In pictures: Iranians chant ‘revenge, revenge’ as they gather for supreme leader Khamenei’s funeral

ReutersAFP

Published July 4, 2026 Updated July 4, 2026 02:02pm

Mourners beat their chests and chanted “revenge, revenge” as thousands gathered in Tehran early on Saturday for a final farewell to assassinated supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was killed in US-Israeli attacks on February 28 that sparked a regional war.

“We have come not for the funeral but for revenge,” a eulogist at the event chanted.

“We’re never going to give up your blood, which is the reddest line.”

The mourners, some in tears, made their way through strict security towards the courtyard where Khamenei’s coffin was placed for people to pay their respects.

“We must rise up and, God willing, avenge the blood of our leader,” Hamidreza Shabani, an 18-year-old student, told AFP.

The coffin, wrapped in an Iranian flag, was unveiled on a stage from behind dark blue velvet drapes after recitations from the Quran. It stood on a raised platform accompanied by the coffins of his family members also killed in the US-Israeli attack.

Header image: Mourners react during a public farewell ceremony to pay their respects to late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in Israeli and US airstrikes, at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, in Tehran, Iran, on July 4, 2026. —Reuters