mourners in Tehran on Thursday (April 9) to mark 40 days since the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who turned the country into a powerful anti-U.S. force and extended its military influence across the Middle East while crushing repeated domestic unrest, was killed in Israeli and U.S. strikes on February 28.

The United States and Israel targeted Iran's top leaders in the attacks since, plunging the Middle East into a conflict that President Donald Trump previously said would end a security threat to the U.S. and give Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.

Trump said on Tuesday (April 7) he has agreed "to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks", reached with Pakistani mediation, and U.S. and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks on Friday (April 10) to discuss a long-term settlement.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: TEHRAN, IRAN (APRIL 9, 2026) (WANA - No use VOA Persian. No use BBC Persian. No use Manoto. No use Iran International, No Use Radio Farda)

1. CROWD OF MOURNERS MARCHING DURING CEREMONY COMMEMORATING 40 DAYS SINCE DEATH OF LATE IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI

2. FLAGS WAVING

3. BANNER DEPICTING KHAMENEI

4. MEN GATHERING IN CIRCLE, BANGING CHESTS

5. MAN TOUCHING HEAD, CHANTING

6. HAND THUMPING BODY

7. WOMAN CRYING DURING CEREMONY

8. BILLBOARD DEPICTING NEW IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER AND ALI KHAMENEI’S SON, MOJTABA KHAMENEI

9. VARIOUS OF CROWD MARCHING

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) ATTENDEE, KOWSAR MOHAMMADI, SAYING (RESPONDING TO QUESTION ON WHY IRAN’S NEW LEADER HASN’T APPEARED ON CAMERA OR IN PUBLIC):

“God willing, may our Supreme Leader be safe wherever he is. It is in the interest of us and our country that our leader is not currently in our sight, so that we can protect him better, and spies cannot use this opportunity to strike at our leader.

11. BILLBOARD DEPICTING MOJTABA KHAMENEI

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) ATTENDEE, KOWSAR MOHAMMADI, SAYING:

“America is the Great Satan. Our martyred leader always said that we have no negotiations with America. We must not trust this major enemy at all.”

13. FLAGS WAVING

14. WOMAN CRYING

15. CROWD MARCHING, WAVING FLAGS

16. POSTER DEPICTING ALI KHAMENEI

17. PERSON HOLDING POSTER DEPICTING ALI KHAMENEI, MOJTABA KHAMENEI AND FORMER SUPREME LEADER, RUHOLLAH KHOMENEI

18. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) ATTENDEE, MS. ZAREI (NO FIRST NAME GIVEN), SAYING (RESPONDING TO QUESTION ON WHY IRAN’S NEW LEADER HASN’T APPEARED ON CAMERA OR IN PUBLIC):

“I think that he has certainly been wounded, but his absence from public is not because of his injuries.”

19. VARIOUS OF CROWD MARCHING

20. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) ATTENDEE, MR NORI (NO FIRST NAME GIVEN), SAYING (RESPONDING TO WHAT HE THINKS OF THE CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT):

“The agreement included Hezbollah as part of it. Hezbollah is part of the Axis of Resistance and must give a crushing response, and Iran’s airspace has also been violated and will certainly be met with a crushing response.”

21. CROWD MARCHING

22. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) ATTENDEE, MR NORI (NO FIRST NAME GIVEN), SAYING (RESPONDING TO QUESTION ON WHY IRAN’S NEW LEADER HASN’T APPEARED ON CAMERA OR IN PUBLIC):

“There can be various reasons. Security reasons, wartime reasons, and the fact that the threats from the cursed Zionist regime amount to terrorism, under wartime conditions, it is very natural that the Supreme Leader does not appear in public. Even Netanyahu and Trump remain hidden, yet our martyred leader became a martyr in his house, contrary to all expectations”

23. IRANIAN FLAG ON BUILDING

24. WOMAN MOURNING

25. CROWD MARCHING