Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a stark warning Monday, saying any Iranian leader who attempts to bring about Israel’s destruction would be targeted, as funeral events for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began in Tehran.
In a Hebrew-language statement, Katz said Israel had killed Khamenei because, in his view, the Iranian leader had initiated and directed efforts to destroy Israel both from inside Iran and through allied forces across the region.
Katz said Khamenei’s death should serve as a warning, declaring that any future Iranian leader who seeks to pursue plans aimed at Israel’s destruction would meet the same fate.
He also pointed to chants of “Death to Trump” heard during the funeral, saying they exposed what he described as the real character of Iran’s clerical leadership, despite what he called its public efforts to project moderation.
Katz said the major strike on Iran, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, had removed immediate existential threats facing Israel and caused serious damage to Iran’s strategic capabilities. He added that Israel remained ready to defend itself independently at any time and against any threat.
The funeral procession for Khamenei began Monday morning, marking the fourth day of a week-long series of burial ceremonies.
His remains were expected to be carried through the streets of Tehran before being taken to Mehrabad International Airport in the western part of the capital.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, who is overseeing the ceremonies, told state media the procession was expected to last between 10 and 12 hours.
Hassanzadeh said preparations for the procession began at 4 a.m. local time and that the procession would move from east to west.
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Regime supporters lined the streets of Tehran early Monday, many carrying red flags symbolizing revenge, the IRGC-linked Fars News Agency reported.
Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies have been marked by repeated calls from Iranian officials, state media and regime supporters for the deaths of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said on Monday that Tehran had used the ceasefire with the United States to rebuild its military capabilities, according to Iran International.
“We are fully prepared and have used the ceasefire opportunity to improve our combat capability,” he said, warning that any attack on Iran would be met with a response “more crushing and more regret-inducing than before.”
The funeral ceremonies are scheduled to run through Thursday, when Khamenei is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader following his father’s death, had not been seen at the ceremonies.
Three of Ali Khamenei’s other sons — Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam Hosseini Khamenei — appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since the war began on Feb. 28, offering prayers over their father’s body at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla of Tehran mosque, Iran International reported.
The New York Times, citing two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a source involved in planning the funeral, reported that Mojtaba Khamenei told officials he wants to attend the burial ceremony in Mashhad and lead the traditional prayer for the dead.
The newspaper cited the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the funeral preparations, as saying security officials had rejected the proposal over concerns Israel could attempt to assassinate the supreme leader at the ceremony or use it to track his whereabouts.
The younger Khamenei was injured in the airstrike that killed his father.
While it is generally believed that Mojtaba is still alive, he has not appeared in public since the start of the war, and no images or audio recordings of him have been released.
