Three sons of Iran’s slain leader Khamenei appear at funeral, not his successor
TEHRAN, July 5 (Reuters) – Three sons of slain Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed next to his own coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son who succeeded him as Iran’s religious leader, did not appear.
State television showed Mustafa, Meysam and Massoud Khamenei praying behind coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Imam Khomeini Grand Musalla, a vast religious complex in Tehran.
Their father, along with several other members of the family, was killed in an airstrike as the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
The conflict, which raged for several weeks before the sides reached a shaky ceasefire, caused death and destruction across the region and left Iran’s theocratic government, backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in power.
In a display of public devotion to the state and revolutionary fervor, the Islamic Republic is holding a week of mass funerals for Khamenei, including taking his body to Shiite religious sites in neighboring Iraq.
After a day spent indoors in the province for visits by senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials, Khamenei’s coffin, along with the coffins of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old grandchild, were displayed outdoors under glass on Saturday.
MOJTABA NOT SEEN
There is still no public image or footage of Mojtaba, who is said to have been injured in the attack that killed his father and other family members on February 28, when Israel and the United States bombed Iranian targets at the beginning of the war.
People close to Mojtaba Khamenei’s face was disfigured and he suffered serious injuries in one or both legs, people close to him told Reuters.
One disappointed mourner said he had hoped to see the new religious leader during funeral events.
“Until the last moment before the prayers started, I kept telling those around me that I hoped Mojtaba Khamenei would come. This was our only wish,” a young woman wearing make-up and sunglasses said in an interview with the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
The ceasefire suspended four months of war under an agreement with Washington that Iranian officials say will ultimately yield huge economic benefits, in line with what they describe as a victory against a superpower.
US President Donald Trump told the Axios news site that peace talks were suspended for a week due to the events surrounding the funeral.
On Sunday, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf prayed behind the coffins. Massoud Khamenei was seen crying as an imam read funeral prayers and wiping his tears with a keffiyeh, the checkered scarf that is a symbol of militant revolutionary ideals in Iran and solidarity with the Palestinians.
IRANIANS ARE FREAKING INTO THE CENTER OF TEHRAN
Crowds of Iranians, many crying and some beating their chests, filled the Mosalla well into the night. Iran’s metro rail network said it operated 7 million trips from late Saturday to Sunday morning as people flocked to the centre.
After what authorities billed as a massive parade in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the theological city of Qom, the center of Iran’s Shiite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday.
The body will be sent to Iraq from here for ceremonies to be held in Najaf and Karbala, the holy shrines of Shiites, on Wednesday. He will return to Iran on Thursday for another parade in Mashhad and will be buried near the grave of another medieval Shiite imam.
Authorities plan to mobilize millions of people for large marches in the coming days, providing transportation, food and accommodation services.
(Reporting by Reuters staff in Tehran and Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and John Davison; Editing by William Mallard and Sharon Singleton)
