Iranians pray for slain leader Khamenei

TEHRAN — A two-day farewell ceremony for Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei began on Saturday morning at Imam Khomeini's Mosalla prayer hall in Tehran, drawing huge crowds from across the country.

The late leader's body and those of his four family members — killed alongside him in a US-Israeli strike in late February — have been placed on a raised platform.

Mourners from different walks of life have been holding pictures of the late leader and Iranian flags, and chanting slogans against the United States and Israel.

Iranian authorities have imposed strict traffic restrictions in Tehran, especially around Mosalla, while arranging extensive support services to accommodate the mourners.

The two-day event comes after a ceremony in Tehran on Friday, where high-ranking Iranian and foreign officials paid their respects to the late leader.

The event will be followed by a funeral procession on Monday in the capital, which is expected to draw large crowds from Iran and other regional countries.

On Tuesday, there will be a ceremony in Iran's central city of Qom, and on Wednesday, the leader's body will be transferred to Iraq for further rites in the cities of Najaf and Karbala.

He will be laid to rest in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Thursday, which the government has declared a day of national mourning.

Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was chosen as Iran's new supreme leader in March.

Amid high temperatures

The vast complex and surrounding streets were packed with mourners on Sunday morning, Agence France-Presse journalists saw.

With temperatures forecast to exceed 35 C, many were handed refreshments as they made their way to the Mosalla prayer hall, some carrying Iranian flags or portraits of the late Khamenei.

Ziba Naderi, a 42-year-old nurse attending the funeral on Sunday, said Iran needed to follow whatever Mojtaba Khamenei commands in regard to the nation.

"I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do," she said. "And we must listen to him."

Authorities have said they expect more than 10 million people to take part in the ceremonies in the capital.

Strict security measures have been imposed and official media have warned of a risk of crowd crushes.

"More than 4,000 people visited medical centers located in and near Tehran's Mosalla," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Sunday.

Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at the Mosalla hall for Khamenei and his late family members.

Also present were Khamenei's sons Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who have not been seen since the war.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Esmail Qaani, who leads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' expeditionary Quds Force, also attended.

Their appearances came as posters and graffiti at the Mosalla called for the killing of US and Israeli leaders.

Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who hosted the event prior to the prayers, drew calls of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

AGENCIES-XINHUA