Khamenei Lies in State as Iran Begins Funeral Week
The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the war’s opening strikes in February, lay in state at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla as Iran began a week of funeral ceremonies ending with burial in Mashhad on Thursday. Dignitaries from Russia, China, Pakistan and Iraq are attending; Western leaders are absent. The Revolutionary Guard’s new commander, Ahmad Vahidi, made his first public appearance since his appointment, while Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has still not been seen since he was wounded in the same strike.
The regime is staging the largest mobilisation since the war ended — a mass procession through central Tehran on Monday, Qom on Tuesday, ceremonies in Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday — and treating turnout as a public test of loyalty after the winter’s protests were violently suppressed. Tehran has warned the United States and Israel against any attack during the rites, and the Doha talks are paused until they conclude. The absences tell their own story: a new supreme leader nobody has seen in months, and a Guard commander who had been kept hidden for fear of assassination. Watch the crowds on Monday, and whether Mojtaba finally appears.