Tens of thousands attend Tehran funeral for slain Iranian Supreme Leader as opposition claims public is not mourning

Tens of thousands of people attended a farewell ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran on July 4. The coffins of the late supreme leader and his family members were placed on a podium displaying a portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. His body is scheduled to be laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9.

Iran’s acting Defence Minister Majid Ibn al-Reza stated that Iran would give a “necessary and decisive” response if commitments under the memorandum of understanding with the US are violated. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the nation will seek justice against the US and Israel.

Iran’s ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said China and other friendly countries will receive special treatment in the Strait of Hormuz under a new arrangement coordinated with Oman.

The arrangement includes the imposition of fees on vessels passing through the strait, and the application of the fee will not contradict the international laws of the sea, he said. The envoy made the remarks in a speech at the World Peace Forum in Beijing on Saturday. At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past two days, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Nine of the bodies were retrieved from collapsed buildings, and 16 injured people were registered at hospitals. The death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks since March 2 has reached 4,303 killed and 12,202 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is not expected to attend the multiple days of funeral ceremonies for his father.

Reza Pahlavi stated on X that Khamenei is a “deceased dictator” not mourned by the people. He said Iran is mourning more than 40,000 sons and daughters killed on January 8 and 9, and that the regime is spending vast amounts of the Iranian people’s wealth on the funeral while no democratic leader attended.