On Monday, Iran held the funeral of their former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in February. Iranian state media showed huge crowds at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla — a large prayer complex in Tehran — visiting the casket. The caskets of his four killed family members were also on display.
According to media reports, people in the crowd wore black and wept openly. Women slapped their heads with their hands in mourning, while men beat their chests in unison, a tradition observed at Shia funerals. The mourning included carefully curated state rhetoric, organized demonstrations, and other messaging designed to create a narrative of unity among supporters of the Iranian government.
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There were also chants of “Death to America” and big red signs that read “#KillTrump.” Many waved flags, including red ones symbolizing revenge, and yellow ones that represented the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Some reports also mentioned a large poster depicting Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as wanted men. The poster also offered a reward to anyone who killed the two leaders, stating: “Kill them both like dogs and receive 100 plots of land, each measuring 20 square meters, as a reward.”
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Other placards featured images of Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Netanyahu alongside the words “There will be blood.”
A spokesperson for the funeral preparations issued a statement saying that the ceremonies were delayed this long because of “the war conditions” and “the brutal U.S. invasion.”
Khamenei was killed in the first wave of airstrikes — that also reportedly killed 170 people in a school — during the ongoing conflict. Ali Khamenei was replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei as the supreme leader. However, media reports allege he was absent at the public funeral.