TEHRAN — The smallest coffin drew the loudest wails. It held a 14-month-old girl, draped in an Iranian flag. She was Khamenei’s granddaughter.
The airstrike that killed the supreme leader also killed her, along with his daughter, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild. Five coffins in total, lined on a raised platform in the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla courtyard.
“Let us wail!” a compere shouted through a loudspeaker. The crowd obeyed. Women in black chadors held white visors or umbrellas against the mid-morning sun.
Men beat their chests. They waved banners of the Islamic Republic and flags of historic Shi’ite martyrs.
Television footage showed thousands filing into the vast outdoor prayer complex on Saturday, July 4, to view the coffins from a distance. Getty described the mass funeral as a public display of devotion to the country’s theocratic state and revolutionary zeal. Mourners held up posters and A4 printed sheets bearing pictures of Khamenei and his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded him as supreme leader.
The killing came at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Khamenei had ruled the Islamic Republic for 37 years. He was buried after a day of lying in state indoors, where senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials paid respects.
The compere invoked Shi’ite traditions of sacrifice. “Everybody chant oppressed, everyone say Hussein,” he urged, referencing the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, a central figure in Shi’ite martyrdom.
On cue, the crowds wailed and chanted. Iran’s military and security institutions have vowed revenge. Chants of “Death to America” echoed across the courtyard.
No foreign media were allowed near the coffins. The public viewed from a marked distance.
The platform held the five flag-draped coffins, the smallest drawing the most grief. State media reported the family members killed alongside Khamenei. The list included his daughter, a grandchild, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law.
The 14-month-old was named in Iranian reports as his granddaughter. The crowd was not just mourning a leader. They were mourning a family.
The scene at the Grand Mosalla was part funeral, part political rally. The compere’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers, leading the crowd in call-and-response.
The wailing was rhythmic, practiced. “Let us wail!” he repeated. They did.
The heat was intense. Women used white visors and umbrellas as shields.
Men in shirtsleeves stood bareheaded. The banners did not droop. The chanting did not stop.
This was the first public funeral for a supreme leader since the 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. That funeral drew millions. This one drew tens of thousands, according to Getty.
The difference in scale may reflect the sudden nature of the death — killed in an airstrike, not after a long illness — or the fact that the war is ongoing. Iranian officials have not announced a date for retaliation.
But the military and security institutions have made clear that revenge is coming. The crowd made that clear too. “Death to America,” they chanted.
The coffins remained on the platform for hours. Mourners filed past, some stopping to beat their chests, others to wail.
The tiny coffin stayed in place, draped in the same flag as the others. No one spoke to reporters. The compere did all the talking.
The crowd did all the responding. It was a choreographed display of grief and defiance. And it worked.
