Khamenei’s Sons Lead Mourning as His Successor Stays Hidden
Three of Ayatollah Khamenei’s sons prayed beside his coffin at funeral rites in Tehran — but not the fourth, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has still not been seen since February’s strike, in which he is reported to have suffered facial and leg injuries. Tehran’s metro logged seven million trips overnight as mourners converged, and President Trump said peace talks are “paused for a week” for the funeral. The mass procession through the capital comes tomorrow.
The tableau at the Grand Mosalla told the story the regime did not script: the president and parliament speaker praying behind the coffins, the new Revolutionary Guard commander in attendance — and the one man whose presence would have mattered most, absent from his own father’s rites. Reports of disfigurement explain the invisibility without resolving what it means for his authority: a supreme leader four months into his rule whom no Iranian has seen. Monday’s procession is the regime’s chosen legitimacy test, with the country shut down to maximise the crowds. Watch the turnout — and whether Mojtaba appears at the burial in Mashhad on Thursday.