US-Iran War: Tens of thousands of mourners took to the streets of Tehran on 5 July to attend the funeral procession of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of his family killed in 28 February 28 airstrike, sat on board a truck, news agency AP said. Authorities decorated the truck's side to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam.
The truck crept through crowds of black-clad mourners, who reached out to touch the grating. Authorities shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday as the 86-year-old Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
Calls for the killing of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reverberated through Tehran's packed Grand Mosalla prayer complex as Iran's top political and military leadership reappeared in public for the funeral of assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Effigy of Trump being hanged
A performer at the funeral called for the death of US President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people Sunday in Tehran. The comment represents the first, direct call for Trump's death by an emcee at the funeral, which has seen posters and graffiti calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Such signs were seen again Monday along the procession's route, with one effigy of Trump being hanged.
Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, drew calls of ‘Death to America!’ and ‘Death to Israel!’, news agencies reportes from the ground Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: "Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?"
The question drew cheers from the crowd, and again when Rasouli said that "the world is no longer a good place for" Trump.
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old cleric, later led a prayer at Grand Mosalla for Khamenei and his late family members. Khamenei's sons Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, as well as Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Revolutionary Guard head Gen. Ahmad Vahidi were present. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, another of Khamenei's sons did not attend the prayer meeting.
\"The world is no longer a good place for Trump.\"
The US is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.
