Tehran, Iran. The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects to Iran’s late Supreme Leader. Iran is holding a week of mass funeral processions following the end of Khamenei’s 37-year rule in February.
Funeral rites in Tehran
Khamenei’s coffin was unveiled late on Thursday to a crowd of grieving supporters, who swayed, beat their heads in time to a sung lament and received flowers thrown from the bier. On Friday, the coffin, along with those of family members killed with him, was laid in state in the great prayer hall built to honour his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Planned funeral procession
Khamenei’s body was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, described as major Shi’ite centres of Iran and Iraq, before being laid to rest on Thursday in Mashhad, home to the country’s holiest pilgrim shrine.
Political backdrop
The funeral is taking place at a critical moment for Iran, where the clerical rulers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are presenting the country as having survived what they viewed as an existential war against the United States and Israel.
Nearly five decades after the 1979 revolution, and despite official declarations of national unity before the funeral, the Islamic Republic faces deep internal divisions. Analysts say support for the clerical leadership is very weak, and the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not appeared in any new image since being wounded in the strike that killed his father.
Domestic pressures and security measures
Years of sanctions have paralysed the economy, while repeated nationwide protests have been suppressed by security forces with increasing force, culminating in the killing of thousands of demonstrators in January.
This week, authorities have set aside those issues while mounting a display of state power and public support, seeking to mobilise what they hope will be millions of mourners for the funeral. Streets in Tehran were under tight control, with military and police vehicles lining major roads and police and members of the Basij paramilitary force patrolling on motorbikes. Iran also warned the United States and Israel against any attacks during the funeral.
