TEHRAN, July 6 (Xinhua) — Huge crowds from across Iran on Monday filled the streets of Tehran for the funeral procession of the country’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike in late February.
The procession, held following two days of farewell ceremonies at Imam Khomeini’s Mosalla prayer hall in central Tehran, was also attended by a large number of Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts Ahmad Jannati, Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council Sadeq Amoli Larijani and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, as well as cabinet ministers.
Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also appeared at the ceremony, despite earlier reports that he had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The procession began at 6:00 a.m. local time (0230 GMT), and mourners accompanied the coffins of the late supreme leader and his family members, who were killed in the same attack, along a more than 10-km route starting from Damavand street in eastern Tehran to Azadi square and Lashgari highway west of the capital.
Weeping mourners held the late leader’s pictures and waved Iranian flags as well as thousands of red banners symbolizing revenge, while chanting slogans against the United States and Israel, calling for avenging their leader’s assassination, and pledging to continue his path.
The procession ended at around 17:00 local time.
A two-day farewell ceremony of the late supreme leader began here at Imam Khomeini’s Mosalla prayer hall on Saturday morning, drawing huge crowds from across the country.
The two-day event came after a ceremony in Tehran on Friday, where high-ranking Iranian and foreign officials paid their respects to the late leader.
On Tuesday, a funeral ceremony will be held in Iran’s central city of Qom, following which the leader’s body will be transferred to Iraq for further rites in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday.
The Iranian president is scheduled to travel to Iraq for the ceremony, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Some Iranian media also reported that Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Mostafa Khamenei, the late leader’s eldest son, will also attend the ceremony in Iraq.
Khamenei will be laid to rest in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday.
Ali Khamenei served as Iran’s supreme leader for nearly 37 years. He was killed in a U.S. and Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb. 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was selected as Iran’s new supreme leader in March.
