Mourners chant ‘death’ to America and Israel at Khamenei funeral; Trump says ‘gave them a week off’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Mourners chant ‘death’ to America and Israel at Khamenei funeral; Trump says ‘gave them a week off’")
Mourners gather to pay final respects to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of his funeral at Grand Mosalla in Tehran. Photograph: (AFP)
Some mourners carried banners and red flags, symbols of revenge in Shiite Islam, while crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning. Some mourners carried portraits of Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father but remained out of public sight.
Mourners beat their chests and chanted “Revenge, revenge,” and many called for “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” as massive crowds gathered in Tehran for the days-long funeral that began on Saturday for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war. “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” chants have been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Authorities unveiled the casket containing Khamenei’s body in a glass case at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran. “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” and “We will kill, we will kill he who killed our Imam,” chanted mourners.
Some carried banners and red flags, a symbol of revenge in Shiite Islam. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals. The organisers sprayed water on the crowds and offered cold drinks to help those with the summertime heat.
The caskets of Khamenei’s dead family members were placed beneath his, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Some mourners carried portraits of Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father but remained out of public sight.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
Khamenei, who was 86 at the time of his death, ruled Iran since 1989 and oversaw the expansion of its nuclear programme and terrorist proxy network.
Trump says he gave Iran ‘a week off’ for the funeral
President Donald Trump said in a speech on the eve of July Fourth celebrations that he gave Iran a “week off” for the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In his only mention of Iran during the patriotic speech in front of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Trump said, “We knocked the hell out of Iran, they’re dying to settle.”
“We beat Venezuela in one day, and we knocked the hell out of Iran; they’re dying to settle. They want to settle so badly. We gave him a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” he said.
Talks between the US and Iran are currently paused, according to Qatari and Pakistani mediators, and would resume after the funeral commemorations.
The US president was not forgotten in Tehran too, where several mourners in the crowd at Grand Mosalla 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.
Meanwhile, reports claimed that Iranian authorities and state-linked institutions have been allegedly pressuring workers and businesses to take part in the funeral.
Media outlet Iran International said it received several letters describing a campaign of workplace directives, business closures, and logistical mobilisation, in the days before Khamenei’s funeral and burial.
