Prayers were held on Sunday over the casket of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, marking the second day of funeral ceremonies that have drawn huge crowds to pay their final respects in Tehran.
Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic from 1989, was killed at age 86 in an air strike on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28. The morning service at Tehran’s vast Grand Mosalla complex was led by the eminent Shia cleric Ja’far Sobhani, a 97-year-old scholar who teaches in the seminaries of the holy city of Qom.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s son and declared successor who is reported to have been wounded in the February 28 attack has not appeared in public since his appointment and was notably absent from the prayers. The other three sons, Masoud, Mostafa and Meysam, attended the service.
Sunday was declared a public holiday across Iran. Later in the day Khamenei’s body will be moved from the Grand Mosalla, where it lies in state, ahead of processions through the capital scheduled for Monday. The sprawling religious complex and the surrounding streets were packed with mourners on Sunday morning; with temperatures set to exceed 35°C, those carrying Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei were given refreshments as they made their way to the mosque.