Iranian mourners called for vengeance against U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday as huge crowds filled central Tehran for the funeral procession of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the largest public display of mourning since his death in a U.S.-Israeli attack.
Drone footage broadcast by Iranian state television showed tens of thousands of people packed along a central Tehran boulevard as the coffins of Khamenei and four members of his family were carried through the capital on a large truck. Fire hoses sprayed water over the crowd in the summer heat.
As the procession passed beneath a bridge, mourners threw stones at a billboard showing Trump with a bullet aimed at his head. The sign read: “The U.S. killed our father. We won’t let you go!”
Demonstrators also burned U.S. and British flags, while women dressed in black chadors held red placards reading “KILL TRUMP.” Other posters showed Trump, Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the crosshairs of a gunsight, alongside the words: “There will be blood.”
Many in the crowd waved Iranian flags and red banners calling on the “avengers of Khamenei,” a slogan drawing on Shiite religious symbolism linked to the killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein in the seventh century.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the February 28 U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Khamenei had planted “the seeds of hatred and vengeance” in the Iranian nation. In a post on X, it said the funeral showed the strength of the bond between Iranians and the state, calling it a reflection of the country’s balance of power.
Three of Khamenei’s sons prayed beside his coffin on Sunday at a large prayer hall in Tehran. However, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son who succeeded him as supreme leader, did not appear publicly.
Mojtaba has not been seen since the war began on February 28, when Israeli and U.S. airstrikes hit Iran. He is believed to have been wounded and disfigured in the attack that killed his father.
The mourning ceremonies began Friday, when the coffins of Khamenei, one of his daughters, her 14-month-old child, one of his sons-in-law and Mojtaba’s wife lay in state for Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries. Large outdoor ceremonies followed on Saturday and Sunday before Monday’s mass procession.
State media later showed a helicopter carrying Khamenei’s coffin landing in Qom, Iran’s Shiite seminary city, ahead of further funeral processions there. Authorities said the body would also be taken to two Shiite shrine cities in Iraq before returning to Iran for burial in the medieval shrine complex in Mashhad.
The war ended last month with a preliminary peace agreement that left Iran’s clerical leadership in power and claiming victory. Tehran has also emerged with renewed leverage after exerting pressure on global energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has also claimed victory, although the goals he set at the start of the war — destroying Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities, ending its ability to attack neighbouring states and creating conditions for Iranians to overthrow their leaders — have not been achieved.
Trump said over the weekend that peace talks with Iran had been delayed by a week because of the funeral ceremonies. On Monday, he repeated that Washington would either reach a deal with Tehran or “finish the job,” renewing his threat of military action.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Monday that Khamenei had been killed because he led a programme to destroy Israel.
“Any Iranian leader who will again try to pursue plans to destroy Israel will be killed as well,” Katz said.