The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in Tehran’s Great Hall on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign dignitaries and others mourned the late Iranian Supreme Leader, who was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike earlier this year.
Iran is planning a week of mass funerals for Khamenei, whose 37-year rule ended in February with the first strike of the war, to show public devotion to the Islamic Republic’s theocracy and fervor for reform.
Khamenei’s body was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the main Shi’ite centers in Iran and Iraq, before being buried on Thursday in Mashhad, home to the country’s holiest shrine.
His casket was unveiled late Thursday to weeping fans, shaking their heads as they chanted as flowers were thrown from the event into the crowd.
On Friday, the coffin – along with that of family members who were killed with him – was placed in a large prayer hall built in honor of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
It is an important time for the Islamic Republic
The funeral comes at a critical time in Iran, where clerical rulers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are riding high to survive what they see as an on-going war against their biggest and most powerful enemy.
Authorities aim to gather millions of people in large gatherings in the coming days, providing transport, food and accommodation to meet the numbers.
But almost fifty years after the revolution of 1979, and for all the official declarations of national unity before Khamenei’s funeral, the Islamic Republic is rarely divided from within.
Support for the clerical leadership is thin on paper, analysts say, and the new Supreme Leader, Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen in a new photo since he was injured in the strike that killed his father.
Years of crippling sanctions have crippled the economy as the pace of mass protests across the country has been brought down by increasingly powerful security forces – leading to the killing of thousands of protesters in January.
Those deep-seated problems were brushed aside this week, as authorities touted the power of the state and popular support.
The streets of Tehran were tightly controlled, with military and police vehicles lining the main roads and police and members of the black-shirted Basij paramilitary force roaming around on motorbikes. Iran has warned the United States and Israel of any attack during the funeral.
After the coffins arrived on Friday, they were placed in a prayer hall in a white square, with a staircase before a high recess, with intricate tiles, with arches, decorated with national and black flags.
A black turban, worn by clerics who claim to be a descendant of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed, rests on top of the coffin in the sheikh’s folded scarf, a symbol in Iran of revolutionary ideology and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Vice Chairman of the People’s Congress of China He Wei, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iraqi President Nizar Amedi are among the foreign leaders and officials who attended.
The families of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, who are close to Lebanese-backed Iranians killed in Israeli strikes, attended the ceremony.
Iran’s political leaders – the president, the speaker of the parliament, the foreign minister and others – went inside crying and praying on Friday morning. A group of generals stood saluting in front of the casket. Among them was the new head of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, who has not been seen in public since his appointment for fear of being killed.
Crying crowds
In Iran’s theocratic system, Khamenei was not only the head of state and leader of the revolutionary movement but also the representative of the 12th Imamate of Shi’ite Islam, which disappeared in the ninth century.
His death in an enemy attack fulfills the strong Shi’e tradition of martyrdom and fasting, in which a procession of flags beat their chests or backs.
That powerful symbolism has been evident in the black funeral flags that have hung in city streets since — a reference to his death in reference to the seventh-century martyrdom of the Shi’s third imam, Hossein.
In central Tehran overnight, a crowd stood weeping and chanting, led by a member of the Basij, as others carried placards of the late Khamenei.
“God willing, only—by avenging his blood,—seek justice in it and make sure that the blood of our leader is not left unavenged, can this people’s grief ease somehow,” said Mobina Razaaghi, an 18-year-old student from Isfahan, who attended the funeral events with her classmates.
Killed alongside Khamenei, and displayed in coffins next to his own, were his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, and his son Mojtaba’s wife.
The funeral was postponed because of the war
The funeral was supposed to be held within a day of his death in Islam, but due to the danger of having a large funeral during the war, it was postponed until a temporary peace agreement was agreed last month.
Hotels are offering 50 percent discounts, schools, mosques and sports halls are being prepared to accommodate mourners, while bus and train networks are being diverted to accommodate large events.
After what authorities billed as a huge procession in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the center of Iran’s Shi’ite state, for ceremonies on Tuesday.
Ceremonies will be held in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday, with prominent attendees from Iran’s regional network of Shi’ite representatives.
Khamenei will be buried on Thursday, after another procession, in Mashhad near the tomb of Imam Reza, Iran’s most pious figure.
