By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was absent from the funeral ceremony of his father, Ali Khamenei, as senior figures in the government joined thousands of mourners to pay their respects on Sunday.
Ali Khamenei’s other three sons – Masoud, Mostafa and Meysam all attended the service on Sunday, alongside officials including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi.
There are speculations that Mojtaba is in dire condition, following rumours that he sustained injuries in the same US-Israel air strikes that killed his father. He has not been seen in the public since his appointment early March.
His father ruled the Islamic Republic from 1989 until his death in February.
Official funeral proceedings for late supreme leader began on Friday, with events planned across Iran and Iraq over the coming week.
Iranian authorities say 12-20 million people were expected to attend the ceremonies, which they call the “funeral of the century”.
Khamenei’s funeral service was led by prominent Shia cleric Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old scholar who teaches at seminaries in the holy city of Qom.
Sunday was declared a public holiday across Iran, and later in the day Khamenei’s body was moved out of the Grand Mosalla ahead of a processions through the capital on Monday.
The ceremonies have been carefully choreographed and Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence from the proceedings comes on a backdrop of fears that Israel may want to assassinate him as well during the service.
A fragile ceasefire between the warring countries is currently holding while talks on a permanent peace deal continue – though both sides have warned they were ready to resume military action.
News website Axios quoted US President Donald Trump on Saturday as saying that peace talks had been paused for a week for the events surrounding the funeral.
With many of the Iranian regime’s senior officials attending, Washington could take them all out with “one shot”, it quoted Trump as saying, adding: “But we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with.”
Trump also said he had been surprised to see Iranians crying, saying he thought people hated Khamenei. “Maybe it’s fake tears,” he said.
Mourners were seen on Sunday holding banners that included slogans “kill Trump”, “kill Bibi”, in reference to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and “we will avenge”.
The procession in Tehran is expected to attract more than 10 million mourners from across Iran, with strict security measures imposed and official media warned of a risk of stampede.
