Funeral prayer for Khamenei held in Tehran

Killed head of state

Funeral prayer for Khamenei held in Tehran

Iran’s head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is to be buried around four months after his killing. His son should not lead any of the funeral prayers.

In the Iran A high-ranking cleric led the funeral prayer for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war. On the second day of the public funeral ceremonies, 97-year-old Grand Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani appeared as a prayer leader, as can be seen on state television recordings.

Khamenei was killed on February 28 by an Israeli airstrike on his official residence in Iran’s capital. Then they led USA and Israel more than five weeks of war against Iran until representatives from Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire at the beginning of April.

Meanwhile, the Tehran Metro operating company registered more than seven million trips related to the memorial service since yesterday, the Tasnim news agency reported. It was unclear whether return journeys were also counted. Official participant numbers have not yet been announced.

The arch-conservative politician and former presidential candidate Said Jalili demanded retribution. “Revenge for the revolutionary leader is a demand of the people and a duty of those responsible,” he wrote on X.

His body will remain in Tehran until Monday. Afterwards there are ceremonies in the pilgrimage city of Qom and the neighboring country Iraq planned before Khamenei is to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday.

Meanwhile, there was speculation in Iran whether Khamenei’s son and successor, Moschtaba, would make his first public appearance at the mourning ceremonies since his appointment. According to Iranian media, the 56-year-old is not scheduled to lead a prayer. The influential Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi (99) is said to lead the prayer in Qom, and Nuri Hamedani (101) in Mashhad.