TEHRAN, July 4 — Tens of thousands of Iranians filled a vast outdoor prayer complex in Tehran on Saturday to view the coffin of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic for 37 years before he was killed at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The mass funeral procession represents a public display of devotion to the country’s theocratic state and revolutionary zeal, according to Getty.
Mourners held up posters and A4 printed sheets bearing pictures of Khamenei and his son and successor as supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. After a day of Khamenei lying in state indoors for senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to visit, his coffin and those of several family members killed in the same airstrike were brought to an outdoor stage for the general public to view from a distance, television footage showed.
The Israeli strike that killed Khamenei also killed his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, according to Iranian state media. Their five coffins, all draped in Iranian flags and placed on a raised platform, included a tiny one for the 14-month-old granddaughter. Mourners filed into the vast courtyard of the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, beating their chests, wailing and waving the banners of the Islamic Republic and historic Shi’ite Muslim martyrs.
Women dressed in black chadors wore white visors or held umbrellas to shield from the hot mid-morning sun. “Let us wail!” a compere encouraged the crowds through a loudspeaker.
“Everybody chant oppressed, everyone say Hussein,” he said, invoking Shi’ite traditions of sacrifice, including that of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hussein. On cue, the crowds wailed and chanted. Iran’s military and security institutions have vowed revenge for Khamenei’s death, and chants of “Death to America” echoed through the Mosalla complex.
The funeral comes as the Islamic Republic faces a moment of acute crisis, with its supreme leader dead and a war underway against both the United States and Israel. The succession to Mojtaba Khamenei, now the supreme leader, appears to have been accepted by the crowds gathered in Tehran. The A4 printed sheets and posters carried by mourners showed both the father and son, signalling a continuity of leadership within the clerical establishment.
Khamenei’s 37-year rule defined Iran’s post-revolutionary trajectory. His death in an Israeli airstrike marks a dramatic escalation in the conflict between Iran and its regional adversaries, with the supreme leader having been a central figure in directing Iran’s proxy networks and nuclear ambitions.
The funeral proceedings at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, one of the largest prayer complexes in Tehran, drew crowds that stretched across the compound. Television footage captured the scale of the gathering, with mourners pressing forward to catch a glimpse of the coffins on the raised platform. Iranian state media has emphasized the family nature of the casualties, with the inclusion of the 14-month-old granddaughter’s coffin serving as a powerful propaganda tool.
The tiny flag-draped coffin drew particular attention from the crowds, who wailed and chanted in response to the compere’s calls. The chants of “Death to America” that echoed through the Mosalla complex reflect the official line from Iran’s leadership, which has long cast the United States as the primary enemy.
With the US-Israeli war on Iran now underway, those chants carry a new urgency. What comes next remains uncertain. Iran’s military and security institutions have promised revenge, but the loss of Khamenei — the figure who held together the Islamic Republic’s competing factions for nearly four decades — leaves a leadership vacuum at the worst possible moment for Tehran.
