Iranian officials attend funeral prayers for late Supreme Leader amid anti-U.S. chants
Top Iranian leaders and relatives of the deceased supreme leader gathered in Tehran for funeral prayers, while some participants shouted hostile slogans toward the United States and Israel.
Iranian senior officials and members of the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s family appeared publicly in Tehran on Sunday to attend funeral prayers at the Grand Mosalla. Their presence, which was impossible during the early days of the conflict that killed Khamenei, signaled a perceived improvement in their security situation.
The prayers were led by 97-year-old cleric Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani and were attended by Khamenei’s sons Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, as well as Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani.
During the ceremony, poet Mohammad Rasouli used a loudspeaker to address the crowd, making direct threats toward U.S. President Donald Trump and delivering anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans. Attendees responded with cheers.
"I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do," said Ziba Naderi, a nurse attending the funeral.
"I came here to shout and seek revenge. They killed our imam, we should kill their leader, Trump," said Gholamreza Sabooni, a grocery worker.
The funeral coincided with President Trump’s remarks in Washington marking the United States’ 250th anniversary, during which he referenced military actions against Iran.
Authorities plan to transport Khamenei’s body through Tehran on Monday and to hold the burial in Mashhad later in the week. Public mourning has led to temporary closures of streets and airspace, and discussions on a permanent cease-fire remain paused until the funeral concludes.