Millions of people massed in the Iranian capital on Monday to mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader, with many carrying signs calling for vengeance for his killing early in the war launched by the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n
Huge crowds thronged a truck carrying the ayatollah\u2019s coffin as it traveled slowly through the jam-packed streets of Tehran. Posters at the procession displayed images of Ayatollah Khamenei and a clenched fist.<\/p>\n
Mourners carried portraits depicting President Trump and Vice President JD Vance behind cross hairs. \u201cThere will be blood,\u201d read one English-language slogan that was frequently displayed, next to an image of Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n
Iranian officers sprayed water to try to cool down the flag-waving mourners as temperatures soared over 90 degrees.<\/p>\n
The weeklong funeral has been intricately choreographed by the government both to honor a ruler who crushed dissent and expanded Iran\u2019s hard-line Islamist and anti-Western policies and to project national unity and defiance.<\/p>\n
Ayatollah Khamenei led Iran for more than 37 years until Feb. 28, when he was killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attack. The United States and Iran have since reached a fragile cease-fire, though talks aimed at a lasting peace have been paused until after the funeral ceremonies.<\/p>\n
Later this week, the ayatollah\u2019s coffin will be taken to several cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq that are significant to Shiite Muslims before his body is buried in Mashhad, a city of over three million people in northeastern Iran, where the ayatollah was born in 1939<\/a>. Shiite Muslims revere Mashhad as Iran\u2019s holiest city because of its close association with Imam Reza, one of 12 religious leaders considered by Shiites to be spiritual heirs of the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n Apart from his political power, Ayatollah Khamenei wielded considerable religious authority for Shiite Muslims. The mourners who streamed into Tehran on Monday had traveled from Iraq, Yemen, India and Pakistan, which have large Shiite populations, as well as from African nations such as Senegal and Nigeria, which have smaller ones.<\/p>\n Notably absent was the former supreme leader\u2019s son and successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. He has not been seen in public since Israeli forces bombed the family\u2019s compound<\/a> in Tehran and killed his father. The younger Ayatollah Khamenei is believed to have been seriously wounded in that strike.<\/p>\n Other current and former Iranian officials were present. A video shared by Iranian state television showed President Masoud Pezeshkian walking down the street during the procession, shaking hands with members of the crowd.<\/p>\n A former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also attended. He was injured in an Israeli strike in February that was intended to free him from house arrest, U.S. officials have said. The New York Times later reported on a failed Israeli plan<\/a> to install Mr. Ahmadinejad as Iran\u2019s leader, despite his history of hard-line anti-American and anti-Israeli statements.<\/p>\n