TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Senior Iranian officials and brothers of the country’s new supreme leader appeared in public Sunday for funeral prayers for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, signaling new confidence in their safety as calls to kill U.S. President Donald Trump grow.
Their presence in front of hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, Tehran, would have been unimaginable during the Iran war, which saw air strikes in its opening moments on February 28 that killed 86-year-old Khamenei, his family members and other officials.
Israel also targeted others who appeared in public during the war, and in at least one case they likely used their public appearance to determine their position on the attack.
But Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not yet been seen. He is believed to be in hiding after being injured in the airstrike that killed his father. Israel has threatened to kill him as he leads a theocracy that is now negotiating with the United States over a permanent end to the war and Iran is strangling traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies.
Zeba Naderi, a 42-year-old nurse who attended the funeral on Sunday, said Iran needs to follow what Mojtaba Khamenei asks regarding the nation.
“I heard the call for revenge, but our leader has to say what we have to do,” she said. “And we have to listen to him.”
The funeral includes prayers and calls for revenge
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led prayers in Tehran’s Grand Mosque for the soul of Khamenei and his departed family members.
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On hand were Khamenei’s sons Masoud, Maysam and Mustafa, who had not been seen since the war. Associated Press journalists were able to see the head of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ahmed Vahidi, who was photographed for the first time since the war on Thursday, in the crowd, surrounded by plainclothes security forces and wearing a black baseball cap.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, also attended.
Their appearance came as posters and graffiti in the Grand Mosque called for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Poet Muhammad Rasouli, who left the ceremony before the prayer, chanted “Death to America.” and “Death to Israel!”
Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?”
The question drew cheers from the audience, and again when Rasouli said: “The world is no longer a good place” for Trump. This was the first direct threat to Trump’s life by an official during the funeral.
Trump’s threats increase at the funeral
The US President was simultaneously delivering a speech around the world in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
“We have had tremendous success,” Trump said of the US military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We eliminated them, we eliminated their army.”
The funeral was attended by a much larger crowd than the previous day on Sunday. Mourners dressed in black marched to the site carrying banners and flags honoring Khamenei and also calling for the killing of Trump.
Gholamreza Sabouni, 29, who works in a grocery store, said: “I came here to scream and demand revenge.” They killed our imam, and we must kill their leader, Trump.”
US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. This stems from Trump’s order to kill General Qassem Soleimani, who commanded the Quds Force, in 2020. Iran has repeatedly denied planning to kill Trump, although hard-line propaganda footage has long suggested that Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.
Meanwhile, Trump has promised to destroy Iran’s very civilization during the war, among a variety of other threats.
The funeral postpones talks with the United States
Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq, where authorities plan to transport his coffin and others through the streets of Tehran on Monday. The authorities closed the streets, airspace and daily life on the occasion of mourning, which will end on Thursday with his burial in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace.
The authorities did not provide any attendance figures for the event on Saturday and Sunday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.
Currently, talks on reaching a permanent end to the war are on hold until the end of the funeral. A high voter turnout could be important at a time when Iran is trying to strengthen its grip on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations while remaining concerned about the possibility of attacking Israel again.
Mohammad Reza Sharifi, one of the mourners, said: “Our foreign policy should not be shaped in a way that allows the blood of our martyred leader to be stained. Other countries can do such things, without any serious response from our government and diplomatic system.”
& Edition 2026 The Canadian Press
