Mourners dressed in black flooded Iran’s capital, Tehran, today for a funeral procession honoring the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, along with those of several family members who were killed in an airstrike on 28th of February at the outset of the war launched by Israel and the United States, was carried on a truck decorated to resemble the ornate latticework surrounding the shrine of an imam. 

 

The massive turnout, encouraged by Iran’s theocratic leadership as a display of national unity and strength, came as Tehran continues negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war that claimed the life of the 86-year-old cleric.

 

Media reports said the crowd appeared to be larger than the one that gathered for the 2020 funeral procession of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which drew more than one million mourners.

 

Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hasan Hasanzadeh, who is overseeing the funeral procession, said the coffins would be carried through the streets of Tehran during a 12-hour journey to Mehrabad International Airport.

 

Authorities have shut down major streets, closed the country’s airspace, and suspended much of daily life for the period of mourning, which began on Saturday and will continue through Thursday, when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.