The public viewing of the body of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has officially begun in Tehran, with thousands of faithful gathering at the mosque where his remains are being displayed.
Threats and curses against the United States and Israel were heard among the crowd, while a banner reading “Kill Trump” was also seen.
Ali Khamenei, Iran’s longest-serving leader since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, was killed at the age of 86 in a strike on his residence on the first day of US and Israeli bombardments on 28 February.
Four months after the ayatollah’s death, his coffin, topped with his black turban, is being displayed at the Grand Mosalla mosque, a vast religious complex in Tehran. The walls of the mosque are covered with large portraits of Ayatollah Khamenei, black mourning banners and red flags symbolising martyrdom and revenge.
Thousands of worshippers, most dressed in black, had gathered at the mosque before its doors opened to the public at 6:00am local time. Many carried red flags bearing the word “martyr”.
According to an AFP journalist, some members of the crowd shouted “revenge” as well as “death to America, death to Israel”, a slogan often heard at official gatherings.
Iranian authorities expect between 15 and 20 million people to attend the memorial ceremonies in Tehran alone.
Khamenei’s funeral, initially scheduled for March but postponed due to the war, is expected to be one of the largest in Iran’s history. Official figures show that around 10 million people attended the 1989 funeral of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. More than 10 people were killed in a stampede at the time.
Funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei will last six days and are intended as a show of strength following the war that began after US-Israeli strikes on Iranian territory, during which several senior Iranian political and military officials were killed.
The presence of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded him in early March, has not yet been confirmed. Injured in the strikes that killed his father, Iran’s new Supreme Leader has so far issued only statements and has made no public appearance.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker and chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, several government members and Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi paid their respects on Friday.
Many Iranians had been waiting outside the Grand Mosalla since Friday, hoping to be among the first to pay their final respects to Ali Khamenei.
“We want to say a final goodbye to our leader, and that is why the wait is neither painful nor difficult for us,” Somayeh Khamedi, a 44-year-old teacher dressed in a black chador, told AFP.
Some people were crying, others waited patiently, while poems were recited and religious chants were played.
“Coming here is the last and only thing you can do” for Ali Khamenei, who “sacrificed his life” for Iran, said Fatemeh Noundehi, a 25-year-old student from northern Iran who came to volunteer for the pilgrims.
Tents and water tankers
Khamenei’s body will lie in state day and night at the Grand Mosalla until Monday, before a procession through the streets of Tehran. On Tuesday, it will be taken to the holy city of Qom.
The coffin of Khamenei, a Shiite religious leader, will then be taken on Wednesday to the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, where the majority of residents are Shiites.
Khamenei will be buried on 9 July in the holy city of Mashhad, his birthplace.
To accommodate Iranians arriving in Tehran from across the country, more than 400 Iranian Red Crescent tents have been set up in a large park in the capital, according to AFP. Water tankers have also been placed in advance to assist the crowds, as temperatures are expected to exceed 35 degrees Celsius.
Displayed next to Ali Khamenei’s coffin are the coffins of relatives killed in the same attack: one of his daughters, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and a 14-year-old granddaughter, according to the authorities.
Source: ANA-MPA
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