Iran’s top officials and brothers of the new supreme leader stepped into the public eye on Sunday to attend funeral prayers for him Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Their appearance signaled confidence in their security as Iran continually pushes back on US demands in the negotiations end the war.
Hundreds of thousands of people chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” demanding revenge for the Feb. 28 attack that killed the 86-year-old Supreme Leader and other top officials and sparked the war. Some hardliners called for the assassination of the US president Donald Trump.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba KhameneiHe has not yet appeared at the funeral ceremonies, which lasted several days. He is believed to be in hiding after he was reportedly injured in the airstrike that killed his father.
At the height of the war, before a ceasefire in April, Israel targeted top politicians in at least one case probably take advantage of their public appearance to fix their position. There have also been threats to kill the younger Khamenei.
Meanwhile, the US is pushing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening Iran Strait of Hormuz and scale back the controversial nuclear program.
Ziba Naderi, a 42-year-old nurse who attended Sunday’s funeral, said Iran must follow Mojtaba Khamenei’s orders. “I have heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we must do,” she said. “And we have to listen to him.”
As the crowd grows, high-ranking officials appear
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led prayers in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for the late Khamenei, whose family members were killed in the strike.
Present were Khamenei’s other sons, Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who have not been seen since the war. General Ahmad Vahidi, head of the Revolutionary Guard, for whom the photograph was taken The first time since the war on Thursdaywas seen in the crowd of Associated Press journalists, flanked by plainclothes security guards and black baseball caps.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf – who conducted the negotiations with the US – and Esmail Qaani, who leads the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, was also present.
The crowd had grown compared to the previous day. Mourners dressed in black carried banners and flags honoring Khamenei.
Some mention Trump by name as mourners call for revenge
Posters and graffiti in the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Trump and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Why is the world’s biggest bastard still alive?” Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who emceed the event before prayers, said to the crowd over the loudspeaker, referring to Trump. “The world is no longer a good place” for Trump, he added to cheers from the crowd.
“I came here to scream and seek revenge,” said Gholamreza Sabooni, a 29-year-old man who works at a grocery store. “They killed our imam, we should kill their leader Trump.”
The US President gave a global speech in Washington, DC at the same time the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
“We have had tremendous success,” Trump said of the U.S. military. “You look at Venezuela, you see Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out its military.”
US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other government officials for years. That’s because Trump ordered 2020 Assassination of General Qassem Soleimaniwho led the Quds Force. Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, although it has long done so in harsh propaganda footage suggested that Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.
Trump now promised to destroy the civilization of Iran itself during war, among other threats.
Funeral postpones talks with USA
Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq, with authorities planning to drive his coffin and others through the streets of Tehran on Monday. Authorities have closed roads, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which ends Thursday when he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace.
The authorities did not provide any information on the number of visitors for the event on Saturday and Sunday. Mourning ceremonies also took place in other cities in Iran.
Talks about a permanent end to the war appear to be on hold until the funeral is over.
The funeral was in part a show of unity and resistance to Iran requires a certain level of control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy supplies that was shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides disagree on other key issues, including The conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran’s nuclear program.
The US has supported 70 transits through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday, a multinational maritime organization overseen by the US Navy said on Sunday. Traffic on routes near Oman and Iran was stable but still below pre-war levels, it said. The threat level remained “significant” and demining and survey work continued.
“Our foreign policy should not be designed in such a way that the blood of our martyr is dishonored and other countries can afford to do such things without serious response from our government and diplomatic system,” said mourner Mohammad Reza Sharifi.