Funeral for Iran's Khamenei enters second day as 200,000-square-meter plaza fills with mourners

Funeral rites for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei entered their second day in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday local time.

Mourners who had traveled from across the country packed the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a vast prayer complex, chanting denunciations of the United States and Israel as they paid their respects. Iran's leadership has framed Khamenei's death as "martyrdom," using the occasion to reinforce internal unity and rally anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment.

Crowds began gathering in the mosalla's central plaza from the early hours of Saturday. Numbers thinned somewhat in the midday heat before swelling again after sunset, and the roughly 200,000-square-meter plaza remained packed with mourners through the night. A significant number of people were still at the site into Sunday morning.

A master of ceremonies repeatedly described the deaths of Khamenei and his family members as "martyrdom at the hands of the enemy," prompting tearful mourners to chant slogans against the United States and Israel. Dressed in black, they waved Iranian flags alongside red banners symbolizing a martyr's blood and a call for vengeance, demanding retaliation.

Five coffins — those of Khamenei and four family members — were placed in glass cases on a central dais in the plaza. After nightfall, the mosalla's central dome was lit in red, and Iran's state broadcaster carried the proceedings live around the clock, spreading the mood of mourning nationwide.

The funeral schedule continues Monday with a procession through central Tehran. On Tuesday, a funeral prayer service attended by senior Shiite clerics is to be held in the holy city of Qom, and on Wednesday, memorial ceremonies will take place at the Shiite shrines of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq. Khamenei is then to be interred on Thursday in Mashhad, a Shiite holy city in northeastern Iran and his hometown.

The international community views the funeral as more than a simple act of mourning — an occasion for Iran's leadership to consolidate the regime and reaffirm its posture toward the United States and Israel. With hardline slogans against both countries continuing to ring out at the memorial site, analysts say regional tensions in the Middle East are likely to persist for now.