Public tributes for Ali Khamenei begin in Tehran, coffin placed in the Grand Mosque and up to 20 million participants expected

In Tehran, the public pilgrimage for the body of Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of Iran, has officially begun, as thousands of worshippers gathered to pay their final respects.

Since a day earlier, many citizens had remained outside the Grand Mosque, aiming to be among the first to pay tribute near Khamenei’s body.

Four months after his death, his coffin has been put on display at the Grand Mosque in Tehran, with the symbolic black turban placed on top of it. The entire religious complex has been adorned with large portraits of Khamenei, black mourning flags, and red flags representing martyrdom and revenge.

The worshippers, most of them dressed in black, began gathering near the mosque in the early hours of the morning, before the doors opened at 06:00 local time. Many of them carried red flags bearing the word “martyr,” while according to an AFP journalist, chants of “Revenge,” “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel” were heard from the crowd, slogans commonly heard at official gatherings in Iran.

The country’s authorities expect that in Tehran alone, between 15 and 20 million people will take part in the funeral ceremony. The funeral, initially scheduled for March, was postponed because of the war and is expected to become one of the largest funerals in Iranian history.

According to official figures, in 1989, around 10 million people took part in the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. At that ceremony, more than 10 people lost their lives because of the chaos that broke out in the crowd.

The funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei will last six days and are being regarded by the Iranian authorities as a show of strength after the war that erupted with the American-Israeli attacks on Iran, a conflict in which many senior political and military officials were also killed.

Khamenei, the longest-serving leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran since its creation in 1979, was killed at the age of 86 during an attack on his residence, on the first day of the bombardments launched by the United States and Israel on February 28.

It has still not been confirmed whether his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, will attend the ceremony. According to this scenario, he took over the leadership of the country in early March. He was wounded in the attack that killed his father and has so far limited himself to public statements, without appearing before citizens.

Present at the official ceremonies were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, members of the government, as well as the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Ahmad Vahidi.

“We want to say our final goodbye to our leader, so the wait is neither painful nor difficult for us,” Somayeh Hamedi, a 44-year-old teacher, told AFP.

While some of those present could not hold back their tears, others stood in silence as poems were recited and religious songs performed inside the mosque.

“Being here is the last and only thing we can do for Ali Khamenei, who sacrificed his life for Iran,” said Fatemeh Noudehi, a 25-year-old student from the north of the country, who had volunteered to help the pilgrims.