Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran on Sunday as Iran held funeral prayers for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with crowds chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans and calling for revenge over the assassination that has reshaped the country’s leadership.
The public farewell, now in its second day, drew senior Iranian officials including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Khamenei’s sons Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa attended the prayers, while his designated successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, stayed away because of security concerns following reported Israeli threats against him.
The ceremonies mark the beginning of a week-long funeral programme that will include a mass procession through Tehran on Monday, commemorations in Qom, visits to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said neither Iran nor Israel would “shoot the other during the funeral proceedings” and indicated that talks with Tehran would resume after the ceremonies conclude.
Tehran’s metro network has registered more than 7 million passenger trips from 5:30pm (14:00 GMT) on Saturday to 7am (03:30 GMT) on Sunday, according to official figures cited by the semiofficial Tasnim News Agency.
The increase in ridership coincides with the funeral for the former supreme leader and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Musalla in Tehran, which is scheduled to continue until 8pm (16:30 GMT).
Tasnim reported that organisers have advised attendees to use the metro system for access to the site.
The funeral spans a week and several locations in Iran and Iraq.
On Tuesday, a commemoration ceremony will be held in Qom, the religious city in central Iran.
On Wednesday, the bodies are expected to be flown to Iraq, to Najaf and Karbala, home to the shrines of Imam Ali and Imam Hussein, which are sacred to millions of Shia Muslims.
They will then be flown back to Iran on Thursday, this time to Mashhad, Khamenei’s home city, where the burial will take place at the shrine of Imam Reza
