While international delegations and local leaders assembled in the Iranian capital to honor the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israel's official Persian-language social media presence openly derided the proceedings. The online mocking coincided with a major gathering on Friday inside Tehran, where dignitaries viewed the coffin of Khamenei. The late leader was eliminated on February 28 during a coordinated military strike executed by the United States and Israel. The State of Israel's official Persian-language account on X posted an inquiry targeting the state funeral, writing, “Seriously, what did they put in that coffin?" Hours later, the same account published another message targeting the crowd size: “Many people come too - not to mourn, but to make sure he’s really dead."
Concurrently, a report from the AFP news agency detailed that Iran's highest-ranking administrative figures initiated a weeklong sequence of memorial ceremonies on Friday. Global allies and local mourners entered Tehran, where the former supreme leader's body is currently lying in state. Domestic authorities anticipate that the public processions and viewing cycles will draw millions of participants before the final interment takes place next week.
Photographs released by AFP captured mourners holding the casket inside the expansive Grand Mosalla religious venue located in the capital city. The coffin itself was heavily draped in the national flag of the Islamic Republic, a nation Khamenei commanded for over three decades. State-run television broadcasted images of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian paying respects before the casket on Friday afternoon. He was accompanied by Parliament Speaker and chief diplomatic negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who was filmed weeping at the scene. (Ed note: Included with the objective of Twelver Shia Islam to bring back their al-Mahdi is the annihilation of the Jewish race which he called a "malignant cancer." Does he deserve an respect?) (Read More)
