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TEHRAN — Tens of thousands of mourners streamed on foot to the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran on Saturday as Iran mourned its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in an airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war.
The huge outpouring to view the caskets of the slain leader and some of his family members, positioned at the front of a prayer hall, is part of five days of somber funeral rites that will stretch across five cities and into Iraq, before Khamenei is buried in Mashhad, his hometown.
The public display of lamentation and bereavement was an opportunity for collective closure after some of the most perilous months in the Islamic republic's history, but also a forceful show of defiance from a system badly battered but very much still standing.
"We are mourning," read a black banner across one of the streets leading into Mosalla, "but we do not bow."
Inside the massive, open-air complex, crowds chanted, "We are avenging the blood of our leader," during breaks in religious recitations. Smaller groups led sporadic calls of "Down, down, America!" Some people cried; others stood in silence. One sign declared "Kill Trump" in white lettering against a red backdrop.
The grief in Iran on July Fourth also provided a striking contrast to the United States, where Trump and a jubilant nation were ready to celebrate the country's 250th birthday with fireworks, military flyovers and a president-led rally on the National Mall.
Nares Jafari, 57, a retired schoolteacher from central Tehran, began crying as she tried to put to words what Khamenei meant to her. She said it was now important to mourn him to show he was killed in "a war against righteousness, a war of right against the devil."
Seeking revenge, Jafari said, is a religious imperative, "and we will not step back from that."
Many of the mourners said revenge was an important part of the funeral's message.
Amin Haghighat, 40, a member of the clergy from Isfahan, said that the funeral was meant "to show that we will stay until our enemies are evaporated."
Sayed Mojtaba Zarri, 23, a chemistry teacher from Tehran, said the Iranian people will never forget to take their revenge. "Even if the government officials forget about that, we will not," he said.
By afternoon, despite temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the crowds swelled. Many mourners carried flags, most in the Iranian national tricolor, but also some flags of Hezbollah, the most powerful of the armed Iranian proxy groups that rapidly expanded under Khamenei's term. At least one flag for the Houthis, the Yemeni militant group, was visible.
From the religious complex to the surrounding streets, images of Khamenei were everywhere: on buildings, on flags, pins, posters and billboards.
In many instances, Khamenei is being pictured alongside his son and successor, Mojtaba, who has not appeared in public.
"He was like a father, and now he is like a father," said Seyed Mohammad Amin, pointing at images of one leader then the other. Amin, 28, a filmmaker, came to the viewing from Yaftabad, a neighborhood in southern Tehran.
For Iran's surviving regime, Khamenei's funeral is a test of the state's competence and capabilities just months out from a brutal war with two of the world's most powerful militaries. But crowd size could also be interpreted as an informal indicator of the government's support.
Millions turned out for the funeral of Khamenei's predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989. Nearly 40 years later, the regime is hoping to make an even stronger display of unity, though dissent in Iran is often met with brutal, even deadly, repression.
Faezeh, 46, a homemaker who runs a side business as a makeup artist and asked to be identified by only her first name because of her distrust of Western media, said she thought the crowds Saturday morning were already an indication of widespread support for Iran's new leadership.
"We have aspirations, big goals, like freedom, dignity and independence," Faezeh said, adding that she believes Iran is closer to achieving those goals now than it was just a few months ago. "We do not welcome war, but it has made us stronger," she said.
Many people brought their children with them Saturday, despite the sweltering temperatures. Saeed Arabian, 37, an elementary school math teacher from Shuhada in southern Tehran, sat with his three sons in the shade beneath a staircase on Mosalla's edge.
"From early childhood, children should learn that it's the rules of the jungle, that the weak are killed," Arabian said, explaining why he brought his children, age 4, 5 and 8, to a funeral viewing.
Arabian said he used to think the world was governed by laws, but after U.S. actions against Iran, he said he changed his mind. "We see that human beings are just treated like animals," he said.
Traditionally, Mojtaba Khamenei would be the one to pray over his father's casket on Sunday and to formally appeal to his father's followers as their new supreme leader. Some mourners gathered in Tehran on Saturday were adamant that Mojtaba Khamenei would show, others said they recognized it was unlikely.
Mohammed Khayam, 20, a seminary student from Kerman on the southeastern edge of Iran near the border with Afghanistan, said he knew it was a "low probability" that Mojtaba Khamenei would appear.
"This is difficult to tolerate, not seeing him," Khayam said.
Zarri, the chemistry teacher, said the new leader had to show up. "He will be here, and we will all be on cloud nine," Zarri said.
Meanwhile, several senior Iranian officials who had not been seen since the war have reappeared this week.
Ahmad Vahidi, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attended a private mourning ceremony in Tehran on Thursday. And on Friday, the head of Iran's aerospace command, Majid Mousavi, attended a commemoration at Mosalla ahead of the public viewing.
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