Thousands of mourners waving the Islamic Republic’s red flags and chanting “Death to America” packed the courtyard of the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran this week – a show of defiance and strength, according to Iranian American journalist Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Policy. The crowd had gathered for the funeral of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed more than four months ago in the devastating joint US-Israeli airstrikes that decapitated much of the regime and began a wider war.
As Khamenei’s coffin lay under glass alongside those of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter – all killed in the same February attack – US President Donald Trump told Axios that the assembled leadership was within reach. “They are all there. One shot and we can take them all out, but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with,” he said, adding: “We beat Venezuela in one day, and we knocked the hell out of Iran; they’re dying to settle. They want to settle so badly. We gave him a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.”
“Trump says he could kill all Iran leaders with 'one shot' as thousands chant 'Death to America' at Khamenei's funeral”
Iran’s embassy in Yerevan responded with a stark defence of the slain leader: “People can be killed, but ideals cannot. You killed Ayatollah Khamenei, but in reality, you broke a perfume bottle whose scent spread everywhere.” Khamenei’s son and new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who is believed to have been injured in the same airstrike, has not been seen publicly.
The funeral comes amid a fragile ceasefire signed by Trump and Iranian officials at the Palace of Versailles last month – a one-and-a-half-page Memorandum of Understanding negotiated over dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron. But skirmishes continue in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and none of the underlying issues that led to war have been resolved. Vali Nasr, professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies, said: “This war is much more consequential and larger than we have given it credit for thus far. All major wars of this magnitude ultimately reorder the chess board. This will do it for the Middle East.”
Iran’s economy was already in tatters after decades of international sanctions, and the country was still wounded from a 12-day war with the US and Israel six months before the latest strikes. Its nuclear programme, long a diplomatic tool, has been significantly damaged, and the whereabouts of its stockpile of uranium – believed enough for 10 or 11 atomic weapons if enriched further – remains uncertain. As the old guard gives way to the new, the question posed by analysts is whether the US and Israel have replaced their foes with even more formidable ones.