Johnson says he wants peace with Iran
Chairman Mike Johnson said he hoped Iranians would “come to their senses” after President Trump warned of a ceasefire violation.
The body of slain Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects at the end of his 37-year rule.
Iran has been holding mass funeral processions for Khamenei, who was killed in February by US and Israeli airstrikes at the start of the four-month war, for a week to demonstrate its people’s dedication to the Islamic Republic’s theocratic state and the fire of revolution.
Khamenei’s body was scheduled to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the Shiite heartlands of Iran and Iraq, before being buried Thursday in Mashhad, home to the country’s holiest pilgrimage site.
A critical moment for the Islamic Republic
His coffin was unveiled late Thursday in front of a crowd of sobbing supporters, shaking and banging their heads to lament songs as flowers were thrown from the coffin into the crowd. On Friday, his coffin and those of his slain family members were placed in a large chapel built to honor his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The funeral comes at a critical time for Iran. In Iran, clerics backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are thriving after surviving an existential war with their biggest and most powerful enemy.
But nearly 50 years after the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic has rarely been so internally divided, despite multiple public declarations of national unity in the run-up to Khamenei’s funeral.
Analysts say support for the clerical leadership is paper thin, and the new supreme leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen since being wounded in the strike that killed his father.
Years of crippling sanctions have crippled the economy as accelerating nationwide protests were crushed by increased force from security forces, culminating in the killing of thousands of demonstrators in January.
Those deep problems were cleared up this week as authorities stepped up their show of state power and public support, mobilizing millions of mourners to attend funerals.
Tehran’s streets were tightly regulated, with military and police vehicles lining the main roads and police and members of the black-shirted Basij volunteer militia patrolling on motorbikes. Iran warned the US and Israel against any attack during the funeral.
After the coffin arrived on Friday and was held aloft above the raised hands of a waiting crowd, it was placed on a white stepped platform in the chapel, fronted by a tall, intricately tiled arched alcove flanked by national flags and black mourning flags.
The black turbans worn by clerics who claim descent from Islam’s prophet Mohammad were placed atop folded checkered scarves, a symbol of militant revolutionary ideals in Iran and solidarity with the Palestinians.
Representatives from Russia and China were also scheduled to attend. Top politicians from Iraq, Armenia and Pakistan arrived in Tehran for the funeral.
The ceremony was attended by the families of Iran’s close Lebanese ally Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, who were killed in the Israeli attack.
On Friday morning, Iranian political leaders – including the president, speaker of parliament and foreign minister – lined up to weep and pray.
Sobbing Crowd, Iran and Iraq Funeral Tour
In Iran’s theocracy, Khamenei was not only the head of state and leader of the revolutionary movement, but also the earthly representative of the 12th Imam of Shiite Islam, who disappeared in the 9th century.
His death from enemy attack has inspired a strong Shiite tradition of martyrdom and mourning, in which a procession of flagellants beats the chest and back.
Its powerful symbolism is evident in the fact that after his death, black funeral flags, which refer to the 7th-century martyrdom of Hossein, the third Shiite imam, were hung in the streets.
Throughout the night in central Tehran, crowds led by Basij members stood sobbing and screaming while others handed out posters of the late Ayatollah Khamenei.
“Can God alleviate some of this grief for the people only by avenging his blood and demanding justice for it and ensuring that the blood of our leader does not go unrequited,” said Mobina Razaghhi, an 18-year-old student from Isfahan who attended the funeral with her classmates.
Killed with Khamenei and placed in a coffin next to him were his daughter, son-in-law, baby granddaughter, and the wife of his son Mojtaba.
Burial postponed due to war
Under Islam, burials are supposed to take place within a day of death, but they were postponed until last month’s interim armistice was agreed due to the risks of holding large funerals during war.
Hotels are offering 50% discounts, schools, mosques and sports halls are being prepared to accommodate mourners, and bus and rail networks have been repurposed to host major events.
After authorities announced a large procession in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the center of Iran’s Shiite hierarchy, for a ceremony on Tuesday.
Ceremonies will then be held in the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday with prominent attendees from Iran’s regional network of Shiite proxies.
He will be buried on Thursday, after another procession, near the tomb of Imam Reza in Mashhad, a deeply religious figure in Iran.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall; Editing by Alex Richardson)
