Flag-draped coffins of slain leader, relatives paraded on truck through crowded capital, as mourners call for death to Trump and Netanyahu; Katz vows same fate for new supreme leader
A sea of mourners dressed in black flooded into Iran’s capital Monday for a procession as part of the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with throngs of people calling for the death of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, and those of members of his family killed in a February 28 airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat on board a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam. The massive turnout, encouraged by Iran’s theocracy as a sign of strength, came as it negotiates with the US over a permanent end to the war that killed the 86-year-old cleric who ruled Iran for decades.
Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a huge crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi Square for miles down a multilane street of the same name.
The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Gen. Qassem Solemani, which drew over 1 million people.
Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck, covered in flower petals, crept down the street.
“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him, we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”
An effigy of Trump being hanged was seen along the funeral procession’s route.
Mourners reached out to touch the truck, and some threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. Attendants, some on the ladders of firetrucks, sprayed misted water across the crowds to cool them in the heat.
Authorities appeared concerned about the dangers of having a large crowd alongside the procession, with officials on loudspeakers urging the public to walk slowly, not to push and to stay to the edges of the street.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s farewell killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
It is unclear what level of access and proximity the public will eventually have during Monday’s procession, but authorities are mindful that in 1989 they were forced to use a helicopter to transport Khomeini for burial after mourners stormed his vehicle, causing his burial shroud to tear and his body to fall to the ground.
“If I am to compare this ceremony to that one, I can say they are not different at all. But the crowd this time seems more enthusiastic,” said Gholamreza Khanbabaei, 58, attending the procession.
Tehran’s airspace was closed on Monday as the country stood still to remember the former leader.
The coffins will be taken through the streets of Tehran on a 12-hour journey to Mehrabad International Airport, said IRGC Gen. Hasan Hasanzadeh, who is overseeing the procession.
“We are here to show that his path will continue, and every single one of these people will continue down his path with clenched fists and soon we will certainly avenge his death against the US and Israel,” said mourner Sahar Zaraatgar.
US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force.
As Iranian chanted for revenge, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that any future Iranian leaders who try to harm Israel will face the same fate as him.
Khamenei, Katz said, “was assassinated by Israel because he set in motion and led the plan to destroy Israel.”
“The assassin was assassinated,” he said. “Any Iranian leader who tries to push plans to destroy Israel again will also be thwarted.”
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