Millions in Tehran join funeral procession for Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei

Tehran (Web Desk): An immense sea of mourners filled the streets of Tehran on Monday as Iran held the funeral procession for its assassinated supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Officials estimated that millions participated in the ceremony, with attendance expected to rival the historic funeral of his predecessor nearly four decades ago.

Live television broadcasts and photographs showed packed boulevards across the Iranian capital as Khamenei's coffin was carried through the city.

The procession began after his body had remained in state for two days at Tehran's Grand Mosalla religious complex.

Draped in flowers, the coffin moved slowly through the capital amid overwhelming crowds gathered to pay their last respects.
State media reported that mourners assembled at Imam Hussein Square in eastern Tehran, where an effigy of US President Donald Trump was publicly hanged during the procession.

Iranian authorities introduced extensive crowd-control measures to prevent a repeat of the deadly incidents that occurred during the 1989 funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

According to the state-run IRNA news agency, that funeral attracted nearly 10 million people, but severe overcrowding left more than 10 people dead and over 10,000 injured.

The country also shut its airspace on Monday as nationwide mourning continued for the slain leader. Throughout the procession, participants waved Iranian and Hezbollah flags, while others carried red banners symbolising vengeance.

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among the prominent figures attending the funeral, local media reported.

With temperatures remaining extremely high, water trucks sprayed the crowds to help keep mourners cool, while organisers distributed national flags and portraits of the late supreme leader alongside images of his successor, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

The funeral route stretches roughly 20 kilometres across Tehran. The previous day, thousands had gathered at the Grand Mosalla complex to honour Khamenei as well as four members of his family who were killed in Israeli airstrikes reportedly carried out using US intelligence. Massive concrete barriers were erected around the coffin area to minimise the risk of dangerous crowd surges.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf praised the public response in a post on X, saying the "proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran" had united to honour its "martyr."

Following the Tehran procession, additional funeral ceremonies are scheduled in the religious city of Qom on Tuesday, before continuing to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday. Khamenei will ultimately be buried in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.

Three of Khamenei's sons made a rare public appearance during Sunday's funeral events, drawing renewed attention to the continued absence of Mojtaba Khamenei, who assumed the position of supreme leader shortly after his father's assassination but has yet to appear publicly.

Officials have confirmed that he sustained injuries in the airstrikes, although they have not disclosed the extent of his condition.

The newly appointed commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, was also seen publicly for the second consecutive day after remaining out of sight throughout the conflict following the death of his predecessor on February 28.

Esmail Qaani, who heads the Guards' overseas Quds Force, likewise made a rare public appearance during the funeral ceremonies.

Iran has announced a detailed schedule for a series of funeral ceremonies following what officials described as a huge public procession in central Tehran on Monday.

After the capital's procession, the remains will be transported overland in a specially arranged vehicle to the religious city of Qom, the heart of Iran's Shi'ite clerical establishment, where memorial ceremonies are due to take place on Tuesday, according to Iranian state media.

On Wednesday, the body will be flown to Iraq for funeral rites in the revered Shi'ite shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala. It will then be brought back to Iran on Thursday for another large procession in Mashhad before the final burial beside the shrine of one of the medieval Shi'ite imams.

Iranian authorities have said they are preparing for millions of mourners to participate in the ceremonies over the coming days, with transportation, meals and accommodation being arranged to facilitate the large gatherings.