Massive crowds gathered as Iran began a days-long funeral Saturday for the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with many calling for “revenge” and “death to Israel,” months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war. Authorities unveiled the casket containing Khamenei’s body in a glass case at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Mourners wept at the sight, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” and “We will kill, we will kill he who killed our Imam.” Some carried banners and red flags, a symbol of revenge in Shiite Islam, while billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.
“We have come not for the funeral but for revenge,” a eulogist at the event chanted. “We’re never going to give up your blood, which is the reddest line.” “We must rise up and, God willing, avenge the blood of our leader,” said Hamidreza Shabani, an 18-year-old student. “I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended the funeral alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”
An outdoor stage set up at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah, or Shiite congregation hall, at his compound in downtown Tehran. That site was destroyed in the Israeli airstrike that killed Khamenei and some of his family at the start of the Iran war on February 28. The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath his, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. (Ed note: Oh my, what must Trump, JD, Steve and Jared give to those poor souls to make them happy?) (Read More)
