Crowds fill Tehran for Khamenei funeral procession

Huge crowds packed Tehran on Monday as a truck carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei moved slowly through the capital, turning his funeral procession into a mass display of mourning, anger and calls for revenge against the United States and Israel.

Chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” rose from the streets as mourners followed the convoy under tight security by Iranian military and police. Some wept openly. Others carried signs and banners demanding vengeance. State media reported that an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump was hanged in Imam Hussein Square; Reuters also photographed at least one Trump effigy being hanged. Other placards showed U.S. Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the words: “There will be blood.”

Khamenei, 86, was killed in a Feb. 28 airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, ending nearly 37 years as the country’s supreme leader. Coffins of relatives killed alongside him were displayed with his, including his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter, Zahra Golpaygani. NBC News reported that other family members’ coffins were also carried in the procession.

The truck bearing the coffins was decorated with latticework typical of an imam’s shrine. Red, white and green Iranian flags and red revenge banners lined the route, while photographs of Khamenei hung across the capital. Some images showed him with his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been named supreme leader but has not appeared publicly or issued an audio statement since the war began. Another showed Khamenei with an image of Zahra superimposed beside him.

The funeral events began after Khamenei lay in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, where thousands gathered Sunday in separate sections for men and women. Three of Khamenei’s sons were filmed crying near the coffins. Mojtaba Khamenei was absent, drawing attention as questions persist about his condition. NBC News reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter, that he was severely injured in the strike that killed his father, suffering burns to his face and body and leg wounds requiring several operations. Al Jazeera reported that officials have said he was wounded but that the severity of his injuries remains unclear.

Authorities had expected large crowds, and organizers said Monday’s route was changed because the turnout was so large that the original procession would have taken hours to complete. Roads in downtown Tehran were blocked as people arrived by car, bicycle and public transport. Water mist was sprayed over the crowd in the summer heat.

Iranian officials used the ceremonies to project unity and resilience during a ceasefire with the United States, while vengeance remained a central theme. Parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf praised on social media the “proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran” for paying tribute to its “martyr.” Army chief Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami said, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV, “Those who committed this crime must know that the nation of Iran and all of us will never cease in our pursuit of and demand for justice.”

A member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told NBC News at the procession that the war would not be “over for us” until Khamenei’s death was avenged. A 38-year-old mourner who gave his surname as Miremadi told AFP on Sunday, “The killers [of Khamenei] must face punishment.”

The ceremonies are scheduled to continue in Qom on Tuesday and in the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday. Khamenei is due to be buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in his hometown of Mashhad. Talks between Washington and Tehran toward a lasting peace deal and the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz are expected to remain on hold until after the burial, NBC News reported.