MILLIONS GATHER TO WITNESS KHAMENEI FUNERAL PROCESSION

Vast crowds gathered for the funeral procession of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday, with authorities estimating millions were on the streets in numbers that could rival those of his predecessor’s farewell nearly four decades ago.

Authorities have yet to give an official turnout figure, but AFP images showed huge numbers stretching along major boulevards in the Iranian capital.

The ceremonies offer Iran an opportunity to project resilience after five weeks of war with the United States and Israel, although attention remains focused on Khamenei’s successor, his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since taking power.

After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei — who was killed on the first day of the Middle East war on February 28 — began its journey through the capital accompanied by massive crowds.

Flower petals covered the coffin as it made its way along the streets, AFP images showed.

Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to state news agency IRNA.

Crowd surges during Khomeini’s farewell killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.

“If I am to compare this ceremony to that one, I can say they are not different at all. But the crowd this time seems more enthusiastic,” said Gholamreza Khanbabaei, 58, attending the procession.

Tehran’s airspace was closed on Monday as the country stood still to remember the former leader.

Mourners marched through the streets waving the flags of Iran and the Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as well as red flags symbolising revenge.

Others gathered in Imam Hussein Square in eastern Tehran and hanged an effigy of US President Donald Trump, according to state media.

Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was seen attending the procession, according to local media.

In sweltering heat, trucks sprayed mourners with water to cool them, while organisers handed out Iranian flags and pictures of Ali and Mojtaba.

The procession route covers around 20 kilometres (12 miles).

A day earlier thousands had filled the Grand Mosalla to pay their respects to Khamenei and four family members killed in the Israeli airstrikes, which were based on US intelligence.

Massive concrete walls at the complex separated the public from the coffin to prevent stampedes.

It is unclear what level of access and proximity the public will eventually have during Monday’s procession, but authorities are mindful that in 1989 they were forced to use a helicopter to transport Khomeini for burial after mourners stormed his vehicle, causing his burial shroud to tear and his body to fall to the ground.

Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.

Three of Ali Khamenei’s sons made a rare public appearance at the funeral on Sunday, further highlighting the absence of Mojtaba, who was named supreme leader shortly after his father’s killing but has yet to appear in public.

Officials have said he was wounded in the airstrikes but the severity of his injuries remains unclear.

The new commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, whose predecessor was killed on February 28, also appeared at the funerals for a second time on Sunday, on this occasion in the open air, after he went unseen throughout the war.

Esmail Qaani, the shadowy head of the Guards’ Quds Force — responsible for its foreign operations — also made a rare appearance.

– ‘Want revenge’ –

The government is eager to tout the mass mobilisation in support of the authorities after mass protests took place in January that rights groups say were quelled by a crackdown that killed thousands of people.

The Middle East war is on hold following a ceasefire and an initial accord struck with the US. But both Washington and Tehran have warned they are ready to resume military action, and vengeance has been a major theme at the funeral.

Khamenei long pursued a course of confrontation with the West, and Tehran for years has provided support to anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups around the Middle East, including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who both sent delegations to the ceremonies.

Some of Khamenei’s supporters at Monday’s procession echoed that message of confrontation.