A mourner holds a portrait of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his funeral (Altaf Qadri/AP)
Iran’s top officials and brothers of the country’s new supreme leader emerged into public view on Sunday to attend the funeral prayers for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, signalling a confidence in their safety as calls grew for the killing of US President Donald Trump.
Their presence before hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, Tehran, would have been unthinkable during the Iran war, which saw airstrikes in its opening moments on February 28 kill the 86-year-old Khamenei, his family members and other officials.
Israel also targeted others who appeared publicly during the war, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position for a strike.
But still unseen was Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
Mourners gather beneath a portrait of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during his funeral (Altaf Qadri/AP)
Israel has threatened to kill him as well as he leads a theocracy now negotiating with the United States over a permanent end to the war and over Iran strangling traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies.
Ziba Naderi, a 42-year-old nurse attending the funeral on Sunday, said Iran needed to follow whatever Mojtaba Khamenei commands in regards to the nation.
“I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do,” she said. “And we must listen to him.”
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for Mr Khamenei and his late family members.
A cleric leads a prayer during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family (Altaf Qadri/AP)
On hand were Khamenei’s sons: Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who have not been seen since the war started.
Revolutionary Guard head General Ahmad Vahidi, who only had been photographed for the first time since the war on Thursday, could be seen in the crowd by Associated Press journalists, flanked by plainclothes security forces as he wore a black baseball cap.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian; parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf; and Esmail Qaani, who leads the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, also attended.
Their appearances came as posters and graffiti at the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who hosted proceedings at the event prior to the prayers, drew calls of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”
Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Mr Rasouli asked, referring to Trump, “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?”
The question drew cheers from the crowd, and again when Mr Rasouli said “the world is no longer a good place for” Mr Trump. It marked the first, direct threat to Trump’s life by an official during the funeral.
US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years.
That stems from Mr Trump ordering the 2020 killing of General Qassem Soleimani, who had led the Quds Force. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Mr rump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s sights.
