Iran began week-long funeral ceremonies for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday, July 3, with his body lying in state at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla — more than four months after he was killed in joint US and Israeli air strikes in late February 2026. He was 86.

Iranian authorities project 15–20 million attendees across Iran and Iraq throughout the ceremonies, with more than 10 million expected in Tehran alone, according to Al Jazeera. These numbers, if accurate, would make this the largest state funeral relative to a nation's population in recorded history. More than 100 countries have sent representatives to Tehran, despite reported US efforts to discourage attendance, according to Press TV. A Turkish delegation was among those paying respects on Friday. Some 600 foreign journalists have been accredited to cover the event.

Khamenei's body will remain at the Grand Mosalla through Sunday, July 5, alongside family members also killed in the strikes. Three further days of ceremonies are scheduled outside Tehran before burial in Mashhad — Khamenei's hometown — on Thursday, July 10. Central Tehran is under security lockdown through the weekend.

The Mood on the Ground

Large crowds dressed in black gathered in the square outside Tehran's main mosque on Saturday, July 4. Mourners waved Iranian flags and held photographs of Khamenei, according to Reuters. Chants against the United States and calls for revenge echoed through the crowd, per BBC reporting.

Two attendees spoke to news agencies in language that framed the gathering as more than a funeral. Reza, a 37-year-old professor, told AFP he and others had come because they had promised Khamenei they would stand by him. Arash Rahimi, 40, told Reuters that mourners had come to avenge their leader's death, and that there was now a blood feud with the United States. Both statements are personal expressions, not official policy, but they draw on khunkhahi — a concept in Persian political culture meaning blood vengeance — that carries real weight in diplomatic capitals like Washington and Tel Aviv.

The core challenge now facing Iran's leadership is navigating two opposing currents. President Donald Trump stated this week that Iran's government was "dying to settle" a peace deal after a preliminary agreement, reported by the BBC, adding that "we gave them a week off for a funeral because we're nice." Yet the public mood on the streets — channeling grief into demands for revenge — pulls in the opposite direction. Whoever is selected as the next Supreme Leader inherits both pressures: a population mobilized around retribution and a war whose costs make negotiated settlement strategically rational.

The Assembly of Experts, the group of senior clerics constitutionally empowered to choose the next Supreme Leader, has not announced a successor. That selection process — intentionally opaque — will shape Iran's next moves far more than any week of diplomatic talks. The diplomatic attendance list itself sends a message. The US pressure campaign to reduce the number of attending nations appears to have had limited success — over 100 countries sending representatives, including the NATO member Turkey, gives Iran a narrative of international standing at a moment when the regime's authority depends partly on appearing connected to the wider world. How individual nations, particularly those in the Gulf and Central Asia, calibrate their participation will likely tell us much as the succession process unfolds.

Trump's comment, delivered as millions of Iranians mourned a leader killed by US weapons, carries the risk of hardening positions on both sides. The gap between a government publicly seeking a deal and a public openly calling for revenge is the political tightrope Iran's next leader must walk — and one misstep could collapse whatever diplomatic opening currently exists.