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 \u2014 who was assassinated in a US-Israeli strike on the first day of the Middle East conflict \u2014 an event intended to send a message of defiance to the West after the US-Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/em> correspondents said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six days of funeral ceremonies are planned to commemorate Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic republic as its number one from 1989 until his assassination<\/a> aged 86 on the first day of the US-Israeli war<\/a> on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AFP<\/em> photographs showed the coffins of Khamenei and four other family members at the front on a dais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was still no sign of Khamenei\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. \u2014 Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chants of \u201cdeath to America\u201d and \u201crevenge, revenge\u201d echoed at the venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe leader was a father to us all. With his passing, we have all been left orphaned\u2026 There was no one like him. He was truly unique and peerless,\u201d said Mohammad Mirsalehi, a 38-year-old cleric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe came (to the funeral) because we promised the supreme leader we would stand by him to the very end,\u201d 37-year-old university professor Reza, who gave only one name, told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor a long time, we shouted that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but it was he who sacrificed himself for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Javad Akbari, 43, a food-processing plant worker, said: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An AFP<\/em> 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. \u2014 Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to say a final goodbye to our leader, which is why waiting like this isn\u2019t painful or difficult for us,\u201d Somayye Hamedi told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.Security personnel stand guard as mourners gather at the start of the funeral ceremonies of Iran\u2019s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran on July 4, 2026. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n The coffin will lie in state until Monday, when a procession will pass through Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s home city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He will be buried with his infant granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter and Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s wife Zahra Haddad Adel, who were all killed in the February 28 strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tiny coffin of his granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani, who according to state media was just 14 months old, was prominently displayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials who survived the war showed their grief and displayed a united front on Friday<\/a>, with parliament speaker and top negotiator in the US talks Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visibly tearful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. \u2014 Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of his funeral ceremonies in Tehran on July 4, 2026. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamas and Hezbollah were also represented, as was the Taliban government in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday, PM Shehbaz said the supreme leader\u2019s \u201cwisdom, leadership and profound influence on Iran and the wider region will be remembered for generations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPakistan stands with Iran in this time of grief,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>\u2018Final goodbye\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\u2018Call for vengeance\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n