TEHRAN, July 5, 2026 — A sea of black-clad mourners engulfed central Tehran on Saturday as Iran began six days of funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes four months ago. The capital is under heavy lockdown, with authorities bracing for up to 20 million attendees across the country and neighboring Iraq in what is expected to be the largest funeral relative to population in modern history.
Khamenei's body lies in state at the Grand Mosalla mosque, flanked by the remains of family members also slain in the February airstrikes. Crowds chanted anti-American slogans and demanded retaliation, reflecting the deep anger that has fueled a wider regional conflict since the attack. "Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their supreme leader," 40-year-old Arash Rahimi told Reuters. "We have a blood feud with the United States."
The funeral comes as a fragile preliminary peace deal hangs in the balance. President Donald Trump claimed Friday that Iran's regime is "dying to settle" the war, adding: "We gave them a week off for a funeral because we're nice." But on the ground, the mood is anything but conciliatory. Reza, a 37-year-old professor at the mosque, told AFP: "For a long time, we shouted that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but it was he who sacrificed himself for us."
Khamenei's body will remain in Tehran for three days before being moved to the holy city of Qom on Tuesday, where a senior Shia cleric will lead funeral prayers. The final burial is set for Thursday in his hometown of Mashhad. Much of central Tehran is sealed off, with security forces on high alert amid fears of further escalation. The procession is expected to draw millions more as it snakes through the country.
The scale of the mourning underscores the ayatollah's iron grip on Iranian society even in death, and the volatility of a region still reeling from the February strikes. As the capital holds its breath, the question remains whether this national grief will be channeled into peace or renewed conflict.