Funeral march: national farewell to Ali Khamenei begins in Tehran

Thousands of people marched to the Mosalla, one of the largest prayer complexes in the capital, in the morning. The authorities turned the farewell ceremony for Ali Khamenei into a demonstration of unity after the war with the United States and Israel — food and water were distributed in the streets, the military was on duty, and the city was covered with posters with flags of Iran, Hezbollah and other Shiite movements in the Middle East. However, behind the official picture, there was another Iran: with inflation and societal fatigue. The first day of the public farewell to the leader of the Islamic Republic was described in the Izvestia report from Tehran.

Farewell to the Ayatollah

The national farewell to the Ayatollah has officially begun in Tehran. This did not go unnoticed by our hotel either: in the lobby on the ground floor, booths appeared in the afternoon calling for "rise up", but now in English — there are many journalists from different countries in the hotel.

The streets were closed in the city for the funeral procession. Tents with familiar Shiite inscriptions have been set up on the roads: "Everything is ordained by God." Some of them distributed sliced watermelons. Reinforced military units stood at the intersections and ambulances were on duty. At some point, police officers appeared on both sides of the road, but not to check — they distributed pineapple juices and food. As soon as our minibus opened the door to film them, we were immediately inundated with juices and food.

The journey to Mosalla took almost an hour and a half, although on a normal day it would have taken no more than 15 minutes. It was all the fault of the increased checks on the roads and the large number of cars that were traveling to the prayer complex.

The body of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei was put on display in Tehran's Mosalla, one of the capital's largest religious complexes, where Friday prayers, mass religious gatherings and state ceremonies take place. Thousands of people gathered there in the morning: many came with portraits of the murdered Ayatollah, black flags and mourning ribbons.

Iranians are not just going to say goodbye to the deceased: They want to show loyalty to his line, the Shiite community and the state.

But our whole journey ended with us being turned around: we didn't have the necessary documents for travel. As a compromise, we were allowed into one of the streets where there was a march of Iranians who were already leaving Mosalla. The military smiled and willingly posed for selfies. We were walking against the traffic, but the flow of people did not stop. Religious chants were playing loudly. The smartwatch reminded me every 10 minutes that the noise level reaches 120 dB.

People were walking with portraits of Khamenei and his son Mojtaba. There were many flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, as well as other Shiite groups allied to Iran, including Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba.

— Ali Khamenei belongs not only to Iran. His leadership is important for all Islamic countries and for all people in the world who love freedom and justice. This is very important for us," Hamid Banaeyyan, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Post Bank, tells Izvestia.

After the ceremonies in Tehran and Qom, Khamenei's body is to be transported to Iraq. There, funeral services will be held in Najaf and Karbala, the two main Shiite cities associated with the memory of Imam Ali and Imam Hussein.

— It's hard to imagine how many people will be waiting for him there. We don't know the exact number, but there will be a lot of them. I think not only Iraqis will come, but also representatives of other Arab countries," Banaheyan added.

Because of the heat — it was about 35 degrees outside — firefighters sent a jet of water high up to irrigate people. The journalists were looked at as exotic: many came up and tried to ask something. We tried to respond, but communication suffered due to the language barrier. Each time, I had to awkwardly show "wait" and quickly type a question into the translator.

— This day will go down in national history. We have lost a dear leader of our country, who served the people wholeheartedly. We will continue his path for the rest of our lives and will follow it to the end," said one of the young men walking down the street.

Nearby, in the middle of the street, there was a girl with a poster. She demanded that the United States be held accountable for its actions in the Middle East. The inscription on the background of Trump's profile read: "What's the point if the killers aren't punished?"

"We want retribution. Trump must answer because he killed our leader, he admitted it himself and was proud of it many times. He must be punished for his actions. And for him, and for General Soleimani, and for our children, and for innocent women. He has to answer, and he will answer. This is the law of the world. I came here on behalf of myself, my colleagues, and the women and children for whose safety I am responsible. Everything we want to say boils down to one word— retribution," she said.

Iran's problems

However, not everyone in Iran wants retribution. While the group was hiding in the shadows, we went into a pharmacy right on the street where the march was taking place. Two young girls and a guy worked in it. The contrast was obvious: instead of the Ayatollah's veiled supporters, two Europeanized Iranian women with piercings and tattoos appeared in front of me on the street, and a young guy was standing behind the cash register. He asked why we were here. We replied that we were covering the Ayatollah's funeral at the invitation of the Iranian side.

— Ah, Khamenei. An evil and cruel dictator," he replied shortly, smiling.

Despite the general picture that the authorities are trying to convey, the attitude towards them inside Iran remains difficult. The emigrant opposition is also strong: millions of Iranians live outside the country, some of whom openly oppose the Islamic Republic and are nostalgic for the pre-revolutionary period. For many of them, the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is associated with modernization, a secular lifestyle and a greater openness of the country to the West. Such sentiments also exist inside Iran, although it is still risky to speak publicly about it.

In recent years, major protests have taken place in the country, including those related to the government's failures in social and economic policy. The situation became particularly acute after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

The girl was detained by the morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab incorrectly, after which she died in the hospital. This caused one of the largest protests in the history of the Islamic republic: women took off their headscarves, burned hijabs and took to the streets under the slogan "Woman, life, freedom."

After that, the authorities eased the pressure on the hijab issue. Formally, the mandatory head covering remains the law, but in Tehran and other major cities, women without headscarves are very common.

The last major wave of protests took place in January 2026. The reason was the collapse of the rial, rising prices and a reduction in purchasing power: by the beginning of January, a dollar was worth about 1.4–1.5 million rials on the black market.

The protests began with economic demands, including among merchants of the Tehran bazaar, but quickly escalated into anti-government actions in various cities of the country. The authorities responded: the protests were dispersed by security forces, and access to the Internet was restricted in the country. At the same time, the currency problem could not be solved.

Now they still give about 1.5 million rials for a dollar, but it's not so easy to get them. Unofficial currency transactions are actually criminalized in Iran: you can only buy and sell it through banks and licensed exchangers. However, in reality, a significant part of the exchange still goes into the shadows.

To get the rials, we had to go around several places. After our request to "change money" in English, the old man in the small store went to the back room, and a few minutes later he returned with a large wad of bills. For $20, each of us has become almost a "multimillionaire." "100" is printed separately on the back of 100,000 notes, which is a way to combat inflation.

The way back to the hotel was much shorter. In the lobby, those same stands with the call to "rise up" caught my eye again. But now, behind this picture, a different Tehran was already emerging. The country is really trying to "recover" after the war, but for this it will have to solve not only political, but also internal problems — from inflation and the fall of the rial to the fatigue of society and the distrust of some Iranians towards the government.