Vast crowds gathered for the funeral procession of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday, with the ceremonies offering Iran an opportunity to project resilience after five weeks of war with the United States and Israel.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei — who was killed on the first day of the Middle East war on February 28 — began its journey through the capital accompanied by massive crowds. Flower petals covered the coffin as it made its way along the streets.
In sweltering heat, trucks sprayed mourners with water to cool them, while organizers handed out Iranian flags and pictures of Ali and Mojtaba as mourners marched through the streets waving the flags of Iran and Hezbollah, as well as red flags symbolizing revenge. The procession route covers around 20 kilometers (12 miles). Tehran’s airspace was closed on Monday as the country stood still to remember the former leader.
Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was seen attending the procession, according to local media. The new commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, whose predecessor was killed on February 28, also appeared at the funerals. Esmail Qaani, the shadowy head of the Guards’ Quds Force — responsible for its foreign operations — also made a rare appearance.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to state news agency IRNA.
A day earlier thousands had filled the Grand Mosalla to pay their respects to Khamenei and four family members killed in the Israeli airstrikes. Massive concrete walls at the complex separated the public from the coffin to prevent stampedes.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
The government is eager to tout the mass mobilization in support of the authorities after mass protests took place in January that rights groups say were quelled by a crackdown that killed thousands of people.
The Middle East war is on hold following a ceasefire and an initial accord struck with the US. But both Washington and Tehran have warned they are ready to resume military action, and vengeance has been a major theme at the funeral.
Khamenei long pursued a course of confrontation with the West, and Tehran for years has provided support to anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups around the Middle East, including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who both sent delegations to the ceremonies. (AFP)
