TEHRAN: Mourners beat their chests and chanted “revenge, revenge” as thousands gathered in Tehran early Saturday for a final farewell to slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was killed in US-Israeli attacks in late February that sparked a regional war.
His body lay in state on Saturday morning at the sprawling Grand Mosalla prayer complex in the Iranian capital, where an AFP journalist saw crowds filing in holding red flags, a symbol of revenge in Shiite Islam.
“We have come not for the funeral but for revenge,” a eulogist at the event chanted. “We’re never going to give up your blood, which is the reddest line.”
The mourners, some in tears, made their way through strict security towards the courtyard where Khamenei’s coffin was placed for people to pay their respects.
“We must rise up and, God willing, avenge the blood of our leader,” Hamidreza Shabani, an 18-year-old student, told AFP.
The coffin, wrapped in an Iranian flag, was unveiled on a stage from behind dark blue velvet drapes after Quran recitations. It stood on a raised platform accompanied by the coffins of his family members also killed in the US-Israeli attack.
Two rows of Iranian flags lined the stage, while portraits depicting different stages of Khamenei’s life hung on the walls of the Grand Mosalla.
Some mourners carried portraits of Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father but remained out of public sight.
Also seen among the crowds was the yellow flag of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which has been battling Israeli forces in southern Lebanon since the regional war broke out.
Hezbollah is part of the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance”, a network of groups across the Middle East that is opposed to Israel and the United States.
“We came because we promised the supreme leader we would stay with him until the end,” Reza, a 37-year-old university professor, told AFP.
“All these people are here for him. We shouted for a long time that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but he was the one who sacrificed himself for us.”
The crowds were sprayed with water as temperatures in Tehran reached the mid-thirties Celsius, while makeshift stalls served refreshments in areas surrounding the venue.
Many parked their cars several kilometres from the complex and walked the rest of the way due to traffic restrictions imposed across the capital.
The funeral ceremonies followed memorial events for Khamenei on Friday at the same venue, which were attended by delegations from several countries.
Khamenei was killed aged 86 at his compound in central Tehran on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched their opening salvoes of the war, triggering a conflict that spread region-wide.
Last month the US and Iran signed a preliminary deal to end the war, though negotiations on a permanent settlement are ongoing and there have been sporadic exchanges of fire since the agreement.
