The body of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was laid in state in Tehran on July 3 as authorities began a week of funeral processions for the slain cleric amid mixed reactions among Iranians over a man whose more than three decades in power was marked by oppression and the death of tens of thousands of Iranians through crackdowns and executions.
Foreign dignitaries began arriving in the capital early in the day ahead of official mourning ceremonies set for July 4 for Khamenei, who was killed at the age of 86 in US and Israeli air strikes on February 28.
It is unclear whether Mojtaba Khamenei — who was appointed to replace his father but has not appeared in public since his parent’s death — will attend the ceremonies.
“This goes beyond an ordinary funeral procession,” Babak Dorbeiki, a UK-based political analyst, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
“It serves a full political function, a legitimizing function, and it’s meant to reinforce their own propaganda.”
