Massive crowds line Tehran streets for Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral procession

Thousands of mourners filled the streets of Tehran on Monday as the main funeral procession for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began. An ornate white and green vehicle carrying several coffins travelled along a route packed to capacity, with spectators spilling onto side streets to catch a glimpse of the cortège.

The crowd, largely dressed in black, waved a variety of flags, including Iran’s national flag, the Shia “Ya Hussein” flag that bears the words “Ya Hussein,” and banners supporting Palestine and Hezbollah. Chants of “Death to America, death to Israel” were heard, and some participants burned the Union Jack and the U.S. flag.

Water jets sprayed mist to keep the crowd cool as temperatures were expected to reach 37 °C (98 °F). The procession will later transport Khamenei’s body to the shrines of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq, before burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his hometown.

Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, said Khamenei’s death has turned him into a more powerful symbolic figure, likening him to martyred Shia saints.

The funeral takes place during the Islamic month of Muharram, a period when Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. The event follows Khamenei’s killing in a joint U.S.–Israeli airstrike on February 28, which also claimed the lives of several of his family members.