Mass Mourning in Tehran as Iran Buries Former Supreme Leader Khamenei Amid Calls for Retaliation]
Millions gathered in Tehran on Monday to mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader, with many carrying signs calling for retribution against the United States and Israel following his death early in the conflict initiated by those nations.
Huge crowds lined up along a truck carrying Khamenei’s coffin as it moved slowly through the densely packed streets of Tehran. Posters at the procession featured images of Khamenei alongside a clenched fist. Mourners displayed portraits of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance marked with crosshairs, with slogans reading “There will be blood” visible alongside images of the U.S. president.
Iranian officials sprayed water on flag-waving mourners as temperatures exceeded 90 degrees. The weeklong funeral ceremonies were carefully orchestrated by the government to honor a leader who suppressed dissent and advanced Iran’s hard-line Islamist and anti-Western policies, while also projecting national unity and defiance.
Khamenei ruled Iran for over 37 years until his death on February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attack. While a fragile ceasefire has since been established between the United States and Iran, peace negotiations have been paused pending the completion of funeral rites.
Khamenei’s coffin will be transported to several Iranian and Iraqi cities significant to Shia Muslims before his burial in Mashhad, a northeastern Iranian city of over three million people where he was born in 1939. Shia Muslims revere Mashhad as Iran’s holiest city due to its connection to Imam Reza, one of the twelve religious leaders considered spiritual successors to the Prophet Muhammad.
Beyond his political influence, Khamenei held considerable religious authority among Shia Muslims. Attendees at Monday’s ceremonies traveled from Iraq, Yemen, India, and Pakistan, which have large Shia populations, as well as from African nations including Senegal and Nigeria with smaller Shia communities.
Notably absent from the festivities was Khamenei’s son and presumed successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since Israeli forces bombed the family’s Tehran compound, killing his father. The younger Khamenei is believed to have sustained serious injuries in that strike.
Current and former Iranian officials were present throughout the procession. State television footage showed President Masoud Pezeshkian walking through the crowd, shaking hands with mourners. Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended; he was wounded in an Israeli strike in February during an attempted freeing from house arrest, according to U.S. officials.
While praised by many Iranians, Khamenei was also deeply resented by others for overseeing an authoritarian regime that brutally suppressed dissent. In January, Iranian security forces violently quelled mass antigovernment protests, killing thousands as reported by Iranian officials and human rights organizations.
The New York Times was granted access to the funeral ceremonies through Iran’s government, which determined that the accompanying reporters—along with a government-provided translator and guide—could attend specific events. Perspectives shared by interviewees may not reflect broader Iranian sentiments, and many individuals may have refrained from speaking freely due to fear of reprisals.
Phone interviews revealed dissenting voices among Iranians. “They’re burying someone responsible for the January massacre,” said Mahzad, a 28-year-old artist in Tehran, who like others requested anonymity. “They’ve been treating families who lost children terribly.”
Mehdi, a 45-year-old former political prisoner in Tehran, observed that the funeral procession passed locations where recent protests and government clashes occurred. “The same security forces spraying water and handing out food today were shooting at our youth in that very spot months ago,” he noted.
Roham Alvandi, a professor of Iranian history at the London School of Economics, suggested that the official funeral messaging portraying Khamenei as a martyr deserving vengeance served partly to legitimize his son’s leadership. Some posters at the procession also targeted Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by associating them with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a narrative common among Iranian government supporters according to Moustafa Ayad of London’s Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
“It’s a longstanding narrative aimed at highlighting Western degeneracy versus Iran’s moral standing,” Ayad explained. “It also seeks to exploit Mr. Trump’s known vulnerabilities.”
