The week-long funeral for the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed by United States and Israel on February 28, which started the ongoing war with Iran, had its biggest day on Monday, with a 12-hour journey through the streets of Tehran. It is the biggest act of the week, with religious acts every day across several Iranian cities, and will move to Iraq later this week.
Large crowds of mourners, counted by the hundreds of thousands, accompany the caskets in procession, carrying also four of his family members that were also killed in the airstrikes, with many claiming for revenge against the United States, and carrying placards with pictures of US President Donald Trump, US Vice President JD Vance, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with texts reading "there will be blood", according to Reuters.
Iran's army chief, Major General Amir Hatami, said that "those who committed this crime must know that the nation of Iran and all of us will never cease in our pursuit of and demand for justice" according to Iran's state-run Press TV, via Al Jazeera.
Across all acts, it is estimated that millions of people in Iran and Iraq will mourn the Ayatollah. The last time Iran held a funeral for a supreme leader, during two days in June 1989, an estimated 10 million people attended, one sixth of the population of the country. Three of Khamenei's sons attended the act on Monday, but not his successor Mojtaba Khamenei over security reasons.
