APTOPIX Iran Khamenei Funeral

The funeral for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has started, months after his death in an airstrike on the first day of the war. The body of Khamenei, who was 86, is on display in Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Saturday at the start funeral commemorations that will end on Thursday when he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his place of birth. Iran’s government expects to see millions of people flood the streets of Tehran in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. That could provide a boost for Iran’s government as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war.

Iran’s top officials and brothers of the country’s new supreme leader have emerged into public view to attend the funeral prayers for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Their presence Sunday before hundreds of thousands of people would have been unthinkable during the Iran war. That conflict saw airstrikes in its opening moments on Feb. 28 kill the 86-year-old Khamenei, his family members and other officials. Israel also has targeted others who appeared publicly during the war. But still unseen was Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.