Mourners thronged a vast prayer complex in Tehran on Saturday as the week-long funeral ceremonies of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began with the national anthem, religious eulogies and readings from the Koran.
Iran is staging mass funeral processions for Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes at the beginning of the war in February, ending his 37-year reign.
Television footage showed his coffin draped with the Iranian flag and topped with his black turban. It was placed, along with four other coffins of his slain family members, on a large black platform that resembled the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the centre of Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.
The vast courtyard of the complex, the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, was filled with mourners, many waving Iranian flags and carrying photographs of the slain leader.
“‘Death to America’ chants echoed through Tehran’s Mosalla on the day of the farewell to ‘Mr. Martyr’,” state broadcaster Seda va Sima said.
In video posts on other state media news sites, mourners were also heard chanting: “Our slogan is one word: Revenge, revenge,” and “We will kill, we will kill he who killed our Imam.”
Mourners gather in Tehran during Khamenei’s funeral on 4 July 2026. [Getty]
