‘Revenge, Revenge’: Furious Chants Fill Tehran as Millions Gather for Khamenei’s Funeral

Furious chants of "Death to America", "death to Israel", and "revenge, revenge" echoed through Tehran's Grand Mosalla on Saturday as thousands of mourners gathered for the start of a massive, six-day public funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to a report in AFP, the vast religious complex was filled with a sea of mourners dressed in black and carrying red banners-a traditional symbol deeply associated with calls for blood vengeance. The fierce atmosphere set the tone for what Iranian authorities estimate will be a gathering of between 15 and 20 million people in the capital over the next three days, making it the largest state funeral in the country's modern history.

The public fury follows the death of the 86-year-old leader, who was killed on 28 February in coordinated US-Israeli air strikes on his compound in central Tehran. The late February bombardment, which also claimed the lives of several of Khamenei's family members, has plunged the Middle East into a profound regional conflict.

The calls for retaliation were openly amplified by the country's political leadership during Friday's opening farewell ceremonies. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, visibly overcome with emotion and breaking down in tears with hands clasped in prayer, issued a direct rallying cry to the public. Ghalibaf, who also serves as Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the United States, declared to the crowds that the nation's call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world. Standing alongside him, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and other top officials also appeared deeply shaken as they stood beside the casket, which was draped in the tricolour flag of the Islamic Republic Khamenei governed for more than three decades.

Images published by Iranian state media and international news agencies captured the intense duality of the events, showing vast, angry crowds carrying the coffin into the ceremonial venue against a backdrop of red flowers and white butterflies. The bodies of Khamenei's relatives killed in the same strike are also being presented during the proceedings.

The escalating crisis and the potential for further regional fallout have drawn a coterie of foreign leaders and international delegations to Tehran. Pakistan, which has acted as a key mediator in recent US-Iran diplomatic efforts, announced that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would attend. New Delhi is sending a high-level delegation represented by Bihar Governor Syed Ata Hasnain and Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita, while China, Afghanistan, and several nations from the Caucasus region have also confirmed they are sending official representatives.

With the entire country placed on a high security alert, the funeral ceremonies are scheduled to span five cities across both Iran and Iraq. On Monday, a massive procession will move through the streets of Tehran before transferring to the holy city of Qom, Iran's foremost centre of Shia Islamic scholarship.

Driven by the swelling vows of retaliation, the procession will then cross international borders into neighbouring Iraq, where major memorial events will be held in the sacred Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala. Finally, on 9 July, the Supreme Leader's body will return to Iran to be laid to rest at the Imam Reza shrine in his birthplace, the northeastern city of Mashhad.