Iran begins funeral for late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The funeral for Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is under way, months after an air strike killed him at the start of the war with the US and Israel.

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 at Shia 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.”

An outdoor stage set up at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei, who died aged 86, once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah at his compound in Tehran.

That site was destroyed in the Israeli air strike that killed Khamenei and some of his family at the start of the Iran war on February 28.

The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath his, which had his black turban on top of it, identifying him as a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad.

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.

Organisers sprayed water on the crowds and offered cold drinks to help those with the summertime heat.

A large turnout could provide a boost for Iran’s 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.

Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the US, 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 has been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and US embassy takeover and hostage crisis.

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” US president Donald Trump said in a speech in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”

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 neighbouring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran for the mourning.

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 decades with an iron fist while confronting the West. Mojtaba Khamenei’s late wife was one of the dead on display at the Grand Mosalla.

Israel’s repeated threats to kill Mojtaba Khamenei drew a warning from Iran’s joint military command on Thursday, which told Israel and the US “to avoid any miscalculation” over the coming days.