Iranian leaders joined prayers on Sunday over the casket of the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during a second day of funeral ceremonies, but his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, was conspicuously absent.
The elder Khamenei ruled the Islamic Republic from 1989 until he was killed, aged 86, in an airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.
Officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi, joined Sunday’s ceremonies, along with huge crowds paying their final respects in Tehran.
However, Mojtaba has not appeared in public since his appointment in early March. He is said to have been wounded in the attack that killed his father.
The late Supreme Leader’s other three sons—Masoud, Mostafa and Meysam—also attended the service.
It was held at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex and led by prominent Shia cleric Ja’far Sobhani, a 97-year-old scholar who teaches at seminaries in the holy city of Qom.
Sunday was declared a public holiday across Iran. Later in the day, Khamenei’s body was to be moved from the Grand Mosalla, where it was lying in state, as part of preparations for processions through the capital on Monday.
The vast complex and surrounding streets were packed with mourners on Sunday morning, AFP journalists observed.
With temperatures forecast to exceed 35°C, many mourners were given refreshments as they made their way to the Grand Mosalla, some carrying Iranian flags or portraits of the late Khamenei.
Authorities have said they expect more than 10 million people to take part in the ceremonies in the capital.
Strict security measures have been imposed, and official media have warned of the risk of crowd crushes.
“More than 4,000 people visited medical centres located in and near Tehran’s Mosalla,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday, adding that no deaths had been recorded.
Footage from state television showed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with the United States, attending the prayers.
Also seen was Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guards.
Khamenei’s coffin, draped in the Iranian flag and topped with his black turban, was placed alongside those of four relatives who were also killed in the February airstrikes, including an infant granddaughter.
