeklong ceremonies for Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s army chief, Major General Amir Hatami, pledged to never abandon a quest for justice.
“Those who committed this crime must know that the nation of Iran and all of us will never cease in our pursuit of and demand for justice,” Hatami said, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.
“The killers of Khamenei must face punishment,” a 38-year-old man who gave his surname as Miremadi told the AFP news agency at the prayers on Sunday.
Khamenei long pursued a course of confrontation with the West. Tehran has for years provided support to anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups operating around the Middle East, including the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which both sent delegations to the ceremonies.
