Tehran Is Bidding Farewell to Former Supreme Leader Khamenei in a Six-Day Ceremony

Iran is holding funeral ceremonies for former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on Tehran in February, at the start of a new war in the Middle East.

The farewell ceremony will last six days. It began on July 3 in Tehran, where tens of thousands of Iranians came to Khamenei’s coffin, which was placed in the Grand Mosalla mosque of Imam Khomeini. After that, the funeral procession headed to the city of Qom. Khamenei’s body will then be taken to Iraq, where ceremonies will be held in Najaf and Karbala—cities that are home to some of the main shrines of Shia Islam. Khamenei is due to be buried on July 9 in his hometown of Mashhad.

In Tehran, the body of the former supreme leader was carried through the city in a glass sarcophagus. The crowd following the procession chanted: “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Many placards bore slogans including “Kill Trump!,” “Death to Bibi!,” “We are coming for you!,” and “Rise up!” People carried red flags of vengeance and shouted: “Revenge, revenge!” Many participants in the ceremony were crying.

After Khamenei’s death, his son Mojtaba Khamenei became his successor. During the airstrike, he was in the same residence as his father and was wounded. Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public since then. He was also absent from his father’s funeral.