Web desk(National Times)- Vast crowds of Iranians massed in Tehran on Saturday to begin almost a week of funeral ceremonies for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who was assassinated in a US-Israeli strike on the first day of the Middle East conflict — an event intended to send a message of defiance to the West after the US-Iran war.
Clad in black and waving blood-red flags seen as a call for vengeance and justice, mourners thronged the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran, AFP correspondents said.
Authorities believe the ceremonies will mobilise more than 10 million people in the capital alone for tributes to the man who ran the country for three-and-a-half decades.
Six days of funeral ceremonies are planned to commemorate Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic republic as its number one from 1989 until his assassination aged 86 on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.
AFP photographs showed the coffins of Khamenei and four other family members at the front on a dais.
There was still no sign of Khamenei’s son and successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been unseen in public since being named supreme leader a week after the killing of his father.
Other top Iranian officials who survived the war welcomed foreign dignitaries who paid their respects at the coffin on Friday before the complex opened to the public.People attend a public farewell ceremony to pay their respects to assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, in Tehran, Iran July 4, 2026. — Reuters
Chants of “death to America” and “revenge, revenge” echoed at the venue.
“The leader was a father to us all. With his passing, we have all been left orphaned… There was no one like him. He was truly unique and peerless,” said Mohammad Mirsalehi, a 38-year-old cleric.
“We came (to the funeral) because we promised the supreme leader we would stand by him to the very end,” 37-year-old university professor Reza, who gave only one name, 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.”
Javad Akbari, 43, a food-processing plant worker, said: “I never had the chance to see the supreme leader up close, and I regret that. Today, I have come to bid him a final farewell.”
An AFP journalist saw mourners walking several kilometres to reach the venue. Hundreds of supporters of the Islamic republic had begun arriving on Friday evening outside the Grand Mosalla.People gather for a public farewell ceremony to pay their respects to assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, in Tehran, Iran on July 4, 2026. — Reuters
“We want to say a final goodbye to our leader, which is why waiting like this isn’t painful or difficult for us,” Somayye Hamedi told AFP.
Significant security measures have been imposed, with roads blocked and airspace expected to be closed for what is set to be the largest-scale public event in Iran since the burial of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.Security personnel stand guard as mourners gather at the start of the funeral ceremonies of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran on July 4, 2026. — AFP
‘Final goodbye’
The coffin will lie in state until Monday, when a procession will pass through Tehran.
On Tuesday, it will move to the clerical hub of Qom, before moving on Wednesday to cities holy to Shia Muslims in neighbouring Iraq, then proceeding for burial on Thursday in Khamenei’s home city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.
He will be buried with his infant granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter and Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife Zahra Haddad Adel, who were all killed in the February 28 strikes.
The tiny coffin of his granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani, who according to state media was just 14 months old, was prominently displayed.
Officials who survived the war showed their grief and displayed a united front on Friday, with parliament speaker and top negotiator in the US talks Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visibly tearful.
Top Iranian officials paying their respects included Ahmad Vahidi, who was named chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) after his predecessor was assassinated in the same strikes that killed Khamenei, but had not been seen since.People attend a public farewell ceremony to pay their respects to assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, in Tehran, Iran July 4, 2026. — Reuters
The coming days will be closely watched for signs of Mojtaba Khamenei, who has communicated only by written statements and is said to have been wounded in the same strikes, though the extent of his injuries was never made clear.
International guests paying respects on Friday included Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Russian security council, who attended on behalf of President Vladimir Putin.Mourners gather at the Grand Mosalla to pay their final respects to Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of his funeral ceremonies in Tehran on July 4, 2026. — AFP
Hamas and Hezbollah were also represented, as was the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
On Saturday, PM Shehbaz said the supreme leader’s “wisdom, leadership and profound influence on Iran and the wider region will be remembered for generations”.
“Pakistan stands with Iran in this time of grief,” he said.
‘Call for vengeance’
After five weeks of fighting, the Middle East conflict is on hold following an initial accord between Iran and the United States. But Iranian officials have warned Tehran is ready to resume fighting if needed.
“The nation’s call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world,” said Ghalibaf, who urged Iranians to turn out en masse.
Army chief Amir Hatami vowed Israel and the US “will pay for the blood of the martyred leader and all the nation’s martyrs”.
But authorities will also want the event to go smoothly, deeply aware of the risk of crowd crushes that have marred similar events in the past. TV broadcasting guidelines on how to stay safe.
With temperatures well over 35 degrees Celsius expected over the next few days in Tehran, tankers were stationed to spray water on the roads to cool down attendees.
Ahead of the ceremonies, AFP correspondents reported that Tehran was quieter than usual, with many normally busy streets free of Tehran’s notorious traffic.
