TEHRAN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Iran prepared Friday for the dayslong funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with banners across Tehran urging the public to rise up in support of the Islamic Republic after the devastating war that killed the 86-year-old cleric. <\/p>\n
The country\u2019s theocracy expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital beginning Saturday in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. <\/p>\n
That could provide a boost for Iran\u2019s government, particularly as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war, and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again. <\/p>\n
Despite that, a powerful general who leads Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged publicly for the first time in months for the funeral. Other top government officials will also likely will be on hand alongside foreign dignitaries in a show of strength by Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as these people, who are chosen [by God], are on the field, we will definitely continue the same \u2018no to humiliation\u2019 policy that was founded by the Islamic Republic,\u201d said Mohammad Hossein Rezaei, a volunteer preparing for the funeral Friday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue our policy of pursuing independence, and decisions will be made inside the country, and the people will decide their own fate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Caskets displayed in Tehran<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s flag-draped coffin sat at Tehran\u2019s Grand Mosalla alongside family members killed in the Israeli airstrike that came in the first moments of the war on Feb. 28. <\/p>\n
The dead being honored include a son-in-law, his eldest daughter, a 14-month-old granddaughter and the wife of Iran\u2019s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous leader who remains in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the attack.<\/p>\n
Religious leaders and foreign dignitaries walked up to Khamenei\u2019s casket as a military band played or a man sang prayers. <\/p>\n
Video published by Iranian state media showed an earlier mourning ceremony Thursday night for Khamenei. The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. <\/p>\n
Later, state media showed images of Khamenei\u2019s casket draped by a red flag with white calligraphy reading \u201cYa Hussein,\u201d a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s grandson. It had been flying over the Imam Hussein golden-domed shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The flag also traditionally symbolizes both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.<\/p>\n
Top general appears for first time in months<\/p>\n
Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting Thursday about the funeral of Khamenei, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran\u2019s theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey must know that the pure blood of our martyred imam will mark another turning point in the victories of beloved Islam across the global arena,\u201d Vahidi told state television in comments aired Friday. \u201cThey will take to their graves the wish to see this nation surrender. This nation will rise higher day by day through this pure blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funeral to go on for days<\/p>\n
Beginning Saturday, Iran will hold the dayslong funeral for Khamenei and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei. <\/p>\n
In Tehran, images of the late Khamenei\u2019s fist could be seen in banners and in a giant statue in Enghelab Square, framed by what appeared to be ballistic missiles flying through the air. In his first message to the nation, read by a state television anchor, Mojtaba Khamenei said he saw his father\u2019s body after his death with raised, clenched fist.<\/p>\n
The banners read in Arabic, English and Farsi: \u201cWe must rise.\u201d <\/p>\n
Karimi and Gambrell write for the Associated Press. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEHRAN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Iran prepared Friday for the dayslong funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with banners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1144,56474,56476,53974,56473,43332,26241,5405,1960,18453,34,20561,2872,56475,69],"class_list":["post-189182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-ayatollah-khamenei","tag-banner","tag-black-clad-mourner","tag-blood","tag-casket","tag-daily-life","tag-devastating-war","tag-friday","tag-funeral","tag-image","tag-iran","tag-iranian-state-medium","tag-million","tag-nation-surrender","tag-tehran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116856776434082058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}