Three sons of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gathered beside his coffin on Sunday, praying alongside the caskets of four other family members. Notably absent was Mojtaba Khamenei, the son who has succeeded him as Iran’s supreme leader.
State television broadcast images of Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei standing in prayer behind the coffins, which had been placed in the expansive courtyard of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, one of the capital’s major religious complexes.
The Islamic Republic has turned the funeral rites into a week of mass processions, presenting them as a display of loyalty to the theocratic state and renewed revolutionary fervor. Plans also include taking Khamenei’s remains to Shi’ite religious sites in neighboring Iraq.
Khamenei’s coffin had first lain in state indoors, where senior Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries paid their respects. On Saturday, it was moved outdoors and placed under glass, together with the coffins of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter.
Mojtaba, however, has not been seen publicly, and no image of him has been released. He is said to have been injured in the February 28 attack that killed his father and the other family members, when Israel and the United States bombed Iranian targets at the start of the war.
People close to Mojtaba Khamenei’s inner circle told Reuters that his face was disfigured and that he suffered a serious injury to one or both legs.
The four-month-old war is currently suspended under a ceasefire agreement with Washington. Iranian authorities have framed the deal as a victory over a superpower and say it will eventually deliver major economic gains.
President Trump told the Axios news website that peace talks had been put on hold for a week to allow for the events surrounding Khamenei’s funeral.
On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf prayed behind the coffins.
Masoud Khamenei was seen crying and wiping his tears with a keffiyeh — the checkered scarf that is a symbol in Iran of militant revolutionary ideals and solidarity with Palestinians — as an imam recited funeral prayers.
Crowds of Iranians, many weeping and some beating their chests, have thronged the Mosalla, including overnight.
The Iranian metro railway network said it had clocked 7 million trips from late on Saturday to Sunday morning as people flocked to the centre.
After what authorities are billing as a massive procession in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the centre of Iran’s Shi’ite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday.
From there the body will be flown to Iraq for ceremonies in the Shi’ite holy shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday.
It will return to Iran on Thursday for another procession in Mashhad, to be buried near the tomb of another of the medieval Shi’ite imams.
Authorities plan to mobilize millions of people for big processions over the coming days, offering transport, food and lodging.
