Large crowds of black-clad mourners have gathered in Tehran's Grand Mosalla to pay their respects to Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of funeral commemorations. Khamenei's body is lying in state at the mosque ahead of his eventual burial in his hometown of Mashhad next Thursday.
Authorities anticipate 15 to 20 million people will attend ceremonies across Iran and Iraq over the coming days. These events occur more than four months after Khamenei was killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes, an incident that quickly escalated into wider regional conflict.
Supporters of the Iranian regime turned out in large numbers on Saturday, reportedly chanting slogans against the United States and expressing a desire for revenge for the ayatollah's killing. "We came [to the funeral] because we promised the supreme leader we would stand by him to the very end," Reza, a 37-year-old professor, told AFP. "For a long time, we shouted that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but it was he who sacrificed himself for us."
Another mourner, Arash Rahimi, 40, told Reuters, "Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their supreme leader. As our leader has said, we have a blood feud with the United States. Our relations with the United States will never be good."
Ayatollah Khamenei's body will lie in state at the Grand Mosalla for three days, alongside the remains of family members also killed in the air strikes. Following the Tehran events, three further days of ceremonies are scheduled outside the capital. Much of central Tehran was locked down over the weekend to accommodate the funeral proceedings.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Friday that Iran's government was "dying to settle" a peace deal to end the war following a preliminary agreement. He added, "We gave them [Iran] a week off for a funeral because we're nice."