Iran-US war latest: Tehran begins public mourning for Ayatollah Khamenei and claims funeral will draw 20 million

A casket containing the body of slain Iranian leader Ali Khamenei was placed alongside the coffins of his relatives killed in US-Israeli airstrikes in February, including a small coffin of his 14-month-old granddaughter.

Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani’s small coffin was draped in the Iranian national flag, with her framed photo next to it.

Six days of public funeral ceremonies have been planned, with Khamenei’s remains expected to be carried across cities in Iran and neighbouring Iraq.

Leaders from Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia arrived at Tehran to pay their respects to the slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Some in attendance were Russian security council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Turkish vice president Cevdet Yilmaz, Iraqi president Nizar Amidi, Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani senate chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani and army chief Asim Munir

The casket of slain Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and those of his family members killed in US airstrike in February were unveiled inside a glass case before weeping mourners in Tehran today.

Iranian state television broadcast showed the casket being unveiled as thousands of grieving people gathered at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex.

Videos broadcast by the state news channel show thousands dressed in black packing the streets, waving Iranian flags and other banners.

Several carried red banners, a symbol associated with calls for revenge, chanting “death to America” and “revenge, revenge”, AFP reported.

In a speech at Mount Rushmore yesterday, president Donald Trump bragged that the US “knocked the hell out of Iran” and “gave them a week off” to mourn the slain late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“They’re dying to settle; they want to settle so badly,” he said at the speech marking the 250th anniversary celebrations of the US.

“We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” Trump said.

Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, hit back at US president Donald Trump’s recent statement that Tehran needed imports from the US to ease its food situation.

“They need food. They need corn and wheat and soya beans, and we’re going to have exclusively our American farmers provide,” Trump told CNBC on Thursday.

Ghalibaf dismissed the US president’s assertions.

“Our assets, our choices. Mind your malnutrition rates,” the Iranian parliament speaker said.

“Imagine having 40-something million of your own citizens on food stamps and calling another nation hungry,” he said.

Over 42 million people in the US participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program last year, commonly called the food stamp programme, according to the US agriculture department

Yemen’s Houthis said they confronted warplanes, alleging they attempted to prevent the landing of planes carrying dignitaries to Iran from the Sanaa International Airport, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Friday.

The Houthis warned that they would target “Saudi airports and vital interests on land and sea” if the Saudis continued what the group called violations of Yemeni airspace.

A Saudi-led coalition said the Houthis’ statement was an attempt to “divert attention away” from the group’s “violations” against the Yemeni people.

Crowds of thousands of people entered the Imam Khomeini Mosalla prayer complex in Tehran to pay respects to the slain Supreme Leader ahead of the official start of the processions.

The courtyard of the prayer complex was filled with people, AFP reported.

With heavy traffic restrictions imposed across Tehran, mourners could be seen walking several miles to reach the venue on state television broadcasts.

Iran received leaders from Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia who came to pay respects to slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as funeral processions for the former Ayatollah began in Tehran on Friday, according to Iranian state television.

Foreign leaders arrived at the prayer complex in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla to offer condolences and pay respects before the body of Khamenei, who was killed in a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February, triggering weeks of elevated tensions across the Middle East.

Russian security council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Turkish vice president Cevdet Yilmaz, Iraqi president Nizar Amidi, Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani senate chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani and army chief Asim Munir are some leaders who could be spotted on state television broadcast.

The extensive mourning period will see his body transported through cities in both Iran and neighbouring Iraq, in a spectacle that is likely to be promoted heavily by Iran’s theocracy to encourage public, governmental and paramilitary participation.