Massive crowd attend Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral in Tehran

Funeral prayers for Iran’s martyred Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were held in Tehran amid a massive gathering of mourners on Sunday morning.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel report, the funeral prayers were led by Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani. 

The ceremony also included funeral prayers for members of Khamenei’s family, including his daughter, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and a young granddaughter.

Senior Iranian officials attended the ceremony, including Iranian President, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. High-ranking civilian and military officials were also present. Slain Iranian leader Khamanei’s sons, Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa were seen attending funeral prayers in Tehran, AP reported on Sunday. IRGC Commander in Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi was also in attendance, Al Jazeera reported. However, Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba, has not attended due to security risks.

According to the reports, delegations from around 100 countries attended the funeral, while an estimated 10 million mourners gathered in Tehran and surrounding areas. 

Large crowds dressed in black were seen along major roads and at the funeral venue, waving red flags that were described as symbols of justice and calls for retribution.

The ceremony was marked by emotional scenes as government officials and members of the public paid their final respects.

Ayatollah Sobhani leads the funeral prayer over the sacred body of the martyred Leader of the Revolution at Tehran's Mosalla. pic.twitter.com/JtoylcycbN

— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) July 5, 2026

Reports indicated that the funeral procession was expected to travel from Tehran to Qom as part of the planned funeral arrangements. According to the TV channel report, the final burial is scheduled to take place in Mashhad on July 9.

The reports further stated that, before burial, the body of Ayatollah Khamenei would be taken to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. According to the same reports, the final burial would subsequently take place in Mashhad.

Ayatollah Khamenei was martyred in an attack carried out by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026.

AFP reported that prayers were to be said over the casket of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday, the second day of marathon funeral ceremonies that have already drawn huge crowds to pay their final respects in Tehran.

Authorities have not announced whether a religious figure or a family member will lead the prayers for Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until he was killed aged 86 in an airstrike on the first day of the Middle East war on February 28.

His son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since being named supreme leader, and is said to have been wounded in the same attack.

Sunday has been declared a public holiday for the entire country, and in the evening, Khamenei's body will leave the Grand Mosalla complex where it is lying in state in preparation for processions through the capital planned for Monday.

Hassan Hassanzadeh, in charge of the ceremonies as commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards in Tehran, said that "prayers will be carried out over the holy body of the martyred leader" at 8:00 am local time (0430 GMT), according to state TV.

On Saturday, vast crowds of Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic had massed for the start of the public funeral ceremonies, which authorities hope will serve as a message of defiance after the war with the US and Israel.

Clad in black and waving blood-red flags symbolising vengeance and justice, mourners beat their chests in a sign of grief as chants of "death to America" and "revenge, revenge" echoed around the venue.

"The leader was a father to us all. With his passing, we have all been left orphaned," said Mohammad Mirsalehi, 38, a cleric.

The coffins of Khamenei, with his black turban on top, and four family members also killed in the February 28 strikes -- including his infant granddaughter -- were placed at the front on a raised dais, AFP photographs showed.

Authorities believe the ceremonies will mobilise more than 10 million people in the capital alone.

 - Allies in attendance -

After five weeks of intense hostilities, the Middle East war is on hold after a ceasefire and an initial accord with the US. But both Washington and Tehran have warned they are ready to resume fighting at any time.

Khamenei's funeral is being viewed outside Iran as a test of support for the government following mass protests before the war in January that rights groups say were quelled by a crackdown that left thousands dead.

"What is observed today in the emotions, tears, and passionate presence of the people in various scenes is the most telling sign of his position among the Iranian nation and the free people of the world," President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech Saturday, accusing Israel in particular of acting as a "destabilising factor" in the Middle East.

"Muslims have shown that they will not surrender to oppression and bullying," he added.

Khamenei had long pursued a course of confrontation with the West, and Tehran for years has provided support to anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups around the region, including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Delegations from both groups met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday, state media reported, while representatives of Yemen's Houthi rebels and Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad were also in attendance at the funeral.

