Iran’s Supreme Leader Lies in State as Week-long Farewell Commences

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid in state on Friday following his death by US and Israeli airstrikes in February. The week-long funeral procession is a display of public devotion to Iran’s theocratic state.

Khamenei’s body, along with those of family members killed in the attack, was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf, and Kerbala before being laid to rest on Thursday in Mashhad. His coffin was unveiled late Thursday, attracting a crowd that sang laments as they threw flowers onto it.

The funeral is significant for Iran at a time when the clerical rulers are riding high from surviving what they saw as an existential war against their greatest foes. However, the Islamic Republic has been internally fractured in recent years.

Tehran streets were tightly controlled during the funeral with military and police vehicles lining major roads and police and Basij paramilitary forces patrolling on motorbikes. Iran warned the US and Israel against any attacks during the funeral.

Representatives from Russia and China were expected to attend, as well as delegations from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Pakistani Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran for the funeral.

Families of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, killed in Israeli strikes, also attended the ceremony. In central Tehran, a crowd sobbed and chanted as others distributed posters of Khamenei.