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Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reviled by some and revered by others, is set to be laid to rest after a sprawling multi-day funeral ceremony planned as both a religious and political spectacle.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Killed alongside members of his family in the opening salvo of U.S.and Israeli attacks on Tehran on Feb.
28, Khamenei’s legacy looms over nearly every element of the Islamic Republic that he controlled with an iron fist for nearly four decades.It is only the second time that Iran has laid a supreme leader to rest: The 1989 funeral procession of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was a vast ceremony that drew millions to Tehran, Iran’s capital.Tehran’s mayor, Alireza Zakani, has said that up to 20 million people could show up for the sprawling funeral in the capital, according to the Young Journalists Club, which is affiliated with Iranian state television.Revolutionary Guard members and clerics mourn on the esplanade of the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque.Vahid Salemi / APThe funeral will provide an opportunity for those who are now fighting to preserve Khamenei’s legacy to show their strength, said Sina Azodi, director of the Middle East studies program at George Washington University.
“They would like to portray it as a signal of the Islamic Republic’s strength, ability to resist outside pressure, resilience.They will try their best to show the loyalty of the quote-unquote people to the Islamic Republic.
From whatever means possible, they will try to bring as many people as they can,” she said.A viewing of Khamenei’s coffin and prayers are planned for Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Mosalla, a massive mosque and prayer complex in central Tehran, followed by a funeral procession through the streets of the capital on Monday.Funeral events are also planned in Qom, the Iranian seat of religious schol...