Iran on Saturday opened six days of public funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at Tehran's Grand Mosalla prayer complex, more than four months after the supreme leader was killed at 86 in coordinated U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that opened the war between the two countries.
The ceremonies pause U.S.-Iran negotiations already in their third week and will run through Thursday, when Khamenei is to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad. Qatar and Pakistan, which are mediating, have said no substantive talks will resume until the procession ends July 9, freezing the timetable on nuclear enrichment, sanctions relief and administration of the Strait of Hormuz.
The scene at Grand Mosalla
Iranian authorities expect 15 million to 20 million people to attend rites across Iran and Iraq, the BBC reported, an event that as a share of population would be the largest funeral ever recorded. Mourners in black gathered in the mosque's courtyard Saturday morning, segregated by gender, carrying red flags that symbolize revenge in Shiite tradition and chanting "death to America" and "revenge, revenge." Authorities sprayed the crowd with water mist as temperatures reached about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Arash Rahimi, 40, told Reuters: "Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their supreme leader. As our leader has said, we have a blood feud with the United States. Our relations with the United States will never be good."
Foreign delegations
About 30 countries sent representatives, according to CBS News. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Taliban's foreign minister and the presidents of Iraq, Georgia and Tajikistan paid respects Friday, along with Turkish and Chinese officials. Delegations from Hamas and Hezbollah also attended.
Khamenei's body will lie in state at the Grand Mosalla for three days beside the remains of family members killed in the February strikes. On Tuesday it will move to Qom for prayers at the Jamkaran mosque, then to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq on Wednesday, before returning to Iran for burial Thursday at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.
The talks on pause
The Doha track opened June 17 as a 60-day window to reach a comprehensive settlement covering Iran's nuclear program, sanctions relief and administration of the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump on Friday cast the pause as an accommodation, saying Iran had been given "a week off for a funeral because we're nice" and repeating that Tehran was "dying to settle." He described the campaign as "the de-nuking of Iran" and said "the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well."
Spencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, said the substance has not moved. "There has been no indication that major concessions by Iran on its nuclear program have been made," Faragasso said. Iran continues to demand sovereignty recognition over the Strait of Hormuz; Washington insists on unrestricted freedom of navigation.
The succession
Khamenei's son Mojtaba assumed the title of supreme leader after his father's death but has not appeared in public and, according to CBS News, has been in hiding since suffering injuries in the February strikes. He has communicated only in writing. Revolutionary Guard commander Ahmad Vahidi resurfaced Thursday and said enemies of the Islamic Republic would "take to your grave the dream of seeing this nation surrender."
Saturday's ceremonies cut against Trump's assurance that Iran is close to a deal. Neither the BBC nor CBS News, the two on-scene accounts available, carried fresh comment from Israeli officials or U.S. Central Command on whether the funeral pause extends to combat operations, and no right-of-center outlet in Saturday's dispatches addressed whether Tehran is negotiating in good faith or stalling until the mourning ends.
Mediators expect the Doha talks to resume July 10, the day after Khamenei's burial in Mashhad. The 60-day negotiating window closes Aug. 15.