After Monday's procession, Khamenei's coffin will be moved on Tuesday to the clerical city of Qom, then on Wednesday to neighbouring Iraq, before the burial on Thursday in his northeastern hometown of Mashhad.

Significant security measures have been imposed in the capital, and official media has warned attendees of the risk of crowd crushes.

Organisers have also taken measures to mitigate a heatwave that may nudge 40C in Tehran over the next few days, with crowds on Saturday sprayed with mists of water to keep cool at the Grand Mosalla complex.

Three sons of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday made a rare public appearance at his funeral but there was still no sign of their brother and his successor Mojtaba Khamenei.

Crowds of thousands for the second day in a row filled the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran for the funeral ceremonies of Khamenei and four family members killed on February 28 in Israeli airstrikes based on US intelligence.

As well as laying to rest the man who ruled the Islamic republic for over three-and-a-half decades, the funerals are a chance for the authorities to burnish their resilience after five weeks at war with Israel and the US, which the theocratic system, in place since 1979, survived despite the loss of key figures.

Parliament speaker and chief negotiator with the US Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of the most prominent faces of the post-Ali Khamenei era, hailed on X how the "proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran unanimously" paid tribute to its "martyr".

A funeral procession is to take place on Monday in Tehran, followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and Iraq on Wednesday, culminating with the burial in Khamenei's hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.

The ceremonies on Sunday were marked by the appearance of Ali Khamenei's eldest son Mostafa and the two younger siblings Masoud and Meysam, all clerics.

- 'Blessed end' -
 

But their presence only further highlighted the absence from the funerals of Mojtaba Khamenei, who was named supreme leader shortly after his father's killing but has yet to appear in public.

Officials have said he was wounded in the airstrikes but the severity of his injuries remains unclear. So far, he has only communicated through written statements.

The remaining days of the funerals -- in particular the burial on Thursday -- will be closely watched to see if Mojtaba Khamenei appears in public.

The new commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, whose predecessor was killed in the February 28 strikes, appeared at the funerals for a second time on Sunday, this time in the open air, after he went unseen throughout the war.

Esmail Qaani, the shadowy head of the Guards' Quds Force -- responsible for its foreign operations -- also made a rare appearance, telling Iranian TV that Khamenei's "blessed end" was fitting after a lifetime of "striving".

Senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, 97, recited the funeral prayer for Khamenei ahead of his body being moved out of the complex for the procession Monday.

- 'Demand revenge' -
 

The government is also eager to tout the mass mobilisation in support of the authorities after mass protests in January that rights groups say were quelled by a crackdown that left thousands dead.

With Sunday a public holiday across Iran, crowds thronged the vast religious complex, kept cool by a sprinkler system in temperatures of 35C and overlooked by a giant portrait of Ali Khamenei.

Authorities have said they expect more than 10 million people to take part in the ceremonies in the capital.

But strict security measures have been imposed and official media have warned of a risk of crowd crushes, with medical centres set up around the complex.

The Middle East war is on hold following a ceasefire and an initial accord struck with the US. But both Washington and Tehran have warned they are ready to resume military action, and vengeance has been a major theme at the funerals.

"The killers (of Khamenei) must face punishment," a 38-year-old man who gave his surname as Miremadi told AFP as he attended the prayers.

"If our leaders are about to proceed with negotiations in this manner, our people will not agree with it," he said.

"We're here to show the world that we back our revolution and our leader, and we demand revenge for the blood of our loved ones," added a 39-year-old woman who gave her surname as Bakand.

Khamenei long pursued a course of confrontation with the West, and Tehran for years has provided support to anti-US and anti-Israel armed groups around the Middle East, including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Delegations from both those groups met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday, Iranian state media reported, while representatives of Yemen's Houthi rebels and Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad also attended the funeral ceremonies.