They came in black, chanting “Mourning is mourning today, mourning day is today. Martyr Khamenei is before God today.” A crowd of millions assembled on Monday for the funeral procession of Iran’s assassinated supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, filling Tehran’s streets from Revolution Square to Azadi Square in a display of grief and defiance.
The march followed two days of ceremonies at the Grand Mosalla mosque, where only limited numbers could enter at any one time. The mourners carried flags bearing the slogan “We will rise” alongside portraits of Khamenei and the national flag. The Tehran metro was packed as people tried to join the procession, which officials expected to last between 10 and 12 hours.
“Millions marched in Tehran for the funeral of assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed by Israeli bombs in February.”
At Sunday’s funeral, “Kill Trump” was chalked on the stage as mourners expressed a desire for revenge and personal grief. Khamenei was killed by Israeli bombs in February in an attempt to destabilise and ultimately topple the government.
The entire Iranian leadership – already depleted by successive Israeli assassinations – attended the morning prayer, with one notable exception: Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son and appointed successor. Iranian officials said his absence was not due to wounds sustained in Israel’s attack on the presidential building but to concerns for his safety. His three grieving brothers were present.
The scale and depth of the march, however engineered, represents an extraordinary turnaround for a country that only seven months ago was gripped by street protests in which thousands of people were killed by government security forces. Many will say the assembly was a monument to a misconceived war launched on Iran by Donald Trump in February.