Iran is staging a massive, weeklong funeral procession across the country to mourn longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the outset of the war with the United States and Israel.
Drawing hundreds of thousands of people, the extravagant public events have been used by the authorities to project strength and unity, even as they face widespread discontent over a deepening economic crisis and a widening crackdown on dissent.
State media has used the high turnout for Khamenei’s mass funeral as proof of what they claim to be the popularity and legitimacy of Iran’s clerical rulers. But some inside the country -- and several media outlets abroad -- have reported pressure on workers and businesses to take part in the ceremonies, raising questions about the true situation.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, was succeeded as supreme leader by his son, Mojtaba, who has not been seen in public since his appointment.
“A referendum was held, all you have to do is look at the streets,” wrote Mehr News Agency, a conservative outlet.
“Didn’t you ask for a referendum?” read the editorial by Mehr, addressing critics of the authorities who have long called for a referendum on major political issues in the country. “A referendum is not only held at the ballot box.”
The same arguments were made by other state-run outlets, including the official news agency IRNA, the conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan, and Fars News Agency, which is affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
But it's also what the official media outlets aren't saying.
Iran has been rocked by a spate of mass protests in recent years, most recently in January, and has faced growing calls for a referendum and a new constitution.
But Iranian leaders, including Khamenei when he was alive, rejected holding a popular vote on domestic, economic, and foreign policy matters to resolve public discontent in the country. The January unrest saw a security crackdown that killed thousands.
Keyhan, whose editor in chief is appointed by the supreme leader, wrote in a July 7 editorial that there was no need for a vote because turnouts at state-sponsored events serve as a “permanent referendum” on the Islamic republic.
'Regime Propaganda'
For the families of Iranians who have fallen victim to the authorities, the funeral tells a different story.
They say Khamenei’s extravagant burial procession highlights the impunity of the perpetrators of state violence, not national unity.
"I'm horrified by the presence of some ordinary people at Khamenei's funeral procession," said Mihan Rusta, whose husband, Reza Esmati, was executed in 1988 during the mass executions of political prisoners.
"The presence of politicians doesn't horrify me -- that's their job. But the people's presence gives this regime the power to carry out the criminal acts it has committed until now," she told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
Others drew a direct line between their own suppressed mourning and the spectacle of Khamenei’s funeral, which was delayed for months due to the war.
Soran Mansurnia's brother, Borhan, was shot dead during the November 2019 protests in the western city of Kermanshah.
"The Islamic republic hasn't just killed our loved one. It's never once let us mourn him publicly," he told Radio Farda. "When I compare this funeral to my own experience, I see nothing but discrimination."
The funeral also appears, at least for a few days, to cover the broad discontent over the regime's handling of the economy, which is in such tatters that it sparked the mass protests at the start of the year before they grew into a full-on antigovernment movement that rocked the country's leadership.
The family of Mohammad Erfan Faraji, who was shot dead during protests in the capital Tehran in January, called Khamenei’s funeral "regime propaganda."
His uncle, Majid Moqaddasi, said the families of victims of state violence have been unable to hold funerals of their own either due to financial constraints or government pressure.
"Watching these lavish ceremonies is very bitter," he told Radio Farda.