Funeral of Ali Khamenei Draws Masses and Calls for Revenge
New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei remains absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside their father’s coffin during the funeral ceremonies in Tehran.
Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday, there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump.
Iran is conducting a week of mass funeral processions for Khamenei, who was killed along with other family members on 28 February, the first day of the US and Israeli war. The funeral had been delayed due to the ongoing conflict.
The funeral prayers for Khamenei and four other family members took place at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, blending public mourning with political calls for revenge.
Many attendees stayed overnight or arrived before dawn to prepare for the prayer reading at 8am. Holding Iranian flags and pictures of their martyred leader, and waving red flags symbolizing vengeance, the crowds were significantly larger and more militant than on the first day of the funeral ceremonies. This elaborate event was designed to demonstrate Iran’s social resilience and determination to maintain its independence.
“From now on the shroud is our garment. I swear by your blood; Trump’s murder is our responsibility,”said Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, during a poetry recitation before the prayer reading. He asked:
“Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive? The world is no longer a good place for Trump. Why should we not kill the man who killed our imam? It would be a disgrace if we did not.”His authorized remark received mixed reactions, but most attendees cheered enthusiastically.
“You can kill people, but you can’t kill ideals. You killed Ayatollah Khamenei, but in reality you broke a bottle of perfume, the fragrance of which has now spread everywhere.
You will never understand this because you have no civilisation, no history, no honour.”
These words were posted on X by Khalil Shirgholami, Iran’s ambassador to Armenia.
Mohammed Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the national security council, stated:
“People are shouting two slogans in farewell to their leader: resistance against enemies and revenge for the blood of the martyred leader of Iran.”
The main funeral prayers were led by Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani, a 97-year-old cleric from Qom. Readings were given not only for Khamenei but also for three other family members, including his daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad Adel and his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani. The small size of the granddaughter’s coffin was one of the most poignant sights at the ceremony.
The absence of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, was notable on Sunday, as unlike his three brothers, he was not seen at the mosque. Mojtaba was appointed supreme leader 10 days after his father’s death but has not appeared publicly or released any audio messages for three months. He also did not attend his wife’s funeral last Thursday. His brothers Mustafa, Massoud, and Meysam stood together beside their father’s coffin.
Most senior Iranian government officials, including political, military, and judicial members, attended the ceremony, indicating some assurance that the ceasefire with the US precludes attacks on the event. The al-Quds force commander Esmail Qaani and IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi were also openly present, a situation unimaginable in the early days of the war.
The determination to protect Mojtaba Khamenei at all costs may be understandable given some American sentiments. Laura Loomer, a former confidante of President Trump, described the funeral as a “target-rich environment” on social media, while US conservative commentator Mark Levin called it an “opportunity lost.”
The streets surrounding the mosque were decorated with pictures of Mojtaba accompanying his father. Clerics distributed thick books containing collections of his speeches. Officials acknowledged Mojtaba was injured in the attacks but stated there was no permanent facial disfigurement or amputation resulting from the blast on the first day of the US-Israeli attacks.
On the stage where the coffins lay, mourners wrote messages of love and grief for their leader and loyalty to his successor. One message in English read: “Kill Trump.”
Many mourners, enduring temperatures above 36°C, waved red flags while chanting:
“No compromise, no surrender, only revenge.”
The vast courtyard, said to hold 30,000 people, was filled well before dawn. Some men dressed in white burial shrouds (kaffan) to demonstrate their willingness to die as martyrs for the “master of martyrs.” Despite 40 years of construction, the mosque remains incomplete, with large sections covered by tarpaulin due to sanctions delaying the building, making it a symbol of the prolonged conflict with the West.
Authorities did not release official attendance figures but claimed unofficially that more than 2 million attended the opening day. The funeral procession includes a mass march on Monday in Tehran before the body is taken to the holy city of Qom, then to two holy cities in Iraq, and finally to Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace in 1939.
Former US President Trump inadvertently played into the hands of the Iranian leadership by expressing surprise at seeing mourners in tears, stating:
“I thought they hated him.”He speculated:
“Perhaps they are fake tears.”
However, the mourners’ grief appeared genuine, deeply affected by the loss of their spiritual leader and figurehead for nearly four decades. Many traveled long distances with limited income to participate in the farewell. Pilgrims slept on floors for three days in Tehran in makeshift dormitories such as school classrooms, oil industry offices, or private homes. Mosques, districts, and friends set up stalls around the mosque area operating late into the night, offering watermelons, kebab wraps, and fruit juice to passersby. Leila Ahmadi from Boyer-Ahmad said cheerfully:
“We will fight the Americans with pitchforks if necessary.”
After midnight in Tehran, thousands of mourners filled the streets carrying flags and banners of Khamenei. Passionate nightly street rallies have taken place in many major squares across the city.
Husain Dehghan, a 70-year-old book translator who attended, explained:
“The people had a sense of grief after the terrorist assassination of our leader so it is a sense of solidarity and a way to exchange information.
People have been in a devastating state of shock from losing their leader. I know the west calls him a dictator, and he was not popular with every Iranian, but for the majority there was respect and affection for him.
It is completely unacceptable to assassinate the major leader of another country when there was no declared war. In the middle of negotiations to start a war is pure deceit, and it shows the importance of Israel in US thinking. The aim may have been to subject Iran to US colonialism, but this is a nation with a long history and when a country is attacked, it is motivated since its survival is at stake.”
Referring to the mass protests against the regime that were brutally suppressed earlier this year, he added: “That is true of many of the young people that protested in January; they realise the Americans and Israelis do not have the goodwill of people in mind when they talked of regime change.”
Ibrahim Kalim, a long-term resident, said:
“I was very nearly killed in the street by an Israeli bomb. It was a matter of seconds.
You cannot know the effect at night of counting 20 or more bombs landing just miles from you and trying to judge if they are coming closer as the house shakes, or the effect of seeing Israeli jet planes flying overhead. At one level it is humiliating.
Many might want reform here, but it has to be a reform we shape. The Americans do not understand this. It is perfectly human to disagree with your government, and defend the nation in which you have been born if it is attacked.”
However, only miles away in northern Tehran’s middle-class district, a different scene unfolded with families without hijabs dining in restaurants. Culturally, this part of Tehran resembles the Emirates. While all Iranians face economic difficulties, the impact is unevenly distributed.
The disparity in wealth between those attending the funeral and those who do not is striking.
