State funerals for Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reached their symbolic peak in Tehran on Sunday, as millions of mourners converged on the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla for a public prayer service. The rites, now on their third day, also honoured four family members killed in the same US-Israeli strike on 28 February: Khamenei’s daughter Boshra, his son-in-law Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri Kani, his son’s wife Zahra Haddad-Adel, and a 14-month-old granddaughter. Three of Khamenei’s sons attended, but the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, did not appear for a second consecutive day. Official Iranian sources remain silent on his whereabouts, while media reports citing security officials indicate he was wounded in the February attack and barred from public view to prevent further targeting or assassination attempts.

From the perspective of the Islamic Republic, the immense turnout – authorities project up to twenty million participants in the capital alone – is being presented as proof of national solidarity and the durability of the revolutionary system after a destructive war and earlier anti-government protests. State media and Iranian officials emphasise the presence of international delegations from over seventy countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and Iraq, as evidence of continued diplomatic legitimacy. The foreign ministry issued a statement displaying the flags of attending nations, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the participation as a “historic memory” in bilateral relations. Mourners waved Iranian flags and red banners associated with Ashura, while chanting slogans demanding revenge and renewal of allegiance to the clerical leadership.

Observers in Washington and European capitals note that the funeral is unfolding under a fragile ceasefire and amid a pause in negotiations between Iran and the United States. President Donald Trump, in an interview with Axios, remarked that the two sides had agreed to suspend talks for the funeral week and that neither side would fire during this period. He expressed scepticism at the public displays of grief, suggesting some tears might be “fake”, and claimed the US could have struck the gathering but refrained so that “we have someone to negotiate with.” These comments, along with the heavy security presence and state-organised logistics – including four hundred Red Crescent tents for provincial arrivals – reinforce assessments among Western and regional analysts that the funeral is being used to project a managed image of stability and rally support for the new leader, despite his notable physical absence.

The ceremonies continue eastward from Tehran to the religious centre of Qom on Tuesday, then on Wednesday to the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala – symbolic for Shia audiences – before the burial on Thursday in Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace near the revered Imam Reza shrine. For Iran’s ruling clergy, the weeklong spectacle is both an act of homage and a strategic test of their ability to consolidate power in the post-war order. Mojtaba Khamenei’s continued absence, however, leaves unresolved questions about the succession and the new leader’s capacity to assert control as the Islamic Republic navigates its deepest crisis in decades.