- New leader Mojtaba Khamenei absent; US-Iran talks on hold.
Edited by: Kieran Burke
A procession carrying the remains of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been attended by millions of people in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Khamenei and several members of his family, whose coffins are at the focus of the procession, were killed in an airstrike at the very outset of the war launched on the Islamic Republic by the US and Israel on February 28.
The massive turnout was encouraged by Iran’s regime to give a show of what it says is the country’s continued strength and unity as it holds negotiations on a permanent end to the war.
Calls To Avenge Khamenei’s Death
Iranian state television showed images taken by helicopter of a crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square for kilometers (miles) down the street bearing the same name.
The coffin of Khamenei, who was 86 at the time of his death, and those of his relatives killed in the air strike were carried on board a truck adorned with the kind of ornamental grating used around the shrine of an imam.
Many people alongside the truck and elsewhere on the procession route carried placards, signs and banners calling for the death of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Misted water was sprayed on people attending the procession to cool them amid high temperatures.
The procession was to move through Tehran for 12 hours before reaching its destination at Mehrabad International Airport, according to General Hasan Hasanzadeh of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who is overseeing the event.
The official period of mourning for Khamenei began on Saturday and will end on Thursday with Khamenei’s burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Notable By Absence
Ali Khamenei’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed to succeed his father as supreme leader, has so far not appeared at any of the funeral ceremonies.
He is believe to be in hiding after being reportedly badly wounded in the air strike that killed his father.
Israel has threatened to kill him as it has done with several leading Iranian figures in the past.
Three others of Ali Khamenei’s sons did make a rare public appearance at the funeral on Sunday.
Talks between the US and Iran on putting an end to the war seem to be on hold until the funeral events for Ali Khamenei have ended.
The negotiations have until now centered on issues such as the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas transport route virtually closed by Iran during the conflict, and Tehran’s nuclear program, which the US says aims to develop nuclear weapons — something Iran denies.
Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.
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