TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran began a dayslong funeral Saturday for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, months after an airstrike killed him at the start of the war. He was 86.Khamenei’s body was to be on display at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Early Saturday, mourners wearing black walked through the streets of Tehran, emptied of vehicle traffic, trying to reach the Grand Mosalla. Some carried banners and flags, while billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. A crowd of men outside rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals. “I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended the funeral alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”An outdoor stage set up at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah at his compound in downtown Tehran. That site was destroyed in the Israeli airstrike that killed Khamenei and some of his family at the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28.
Iran’s government expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
