A collective funeral prayer was held at the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran for the assassinated Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. At the farewell ceremony, hundreds of thousands of people gathered chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” calling for revenge for the countries' Feb. 28 attack that killed Khamenei and other senior officials. Some representatives of the radical wing called for the assassination of US President Donald Trump, reports the Associated Press.
The funeral prayer (janaza prayer) on Sunday was led by Ayatollah Jafar Subhani. The mourning event was attended by senior Iranian officials and three brothers of the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – Masoud, Maysam and Mustafa. Mojtaba himself has not yet appeared in public.
Also seen among those present were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ahmad Vahidi and Commander of the IRGC's Al-Quds Force Ismail Qaani.
Many participants in the mourning event held posters calling for the assassination of Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, a red flag with the inscription Ya Litharat al-Hussein (“Oh, the Avengers of Hussein”), which in the Shiite tradition symbolizes readiness for retribution, was hoisted over the dome of the mosque.
Before the start of the prayer, the poet Mohammad Rasouli unequivocally stated that after the death of Khamenei, “the world has ceased to be a good place” for the US president, and then called the assassination of the American leader the duty of all Iranians.
“Why shouldn’t we kill the one who killed my imam and my leader?” – Rasuli added.
Earlier, Trump said in a conversation with Axios that he was monitoring the funeral of the former supreme leader of Iran. According to him, the Iranians are “begging for a deal,” but by mutual agreement the parties suspended negotiations for a week until the end of the farewell ceremonies. Trump says the US and Iran have agreed not to fight each other.
“They're all there now. One strike and we could destroy them all, but we are not going to do that because then we would have no one to negotiate with,” Trump said.
Funeral arrangements began on Friday and are due to end on Thursday with Khamenei's funeral at the Imam Reza Mausoleum in Mashhad, the city where he was born. Before that, the body of the former supreme leader will be transported for farewell to the holy city of Qom, and then to the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. According to Iranian authorities, from 4 to 15 million people will take part in the mourning events, CNN reports.
