A several-day farewell ceremony for Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led the country for 37 years, has begun in Tehran.
This is reported by the Associated Press.
After a closed ceremony attended by Iranʼs leadership and foreign delegations, the coffins containing the bodies of Khamenei and four members of his family were placed on display at the Grand Mosque of Mosalla.
The coffins will remain there until July 6, when they will be transported to other cities in Iran and Iraq. On July 10, Khamenei will be buried in Mashhad, where he was born.
Hundreds of thousands of people have already come to bid farewell to Khamenei, and according to forecasts, millions will come — almost a quarter of the countryʼs population. The area where the ceremony is taking place is guarded by security forces, and nearby roads have been blocked. Portraits of Khamenei are on the streets of Tehran, and religious chants can be heard in the city.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
For the ceremony, a stage similar to the one from which Khamenei had given speeches for years was set up on the mosque grounds. A portrait of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini was placed above it, and Khameneiʼs chair with a microphone was placed next to his coffin.
During the ceremony, participants chanted slogans against Israel and the United States, and called for revenge for Khameneiʼs death.
- On the morning of February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, killing Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family. Aliʼs son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei became the new Supreme Leader of Iran.
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