JULY 4, 2026
Iran holds dayslong public funeral for Supreme Leader Khamenei, killed in February airstrike
Dayslong funeral ceremonies for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed at age 86 in a February 28 airstrike at the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, began Saturday at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla. Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in the summer heat, with processions planned across multiple cities in Iran and Iraq through July 9, when Khamenei is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. Coffins of several family members killed in the same airstrike, including a 14-month-old granddaughter, were displayed alongside Khamenei's flag-draped casket.
Mourners wearing black filled Tehran's Grand Mosalla on Saturday as Iran opened the public portion of a multi-day funeral for its late Supreme Leader. Men beat their chests rhythmically in the summer heat — temperatures forecast to reach 36 degrees Celsius — while women carried bouquets of white flowers and crowds chanted, "Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!" Volunteers sprayed cooling mist onto the crowd; metal detectors and police armed with assault rifles were stationed at the venue. A chair resembling the one Khamenei used for his sermons, with a microphone and small table, was placed on a stage at the Grand Mosalla in tribute.
The funeral unfolded against an active diplomatic backdrop. Iran had paused indirect ceasefire talks with the United States, conducted in Doha, Qatar, ahead of the ceremonies. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said those talks had made "positive progress," and US Vice President JD Vance described them as "going well," while noting it was "still pretty early." President Donald Trump, speaking Friday night at Mount Rushmore, said the US had given Iran "a week off for a funeral, because we're nice," and added that Iran was "dying to settle." In Tehran, some mourners in the Grand Mosalla held a flag reading "#KillTrump," according to the Associated Press, and crowds chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
Security was a central concern. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned against any attempts to target the country during the funeral period, and Iran's joint military command told Israel and the US "to avoid any miscalculation." Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz had stated that Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei — son of the late leader and reportedly wounded in the February attack — was "marked for death." CNN reported, citing two US officials, that American officials had warned Iran through intermediaries of fears that Israel might assassinate Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf or Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during talks in the spring; Israel's prime minister's office called the report "a complete fabrication of reality." Tehran's airspace was set to be completely closed on Monday for the main procession.