The funeral proceedings for Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the former Iranian supreme leader who long formed one axis of the Middle East security landscape, have all concluded. Throughout the funeral period, Iran's leadership repeatedly stressed its anti-U.S. and anti-Israel stance, while questions over the power succession emerged as his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei did not appear.
According to AFP and other outlets, Iran held a burial ceremony on the 9th at the Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad, laying Ayatollah Khamenei's body to rest. The funeral, which began on the 4th of this month and proceeded by touring major Iranian cities including Tehran and Shiite holy sites in Iraq, came to a close after a six-day schedule. Ayatollah Khamenei was killed along with 12 family members on February 28 of this year, the first day of the war with the United States and Israel, when he was hit by an Israeli targeted airstrike at his residence in the capital Tehran.
The message Iran sent at home and abroad through the funeral was a hardened anti-U.S. and anti-Israel line. The event, meticulously planned to the point that the funeral schedule began to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, drew millions of mourners. Mourners dressed in black funeral attire waved red flags symbolizing "blood revenge," expressing hostility toward U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the early part of the funeral, senior officials from strategic partners and allied nations sharing anti-U.S. sentiment as a common denominator, including China and Russia, also attended to display solidarity.
By contrast, Western media reported that Iranian society, with a population of 90 million, is in effect split between forces mourning and forces refusing to mourn. CNN reported that "many Iranians are angry at this massive funeral event," adding that "they accept Khamenei as a symbol of an oppressive regime."
However, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Ayatollah Khamenei's son and successor, did not appear even at the burial ceremony concluding the funeral on this day. He was known to have been seriously wounded on the first day of the war, and as his seclusion has grown prolonged, observations have persistently emerged that he may have died or suffered a serious disability. With his failure to appear even at a national event and his father's funeral, questions surrounding Iran's power succession process are expected to grow once again.
