TEHRAN/ ISLAMABAD: Three sons of martyred Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son who succeeded him as Iran’s supreme leader, did not make an appearance.
State TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex.
Their father, alongside several other members of the family, was killed in an airstrike when the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran on February 28.
In a show of public devotion to the state and revolutionary zeal, the Islamic Republic is staging a week of mass funeral processions for Khamenei, including taking his remains to Shi’ite religious sites in neighbouring Iraq.
After a day lying in state indoors for senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to visit, Khamenei’s coffin was displayed outdoors on Saturday under glass, along with those of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter.
On Sunday, tens of thousands more mourners, including soldiers, seminary students and ordinary men and women filed into the Mosalla to pay their respects to Khamenei and his family, waving flags emblazoned with promises of revenge against America and Israel.
Others prayed in unison at the complex named after Iran’s first supreme leader Khomeini, whom Khamenei succeeded in 1989. The farewell ceremony was extended by about an hour to 10 p.m. (1830 GMT) due to the high number of people taking part, state media reported.
There has still been no public sighting or image released of Mojtaba, said to have been injured in the attack that killed his father and the other family members on February 28, when Israel and the US bombed Iranian targets at the start of the war.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s face was disfigured and he suffered a significant injury to one or both legs, people close to his inner circle told Reuters. One disappointed mourner said she had hoped to see the new supreme leader during the funeral events. “Until the last moment, before the prayer began, I kept telling those around me that I hoped (Mojtaba Khamenei) himself would come. That was our only wish,” a young woman told the semi-official Tasnim news agency in an interview.
On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf prayed behind the coffins. Masoud Khamenei was seen crying and wiping his tears with a keffiyeh as an imam recited funeral prayers.
Crowds of Iranians, many weeping and some beating their chests, have thronged the Mosalla, including overnight. The Iranian metro railway network said it had clocked 7 million trips from late on Saturday to Sunday morning as people flocked to the centre.
After what authorities are billing as a massive procession in central Tehran on Monday (today), the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the centre of Iran’s Shi’ite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday.
His body will be moved by land in a special vehicle, Iran’s state media cited an official as saying.
From there the body will be flown to Iraq for ceremonies in the Shi’ite holy shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday. It will return to Iran on Thursday for another procession in Mashhad.
Authorities plan to mobilise millions of people for big processions over the coming days, offering transport, food and lodging.
Ghalibaf hailed on X how the “proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran unanimously” paid tribute to its “martyr”.
The new commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, whose predecessor was killed in the February 28 strikes, appeared at the funerals for a second time on Sunday, this time in the open air, after he went unseen throughout the war.
Esmail Qaani, the shadowy head of the Guards´ Quds Force—responsible for its foreign operations—also made a rare appearance, telling Iranian TV that Khamenei´s “blessed end” was fitting after a lifetime of “striving”.
While Iranian authorities have been keen to present a united front, none of President Masoud Pezeshkian´s surviving predecessors—Mohammad Khatami, Mahmood Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani who all had tensions in their relationship with Khamenei—have so far been seen at the ceremonies.
The visiting head of the Hamas political bureau, Mohammed Darwish, on Sunday met Ghalibaf who told him “we do not have peace with America and will not recognise Israel”, state television said.
Iran´s army commander Amir Hatami meanwhile told state TV he had vowed to Mojtaba Khamenei that he “will not let go of the collar of those who killed” the new leader´s father.
Maritime trade between Iran and Qatar has resumed after a roughly five-month suspension, Iran’s commercial attaché in Doha told state media on Sunday.
Abbas Abdolkhani said shipping between Iran’s Dayyer port and Qatar’s Al Ruwais port had resumed following coordination between the Iranian embassy in Doha and Qatari authorities.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations received a report on Sunday of an incident 30 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah, where a cargo vessel triggered a distress alert stating it was under attack by unknown armed assailants. Authorities were investigating, and vessels were advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO, the agency said.
Seven OPEC+ members decided on Sunday to again raise oil production quotas as Gulf countries reel from the Middle East war. Ministers from key OPEC+ countries Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman met virtually on Sunday and “decided to implement a production adjustment of 188 thousand barrels per day,” a statement from the organisation said, adding that “this adjustment will be implemented in August 2026”.
Iraq´s government and US oil services giant Halliburton signed a deal Sunday to manage two oil fields in the country´s south, as Baghdad looks to boost production.
Meanwhile, Islamabad is expected to host a fresh round of US-Iran technical talks on July 14 and 15, government sources said on Sunday.
The sources privy to the matter revealed that Iranian and American experts on technical matters will participate in the third round of talks aimed at lasting peace in the Middle East. Pakistan will participate in Iran-US technical talks as a mediator, the sources added.
Earlier, two rounds of technical talks between the US and Iran have been held in Switzerland and Qatar.
According to Al Arabiya, the upcoming round of talks will focus on US sanctions on Iran, Iranian frozen assets and the Iranian nuclear file.
The level of representation of the Iranian delegation will be decided after the funeral of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the publication said, citing sources.
Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam on Sunday expressed profound gratitude to the government and people of Pakistan for sending a high-level delegation to attend a ceremony held in Iran to pay homage to the martyred Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
In a late night post on X, the ambassador said he was conveying his appreciation on behalf of himself as well as the government and people of Iran for Pakistan’s participation in the solemn event.
He particularly thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Chairman of the Senate Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and other senior officials, religious scholars, political leaders and cultural personalities for attending the ceremony and expressing solidarity with Iran.
The ambassador said Pakistan participated in the event at the “highest possible level” and that the Pakistani delegation was both the highest-ranking and the largest among all participating delegations.
He said the presence of such a distinguished delegation reflected the enduring friendship, mutual respect and fraternal ties between Iran and Pakistan.
The envoy described Pakistan’s participation as a historic gesture that underscored the deep-rooted relationship and shared values binding the two neighbouring countries through different phases of history.
He said Iran and Pakistan had consistently stood by each other in times of joy and adversity, demonstrating solidarity, brotherhood and mutual support.
The ambassador prayed for lasting peace, prosperity and dignity for both nations and expressed the hope that the longstanding bonds of friendship and cooperation between Iran and Pakistan would continue to grow stronger for generations to come.
Iran will pursue a legal complaint against Israel and the United States for the assassination of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told reporters on Sunday during the second day of Khamenei’s funeral.
“The process of filing a complaint after collecting evidence and documentation has begun and is being followed up,” she said, according to a report by Iran’s Mizan News Agency.
“The Presidential Legal Office, in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, is seriously following up on this case,” she added.
The US Navy said on Sunday it had suspended its search for a sailor who was reported missing on July 1.
The Navy’s 5th Fleet said the Navy and Air Force searched for a sailor who was reported missing last week after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter went down in the Arabian Sea. The sailor’s name is being withheld until at least 24 hours after next of kin is notified. Three others were wounded when the helicopter made an emergency landing.
