Crowds of mourners surround the convoy carrying the coffins of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a funeral procession near Azadi Square in Tehran on July 6, 2026. (Credit: AFP)
Crowds of Iranians marched through the streets of Tehran on Monday in a funeral procession for slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the biggest day yet in a week of massive memorial ceremonies demonstrating the grip of surviving clerical leaders.
Drone footage on state television showed many tens of thousands of people crammed into a boulevard in central Tehran. The caskets of the slain leader and four of his family members were driven in a large truck through the streets, while fire hoses sprayed water from above to keep the marchers cool. As they passed under a bridge, mourners hurled stones at a billboard hung from above showing U.S. President Donald Trump with a bullet aimed at his head.
"The U.S. killed our father," it read. "We won't let you go!"
As demonstrators set fire to U.S. and British flags, women in black chadors held aloft red placards with the English words "KILL TRUMP" in black letters.
Others held aloft posters with the faces of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, each depicted in the crosshairs of a gunsight, with the words "There will be blood".
The larger crowds waved Iranian flags and red banners with a slogan calling out to the "avengers of Khamenei", adapting a phrase at the heart of Shi'ite Islam since the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad was killed in battle in the seventh century.
Sons pray for Khamenei but no sign of Mojtaba
Referring to the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Khamenei, Iran's Mission to the U.N. said its perpetrators "have sown in the heart of the Iranian nation the seeds of hatred and vengeance, which will one day clutch them by the collar."
It added in a post on X that the event showed the 'robust' bond between Iranians and the state, saying this ''reality of Iranian society'' reflected the balance of power in the country. On Sunday, three sons of the slain leader prayed beside his casket at a huge Tehran prayer hall. But (Mojtaba) Khamenei, the son who succeeded him as Iran's supreme leader, did not make an appearance.
Believed to have been disfigured by wounds in the attack that killed his father, the younger Khamenei has yet to be seen in public since the war began on Feb. 28 with Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran. The mourning ceremonies began on Friday when the caskets of the elder Khamenei, one of his daughters and her 14-month-old child, one of his sons-in-law and the wife of Mojtaba lay in state for Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries.
Further large-scale ceremonies were held outdoors on Saturday and Sunday before Monday's huge funeral procession. A helicopter carrying Khamenei's coffin later landed in Iran's Shi'ite seminary city of Qom, according to a clip posted by state media, ahead of funeral processions to be held there. Authorities say the body will also be taken for further processions in two Shi'ite shrine cities in neighbouring Iraq, before returning to Iran for burial within a medieval shrine complex in Mashhad.
The war has ended with a preliminary peace agreement reached last month that left Iran's clerical leadership in power and claiming victory, with newfound clout from exerting control over global energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has also claimed victory, although the aims he gave at the outset destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, ending its ability to attack neighbors and creating conditions for Iranians to topple their leaders have yet to be achieved.
Trump said over the weekend that peace talks with Iran had been delayed for a week by the funeral ceremonies. On Monday he reiterated that the U.S. would either reach a deal with Iran or "finish the job," renewing his threat of military action.
Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said on Monday that the elder Khamenei had been killed because he led a program to destroy Israel.
"Any Iranian leader who will again try to pursue plans to destroy Israel will be killed as well," Katz said.
