Millions mourn Iran’s Ali Khamenei amid historic funeral procession

Hundreds of thousands of people have poured into Tehran, with millions expected to attend a week of funeral ceremonies for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The days-long memorial has turned the capital into the centre of a historic farewell that officials say will draw more than 10 million mourners from across the country and abroad.

Crowds jammed major avenues and the vast Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque on Saturday as mourners, many dressed in black and waving flags, gathered to view the coffin of the 86-year-old leader, who was killed in a US-Israeli attack at the outset of the war on Iran in February.

The bodies of several members of his family killed in the same strike, including his three-year-old granddaughter, are being honoured alongside him.

Authorities have opened more than 5,000 schools and tens of thousands of classrooms nationwide to accommodate pilgrims travelling to the capital. The Iranian supreme leader is a significant spiritual figure for the world’s Shia community.

Delegations from more than 100 countries also attended ceremonies reserved for foreign dignitaries on Friday, underscoring the regional and international stakes of the transition in Tehran.

The funeral programme stretches over six days, with successive ceremonies in Tehran through Monday before moving to the holy city of Qom, then to Iraq, and finally to the northeastern city of Mashhad for burial.

Analysts say the timing – in the first 10 days of the Muslim month of Muharram and coinciding with the United States’ Independence Day – is laden with symbolism, framing Khamenei’s death within a Shia narrative of martyrdom and signalling continuity in Iran’s confrontational regional posture even after his successor and son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, assumes full authority.