Trump Says US Won’t Target Officials at Khamenei Funeral as Tehran Ceremonies Begin

Iran’s dayslong public funeral for Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei began in Tehran at the Grand Mosalla as crowds gathered for ceremonies that authorities said would run through multiple cities and culminate in Mashhad.

US President Donald Trump said he was following Ali Khamenei’s funeral and suggested Iranian officials who gathered there could be targeted, but said Washington would not do so because it needs people to negotiate with, Axios reported Saturday.

ABNA English

The BBC said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body was lying in state at the Grand Mosalla ahead of burial in his hometown of Mashhad next Thursday.

The NPR report said the funeral began four months after Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28 at the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, with state media showing huge crowds at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla.

NPR also reported that there were chants of "Death to America" and big red signs that read "#KillTrump" as men beat their chests in unison and women slapped their heads with their hands in mourning.

At Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla, ISNA described the farewell ceremony beginning with the opening of gates 6, 8, and 11 on the eastern side and gates 9, 20, and 21 on the northern side, with mourners entering after gates opened earlier than scheduled at 6 AM on Saturday.

ISNA said the official farewell ceremony began with the recitation of the Quran, followed by elegy recitation by Mehdi Rasouli, and at 7:30 AM Iran’s national anthem was played as attendees joined in unison.

Anadolu Ajansı

ISNA also reported that participants chanted "Ya Ibn Fatemeh, we await you" and later chanted "Labbaik Ya Khamenei" while pledging allegiance to the present leader.

Tasnim said Brigadier General Hassan Hasanzadeh, head of the Secretariat for the organization of the farewell, prayer, and funeral ceremony in Tehran, set the funeral prayer for around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday and said people have until 7:30 to reach Tehran’s mosalla and stand in the prayer lines.

Tasnim added that the special program for the Night of Farewell begins tonight (Saturday) at 21:00 and will continue until the dawn prayer, with audio broadcast planned across Tehran’s main squares and metro service for citizens to attend.

Mehr News Agency said funeral prayers in Tehran would be held on Sunday, July 5, at the Imam Khomeini Musalla, and that prayers would also be offered for four family members killed in the same US-Israeli strike.

“Large crowds gather in Tehran on first day of Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral Large crowds of black-clad mourners have gathered outside Tehran's main mosque to pay their respects to Iran's former supreme leader on the first day of his funeral commemorations”

BBC

Mehr listed Dr. Mesbah al-Hoda Baqeri Kani, Seyedeh Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, Zahra Haddad Adel, and Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani as those for whom funeral prayers would be offered.

Mehr said the main funeral procession would be held in Tehran on Monday before the cortege travels to Qom on Tuesday, then continues in Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, before concluding with burial at the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad on Thursday.

DW reported that Iran officially began six days of public funeral ceremonies on Saturday morning, and said Khamenei’s coffin would lie in state until Monday before being taken to Qom and neighboring Iraq before burial in Mashhad on Thursday.

NPR reported that Iranian officials said they expect millions of people to attend, while it also noted that the funeral was delayed this long because of "the war conditions" and "the brutal U.S. invasion".