STORY: Mourners thronged a vast prayer complex in Tehran on Saturday (July 4) as the week-long funeral ceremonies of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began with the national anthem, religious eulogies and readings from the Koran.

Iran is staging mass funeral processions for Khamenei – whose 37-year reign was brought to an end in February by the first airstrike of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel – in a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic's theocratic state and revolutionary zeal.

Reuters footage showed his coffin draped with the Iranian flag and topped with his black turban. It was placed, along with four other coffins of his slain family members, on a large black platform that resembled the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the centre of Islam's holiest site in Mecca.

The vast courtyard of the complex, the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, was filled with mourners, many waving Iranian flags and carrying photographs of the slain leader.

Water misted from rooftops to cool mourners in the summer heat. Khamenei’s coffin will remain in the Mosalla until Sunday (July 5) evening.

His body was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the great Shi'ite centers of Iran and Iraq, before being laid to rest on Thursday (July 9) in Mashhad, home to the country's holiest pilgrim shrine.

Authorities plan to mobilize millions of people for big processions over the coming days, offering transport, food and lodging to buoy the numbers.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: TEHRAN, IRAN (JULY 4, 2026) (REUTERS - No use BBC Persian. No use VOA Persian. No use Manoto. No use Iran International. No use Radio Farda. No use Israel)

1. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MOURNING IRAN'S LATE SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI DURING PUBLIC FAREWELL CEREMONY

2. PEOPLE GATHERING WITH FLAGS IN FRONT OF STAGE WHERE COFFINS OF KHAMENEI AND HIS FAMILY MEMBERS ARE PLACED

3. MAN SOBBING

4. VARIOUS OF IRANIANS GATHERING, CHANTING / BANNER SHOWING IMAGE OF KHAMENEI

5. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PATTING THEIR CHESTS

6. COFFINS OF KHAMENEI AND HIS FAMILY MEMBERS, IN THE COLOURS OF THE IRANIAN FLAG, ON STAGE

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN FROM HAMADAN PROVINCE, HAMID TEIMORI, SAYING:

"I have a strange feeling. When my father died, I didn’t cry as much as I cried when the Supreme Leader was martyred."

8. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MOURNING AND PATTING THEIR CHESTS

9. PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS

10. PERSON HOLDING SIGN READING (English): “The killers of my leader will never see security”

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN, ARASH RAHIMI, 40, SAYING:

"We came here to bid farewell to him (late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), but we will certainly avenge his blood. Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their Supreme Leader. As our leader has said, we have a blood feud with the United States. Our relations with the United States will never be good.”

12. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING, CARRYING FLAGS, MOURNING AND PATTING THEIR CHESTS

13. WOMEN PATTING THEIR CHESTS

14. PEOPLE MOURNING / KHAMENEI’S IMAGE ON BANNER

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN, ARASH RAHIMI, 40, SAYING:

"Everyone is upset. We are all grieving over the loss of our Supreme Leader, and with all our strength we are trying to take revenge for the blood of our Supreme Leader.”

16. WOMAN CRYING

17. PERSON CARRYING A PICTURE OF IRAN'S CURRENT SUPREME LEADER MOJTABA KHAMENEI

18. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING FLAGS AND PICTURES OF LATE KHAMENEI WALKING, MOURNING AND PATTING THEIR CHESTS

19. (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN WAR VETERAN, FATTAH BAYAZ, 63, SAYING:

"Look, let me tell you something. The United States, there is a superpower. It wants certain things from us. I believe we should give some things. Let’s put ourselves in the United States’ place, it wants certain things, we should give some things, otherwise they blow up our officials in the air. We should not think about ourselves; we should also think about our officials.”

20. MAN CRYING

21. VARIOUS OF YOUNG MEN CHANTING AND PATTING THEIR CHESTS

22. MEN WAVING FLAGS AND CHANTING

23. LATE KHAMENEI’S IMAGE ON BANNER

24. MAN MOURNING

25. PEOPLE GATHERING, CHANTING IN FRONT OF LATE KHAMENEI’S IMAGE ON BANNER

26. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING FOR PUBLIC FAREWELL CEREMONY AT THE IMAM KHOMEINI GRAND MOSALLA

27. PEOPLE GATHERING, CARRYING FLAGS / IMAGES OF LATE KHAMENEI ON BANNERS IN THE BACKGROUND

28. COFFINS ON STAGE