TEHRAN, Iran — A truck carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei crawled through Tehran’s thronged streets to chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” on Monday.
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Some in the huge crowds, which were kept from getting too close to the convoy by large numbers of Iranian military and police, openly wept, while others called for revenge against President Donald Trump.
A Reuters photograph showed at least one effigy of Trump being hanged. Red, white and green Islamic Republic flags and red banners with lettering calling for revenge lined the route.
Alongside Khamenei, who was 86, lay coffins of family members also killed in the airstrike on Feb. 28 that brought an end to the supreme leader’s nearly four-decade rule, when the U.S. and Israel launched an attack triggering the war with Iran.
Latticework typical to the shrine of an imam, or religious leader, festooned the side of the truck carrying the coffins.
Photographs of Khamenei hung throughout the Iranian capital. In some he is seen with his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been named supreme leader but hasn’t appeared in public or issued an audio statement since the war began.
Another photo shows Khamenei with the superimposed image of a green-eyed little girl, his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra Golpayegani, who was also killed in the Feb. 28 airstrike.
With talks between Washington and Tehran on pause amid the funeral events, one member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told NBC News at the procession that the war would not be “over for us” until Khamenei’s death was avenged. It is rare for members of the IRGC to speak to journalists, with reporters able to move freely through the crowd Monday.
Trump said on Monday that Iran’s military has been destroyed. “Iran, we’re doing actually equally as well, we’re just not getting the kind of coverage that we should, but we have eviscerated them military, and the bottom line is our country is strong,” he said in comments at the Oval Office.
Misted water was sprayed on the crowds to help keep them cool off in the scorching summer temperatures.
The funeral procession’s original route was modified because the crowds were too large and it would have taken hours to complete, according to organizers.
Meanwhile, many roads in downtown Tehran were blocked as mourners continued to arrive by car, motorcyle and public transport, trying to reach the area for a final glimpse of the country’s leader.
After lying in state in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for three days and processing through the capital on Monday, Khamenei’s coffin is scheduled to go to the Iranian holy city of Qom and then to Iraq to visit Shiite holy sites there.
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