Millions at funeral ceremony for Khamenei in Tehran – Revolutionary Guards announce retaliation

Who is lying in state at the Grand Mosalla?

The body of the 86-year-old, who had led the country with an iron fist since 1989, was deliberately killed on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks on 28 February by an Israeli airstrike on his official residence in the Iranian capital. Khamenei had stood at the head of the clerical system of the Islamic Republic for almost 37 years. State television described him as a "war-invalid," but provided no further details.

Even before state television announced the official start of the funeral ceremonies, thousands of supporters streamed to the venue. "An diesem Tag wird es der belebteste Ort der Welt sein," said a reporter from the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. At temperatures of more than 30 degrees, which could rise to nearly 40 degrees in the coming days, the crowd was sprayed with water. As a precaution, a field hospital with 200 beds was set up next to the mosque, and authorities called for only healthy people to come and to prepare for the heat.

Millions under emergency security measures

The event is accompanied by an unprecedented security operation. More than 65,000 security forces will be deployed in the metropolitan areas, as reported by the state news agency Irna, citing the commander of the law enforcement forces. A further 200,000 forces are to provide security in the provinces. Streets, airspace, and parts of public life in Tehran have been largely shut down for the mourning period.

Strictly separated by gender, thousands of women and men filled the mosque complex, where calls such as "Tod Amerika" and "Rache, Rache" could be heard. Red banners read "Rache" or "Tötet Trump"; mourners held up the portrait of the new Supreme Leader and Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei. International reporters described a heated, emotional atmosphere in which grief and anger merged into one another.

Retaliation threat from the Revolutionary Guards

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) further escalated the tone. "Jede Fehlkalkulation wird mit einer entschlossenen und noch härteren Antwort als je zuvor beantwortet werden," it said in a statement by the Revolutionary Guards, which was disseminated by Iranian media. "Einer Antwort, die für immer in ihrer Geschichte der Schande verzeichnet bleiben wird," the same statement continued. The wording was unmistakably directed at the US and Israel.

Among the mourners, reactions varied widely. A 33-year-old said: "Ich bin gekommen, um mich von unserem Führer zu verabschieden." The 38-year-old cleric Mohammed Mirsalehi said: "Mit seinem Tod sind wir alle zu Waisen geworden." The 18-year-old student Hamidreza Shabani said: "Er war einfach einzigartig und unvergleichlich. Wir müssen uns erheben und, so Gott will, das Blut unseres Anführers rächen." A woman called out: "Wir fordern Blutrache, und wir wollen Vergeltung."

Grief, anger – and indifference in Iran

At the same time, many Iranians turned away from the ceremonies. The former teacher Farzane said: "Wenn ich sicher wäre, dass die Teilnahme an der Beerdigung dieser Person die Inflation, die Lebenshaltungskostenkrise oder die wirtschaftlichen Nöte des Landes auch nur ein wenig lindern würde, würde ich auf jeden Fall hingehen." She knew, however, "dass es keinen Unterschied machen wird, auf keinen Fall, also werde ich nicht teilnehmen." Government critics and many people in Iran, who had taken to the streets at the beginning of the year against the authoritarian course of the leadership as well as the massive economic crisis, view the ceremonies with indifference and rejection.

The 30-year-old Amir, who did not want to attend out of economic hardship, said: "Angesichts der prekären wirtschaftlichen Lage des Landes habe ich keine Lust, am Trauerzug teilzunehmen, und ich habe auch nicht die Absicht, daran teilzunehmen." The 50-year-old hairdresser Ali likewise keeps a clear distance from the regime, which he holds responsible for the misery in the country. In earlier waves of protest, demonstrators had still called out "Tod dem Diktator" – a clear indication of the ongoing dissatisfaction of large parts of the population.

Symbolism of mourning and the image of the "martyr"

Banners commemorating the "martyr" Khamenei shape the cityscape of the mega-city of Tehran these days. The organizers deliberately stage the ceremonies in analogy to the death of Imam Hussein in the Battle of Karbala in 680, the founding myth of the Shia. "So wird eine symbolische Verbindung zu dem Tod von Imam Hussein in der Schlacht von Kerbala hergestellt," explained the Islamic scholar Reinhard Schulze of the University of Bern in an interview with the ARD Studio Istanbul. "All diese Dinge sind aus der Sicht der iranischen Propaganda Konkurrenzunternehmen zu Iran und Iran versucht natürlich da auch eine Art von Meinungsführerschaft in der Öffentlichkeit zu wahren."

The six-day funeral ceremonies are spread across several stations. After the ceremonies at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, the body is to remain lying in state in the capital for three days before being taken for further ceremonies to the pilgrimage city of Qom and subsequently to Iraq. Finally, the killed Revolutionary Leader is to be buried on Thursday in Khamenei's birthplace Mashhad in the northeast of the country.

International guests and Western distance

According to Iranian information, the funeral ceremonies will be accompanied by a whole series of international guests. Expected among others are the former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. According to Iranian information, guests from around 30 countries are travelling in. From Europe, reportedly, no official representatives are expected – a circumstance that is interpreted in Tehran as a political signal.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US had given Iran "eine Woche frei" because of the funeral. Trump spoke on Friday on the occasion of US Independence Day at the presidential monument Mount Rushmore. "Sie können es kaum erwarten, sich zu einigen," Trump said with regard to Iran. Representatives from Washington and Tehran had agreed on a framework agreement in mid-June that is to pave the way for a permanent end to the war. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in a phone call with Trump on Friday, addressed "die besondere Verbundenheit zwischen Deutschen und Amerikanern," according to government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius.

Mojtaba Khamenei and the question of succession

Since his election as the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of the killed head of state, has not appeared publicly. His appearance would, in the assessment of observers, send a signal undesired by the regime, "dass die Versehrtheit von Chamenei in der Öffentlichkeit doch dann sichtbar würde und Chamenei dann auch mit seiner persönlichen Versehrtheit die Versehrtheit der Islamischen Republik repräsentieren würde," said Schulze. "Für genau das, versehrt oder sogar 'am Ende', hält die große Mehrheit der Iranerinnen und Iraner die Islamische Republik und ihr Regime."

Khamenei's burial falls in a phase in which the Islamic Republic wants to combine mourning with a demonstration of power. The authorities compare the scale of the funeral ceremonies to the burial of the then Revolutionary Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. At the same time, reports show that experts continue to assess the backing of the Iranian leadership among its own population as extremely low. The tension between staged mass mobilization and widespread exhaustion shapes the images from Tehran this weekend.

According to the IRGC statement, the announced retaliation is not to be understood solely in military terms. The Revolutionary Guards formulated their threat as a message to all whom they consider to bear shared guilt for Khamenei's death. The funeral is thereby also a political backdrop of threats: the regime wants to demonstrate unity internally and signal strength externally, while the calls for "Rache" and "Tötet Trump" underscore the unpredictability of the coming days.

According to the available reports, a provisional conclusion to the further course of the funeral ceremonies and possible reactions of the Iranian leadership to the announced course of retaliation is to be reached on Thursday with the burial in Mashhad. Until then, the Grand Mosalla remains, according to Iranian authorities, the central place of mourning – and of political staging. "Rache!" – this call, which could be heard in Tehran on Saturday morning, is likely to shape the image of the coming days.