Massive Turnout for Funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

TEHRAN, Iran -- Thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran on Monday for the funeral procession of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who passed away at the age of 86. The procession featured Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, along with those of family members killed in a recent airstrike, as it made its way through the city.

Helicopter footage broadcast on Iranian state television showed a crowd stretching for kilometers from Azadi Square down a major thoroughfare. While authorities did not provide an official crowd count, the turnout appeared to surpass that of the 2020 funeral for General Qassem Soleimani, which drew over 1 million attendees. The procession is part of a mourning period that began Saturday and will conclude with Khamenei's burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. During the event, some mourners expressed calls for revenge against U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with signs and effigies visible along the route. The new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen at the ceremonies, reportedly due to injuries sustained in the airstrike that killed his father.