TEHRAN: Grand Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani led the funeral prayers for Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Sunday, the second day of official mourning for Iran's late supreme leader, four months after his death.
The 97-year-old senior cleric was shown on state television leading the official mourning for Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on his official Tehran residence on February 28. A five-week US and Israeli bombing campaign ensued until a ceasefire was agreed at the beginning of April.
From Saturday onwards, the company that operates the Iranian capital's metro recorded more than 7 million journeys linked to the funeral, the Tasnim news agency reported, without making clear whether return journeys were included.
Official figures on the number of people attending the funeral events were not available. Politician and former presidential candidate Saeed Jalili called for Khamenei's death to be avenged. "Revenge for the revolutionary leader is a demand of the people and a duty of those in charge," he posted on X.
Khamenei's body is to remain in Tehran until Monday, after which funeral ceremonies are due to be held in the holy city of Qom. Further funeral events are planned in neighbouring Iraq before the late supreme leader is buried in his home city of Mashhad on Thursday. It was not known whether Khamenei's son and successor Mojtaba would make his first public appearance since his appointment.
According to Iranian media, there are no plans for the 56-year-old cleric to lead a prayer. In Qom, the funeral prayers are expected to be led by the 99-year-old Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, and in Mashhad by Grand Ayatollah Noori Hamedani, who is 101.
Reports also say that three of the late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei's sons made a rare public appearance at his funeral on Sunday, but there was still no sign of his successor and other son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Crowds of thousands filled the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran for the second day in a row to attend the funeral ceremonies of Khamenei and four family members killed on February 28.
As well as laying to rest the man who ruled the Islamic republic for over three-and-a-half decades, the funerals are a chance for the Iranian authorities to burnish their resilience after five weeks at war with Israel and the US. - dpa/AFP
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