The multiday funeral for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is underway, but there has been no sighting of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded him.
Mourners flocked to Tehran’s Grand Mosalla prayer grounds from the early hours of July 4 as authorities said they expected up to 20 million people to attend the six-day ceremonies.
Security is exceptionally tight around the vast prayer complex. Riot police and other security forces have been deployed throughout the area, roads surrounding the Mosalla were closed hours before the ceremonies began, and reports said authorities had established a no-vehicle zone extending more than one kilometer from the venue.
Iranian media said mourners chanted “revenge” as they gathered to pay their respects to Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran on February 28.
Coffins containing the bodies of Khamenei and four of his family members killed in the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran are on display and will remain there until July 6.
Khamenei’s remains will then be taken to the holy city of Qom before being put on display in Baghdad, Karbala, and Najaf in neighboring Iraq. He will be buried in his home city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on July 9.
Khamenei usually led prayers for exceptionally senior military and religious figures who died during his more than 36 years in power, but it remains unclear who will lead the prayers for him on July 5.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s third supreme leader, has not been seen in public since he suffered injuries in the same attack that killed his father as well as his wife.
Ritual Logic Vs. Security Doubts
One of the most closely watched questions surrounding Khamenei's state funeral is whether his son, Mojtaba, will make a public appearance.
Analysts differ on both the likelihood of this and what it would mean, torn between the ritual logic pointing toward attendance and security concerns clouding the picture.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, rights activist Taghi Rahmani said the question is bound up with a basic requirement of the succession ritual.
"The future leader must pray over the body of the past leader, and this is how it takes on formal legitimacy," Rahmani said. "This is one of the main reasons why the issue of Mojtaba Khamenei's presence is being raised."
Asked directly whether he expects the new supreme leader to attend, Rahmani said the odds favor it, but flagged that wartime security considerations could still override the state's desire for a high-profile funeral with Mojtaba Khamenei in attendance.
"They wanted to hold a funeral with a large, magnificent crowd; a magnificent funeral is very important for the regime," Rahmani observed, adding that the Islamic republic badly needs to reassert itself after the war.
UK-based political analyst Babak Dorbeiki was considerably more skeptical that the question can even be answered yet.
"I don't know," he told Radio Farda. "Honestly, first of all, I'm not even certain such a person still exists, or at least that he's in good health."
Even so, Dorbeiki said he would not be surprised if the supreme leader does eventually turn up.
"If he does exist, I don't find it particularly unlikely, not strange, that he'd attend." But he cautioned against reading his presence -- or absence -- as a signal about the succession itself, arguing that security concerns, not political calculation, will ultimately determine what happens.
"It's not really possible to assign any firm political meaning to Mojtaba Khamenei's presence or absence," he said, "because the security dimension of this story strikes me as far more dominant right now than the political one."
