TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran began a dayslong funeral Saturday for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war. He was 86.<\/p>\n
Authorities unveiled the casket containing Khamenei\u2019s body in a glass case at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran\u2019s capital. Mourners wept at the sight.<\/p>\n
Some carried banners and flags, while billboards across the city bore Khamenei\u2019s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,\u201d said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended the funeral alongside her mother. \u201cI never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”<\/p>\n
An outdoor stage set up at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah 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 Feb. 28.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s government expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,\u201d said Ali Kazemi, who came from the northwestern city of Tabriz, some 530 kilometers (330 miles) away from Tehran.<\/p>\n
A large turnout could provide a boost for Iran\u2019s government, particularly as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war, and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again.<\/p>\n
Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: \u201cDeath to America!\u201d \u2014 reprising a cry that’s been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knocked the hell out of Iran,\u201d U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. \u201cThey want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran for the mourning.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, will appear at his father\u2019s funeral. The late supreme leader appeared in 1989 at Khomeini\u2019s funeral, weeping visibly, as he began his journey to lead Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s repeated threats to kill Mojtaba Khamenei drew a warning from Iran\u2019s joint military command Thursday, which told Israel and the U.S. \u201cto avoid any miscalculation\u201d over the coming days.<\/p>\n
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran began a dayslong funeral Saturday for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[128090,73771,145,31231,128089,92219,23681,59373,59371,59372,86205,86160,61262,126844,82,84,83,78907,88888],"class_list":["post-360708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-ali-kazemi","tag-ali-khamenei","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-khamenei-funeral-supreme-leader-iran-us-war-july-4-2026","tag-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31998-ap-online-national-news","tag-product-32505-ap-online-middle-east-news","tag-product-32509-ap-online-religion-columns","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-ruhollah-khomeini","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-tehran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}