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Iran has warned the US and Israel that any attacks during the former supreme leader’s funeral would be met with a ‘harsh retaliation’
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Iran has begun several days of public mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes in February.
Officials told AFP that the funeral in Tehran could draw as many as 20 million mourners and expect the public turnout to be a “referendum” for the Islamic Republic.
The regime’s ruling clerics are preparing days of mass funeral rites for Khamenei. Funeral events will begin over the weekend in Tehran, followed by mass processions next week i Qom and Masshad and ceremonies in Iraq.
“The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic,” Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media.
Iran has warned Donald Trump and Israel not to launch strikes during the state funeral.
Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the “enemies of Iran” should avoid a “miscalculation” or else face harsh retaliation.
Iran’s ruling clerics are preparing days of mass funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic and proof that its revolutionary fervour still burns strong.
“The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic,” Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media.
To make their point, authorities hope to mobilise millions of supporters to flood Iran’s cities, laying on transport, accommodation and food, to proclaim the might of their theocratic state after it survived what they saw as an existential war.
But behind the veneer of unity and devotion, public support for the Islamic Republic has worn paper thin, analysts say.
Across the country, many Iranians are tired of decades of sanctions throttling their economy and angry at the repression meted out in the name of a 1979 revolution that only older people in a mostly young population can remember.
When people poured onto the streets in December and January in demonstrations triggered by inflation, many were chanting for the death of Khamenei and authorities could only crush the unrest by shooting thousands of protesters.
After news of Khamenei’s killing began to circulate in the first days of the war, Tehran residents reported sounds of cheering erupting from behind the windows of houses and apartments in parts of the city.
Mojtaba Khamenei is not expected to attend his father’s funeral in Tehran on Saturday due to security risks, according to reports.
Millions of people are set to attend the delayed six-day funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which begins this weekend in the capital of Iran.
But his son will probably avoid the weekend ceremony due to threats from Israel and uncertain ‘surveillance risks’, according to Ayatollah Kakim Elahi, the current leader’s representative in India.
Elahi told India today that the younger Khamenei “wants to come out” and meet people, but security will not allow it.
“They said ‘it is very dangerous and we cannot provide security for him’. I think he will not come out,” he added.
Mojtaba Khamenei is understood to have been severely injured in the strike on a government residence in Tehran that killed his father, wife and 14-month-old daughter on 28 February.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has claimed that avenging former supreme leader Ali Khamenei meant freeing Muslims from oppression at the hands of the US and Israel.
“Without a doubt, avenging the martyred leader of the revolution means nothing other than freeing all Muslims from the oppression of the United States and the Zionist regime,” Ghalibaf said during a meeting with senior Amal Movement official Khalil Hamdan.
Ghalibaf also said the “great lesson” from Khamenei’s leadership is the need for Muslims and Shi’ites to remain united.
A widening rift has opened up between Saudi Arabia and the United States because of the war in Iran, a report claims.
Officials told the Wall Street Journal the partnership between Washington and Riyadh is souring over disputes on how President Donald Trump has handled the war, which began after joint US-Israel strikes on Iran in February.
The US is reportedly now considering reducing its military presence in Saudi Arabia and instead putting its forces in countries it feels were more supportive during the war, including Israel and Jordan, according to the WSJ.
More here.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reportedly deployed special forces along Iran’s Persian Gulf coastline to identify vessels transiting the Oman-side route through the Strait of Hormuz before they enter the waterway.
According to the sources, the Guard operatives are also attempting to obtain, through Omani sources, the schedules and transit coordination details of ships using the southern route through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran International reported.
The sources said the Guard special forces are equipped with land-based, naval and aerial intelligence-gathering systems and have recently been assigned to identify in advance any vessel planning to use the southern route and issue warnings about its passage.
Iran’s joint military command has warned that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response.”
The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command was aired on Iranian state television.
It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran.
“Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels,” the statement said.
It also said the continued presence of US fighter jets over the strait “causes insecurity in this waterway and threatens regional security.”
A powerful general who leads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged from hiding as Tehran prepared Friday for the dayslong funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting about the funeral of Khamenei, 86, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran’s theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night near the supreme leader’s former home in downtown Tehran.
Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the war with the United States, experts say.
He is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who remains in hiding after being reportedly wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strikes that killed his father, the elder Khamenei.
Vahidi himself hasn’t been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the Iran war began.
Video published by Iranian state media showed the mourning ceremony for Khamenei near the husseiniyah at his compound in Tehran.
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