As Iran holds slain leader’s war-delayed funeral, Trump boasts of giving Tehran ‘
TEHRAN: Iran began a dayslong funeral Saturday for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war. He was 86.
Authorities unveiled the casket containing Khamenei’s body in a glass case at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Mourners wept at the sight, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!”
Some carried banners and flags, while billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice atShiite funerals.
“I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended the funeral alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”Iran’s government expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. Organizers sprayed water on the crowds and offered cold drinks to help those with the summertime heat.
“We attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,” said Ali Kazemi, who came from the northwestern city of Tabriz, some 530 kilometers (330 miles) away from Tehran.Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!” — reprising a cry that’s been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis.The American president was not forgotten in Tehran. In the crowd in Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag that read: “#KillTrump.”
Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran for the mourning.with an iron fist while confronting the West. Mojtaba Khamenei’s late wife was one of the dead on display at the Grand Mosalla
It remains unclear whether Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, will appear at his father’s funeral. The late supreme leader appeared in 1989 at Khomeini’s funeral, weeping visibly, as he began his journey to lead Iran for
“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”