Iran holds Friday prayers for late supreme leader Khamenei
Iranians gathered in Tehran to mourn assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose succession by his son Mojtaba remains shrouded in mystery.
- World
- DPA
- Published Date: 02:50 | 10 April 2026
Supporters of Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gathered in Tehran on Friday to pay their respects after his assassination in an Israeli airstrike on February 28.
Footage broadcast on state television showed large crowds attending Friday prayers at the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989).
The service was led by ultra-conservative preacher Mohammad-Javad Haj Ali Akbari.
The mourning ceremonies for Khamenei began on Wednesday and coincided with the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period in Shia Islam.
It remains unclear when Khamenei will be buried. Officially, the former religious leader, who ruled Iran with an iron fist, is to be interred in his hometown of Mashhad in the north-east.
His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not appeared in public since being appointed supreme leader on March 8, fuelling speculation about his health, whereabouts and actual role.
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