Full story
Funeral, unity, and defiance
In Tehran, the Friday Prayer Leader Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Abotorabi-Fard said the late Supreme Leader laid the groundwork for unity "both within Iran and across the Muslim world" and stressed that the U.S. has suffered a strategic setback in the Strait of Hormuz.
“He made the remarks in a message addressed to Iranians on Friday, one day after the late Leader was laid to rest in holy city of Mashhad following million-strong funeral rites in Iran and Iraq”
Mehr News AgencyAbotorabi-Fard, speaking in Friday prayer sermons in Tehran, described the U.S. violation of the memorandum of understanding with Iran as a continuation of "criminal and unilateral actions" and said Iran would defend its national interests and regional allies.
Mehr News AgencyHe also tied the massive funeral ceremonies for the martyred Leader to a new order for the Islamic world, saying the events signaled a shift grounded in the anti-hegemonic thought of Khomeini and Khamenei.
In the same sermons, he framed "proactive deterrence" as a new strategic reality and reiterated that Iran’s diplomatic apparatus must engage from a position of strength, guided by the martyred Leader's doctrine of resistance.
The Guardian Council’s information portal later described the funeral turnout as an unprecedented historic epic, with Dr. Hadi Tahannezief saying the Iranian nation showed it would not abandon the ideals of the revolution.
IRGC vows no weakening
In a message, Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Vahidi said the killing of the country's slain supreme leader would not weaken the network of Iran-backed armed groups Tehran calls the "resistance front" and vowed to continue his path.
Vahidi warned that "by assassinating this divine leader, they will never be able to extinguish the divine light" and said seeking punishment for those responsible would remain "a definite, legitimate and unforgettable demand."
As residents across Iran reported power and water outages, Iran International said the energy ministry called for consumers to reduce electricity use by at least 10% and warned that high temperatures were expected to push demand above 75,500 megawatts in the coming days.
One resident in Islamshahr, near Tehran, wrote that "Electricity has been out since 2 a.m. and it's now 5 a.m." while other messages described outages in Tehran province, Alborz, Khuzestan and Fars.
The same Iran International dispatch said average temperatures were forecast to reach around 41 degrees Celsius between July 14 and July 18 and urged households to set air conditioners to 25 degrees Celsius to preserve grid stability.
Revenge demands and next steps
In Shiraz, the acting Friday prayer leader Hojjat-ol-Islam wal-Muslimin Adel Hajipour said avenging the blood of the martyred leader has become a public demand and that officials must fulfill it by punishing the perpetrators of the crime.
Hajipour told worshippers that "avenging the blood of the martyred leader is the definitive demand of the Iranian nation" and said the funeral ceremonies marked the beginning of a blood-vengeance covenant among the Islamic Ummah.
In Hamadan, Ayatollah Habibollah Shabani-Mosleqi said in Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini (RA) Hussainiya that "Avenging the blood of the martyred leader is a serious demand of the Iranian nation" and urged officials to act toward the enemy based on religious and national dignity.
Mehr News Agency reported that General Hatami said the path of the Islamic Revolution’s martyred Leader is a flowing spring that will continue to run, and it described a multi-day funeral beginning with Ayatollah Khamenei’s body lying in state at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla.
Mehr News Agency also said the final burial took place at the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad late on Thursday, after ceremonies in Qom and in Iraq’s Najaf and Karbala.
