Tehran [Iran], July 4 : With the funeral processions underway of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday vowed that the nation would keep the flag high as the Persian Gulf nation grieves its tallest leader.
In a post on X, he said that the enduring loyalty to the slain leader, who was killed in the US-Israeli strikes on February 28, would continue as massive crowds of mourners attend Khamenei's farewell ceremony.
He said, "The great nation of Iran, with hearts brimming with sorrow and resolves infused with hope, will prove that the flag for whose enduring raise the martyred leader struggled shall not fall to the ground. And We desire to bestow a favor upon those who have been oppressed on earth and make them leaders and make them the inheritors."
https://x.com/drpezeshkian/status/2073383128601596185?s=20
Meanwhile, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, in a post on X on Saturday, slammed the funeral procession of Khamenei and called it a "propaganda spectacle" by Iran--noting that not a single democratic leader attended the event.
"To the foreign representatives in Tehran to mourn Iran's deceased dictator, Ali Khamenei: Iran is not mourning him. Iran is mourning more than 40,000 sons and daughters slaughtered on January 8 and 9 by Khamenei, Ghalibaf, and their machinery of repression," he said on X.
Pahlavi further added, "The regime is spending vast amounts of the Iranian people's wealth to stage this propaganda spectacle, yet not a single democratic leader attended. What you see today is not a nation in grief for its ruler. It is a nation filled with righteous anger, and that anger and heroic bravery will bring down what remains of this criminal regime."
https://x.com/PahlaviReza/status/2073403708704985550?s=20
Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported on Saturday that the funeral ceremony, which began at Tehran's Grand Imam Khomeini Mosalla, has been drawing massive crowds of mourners.
The main funeral procession in Tehran is scheduled for Monday.
Press TV further noted that the funeral ceremonies will also be held in Qom on Tuesday and in Mashhad on Thursday, where the Leader will be laid to rest at the Imam Reza Shrine.
Special farewell and funeral ceremonies for the late Leader will also take place in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, according to the organisers.
Earlier on Friday, world leaders descended in Tehran as they paid their tributes to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Heads of state, dignitaries from various countries, and religious leaders from around the world are in Tehran.
Over 10 million people, including representatives from more than 100 countries, are expected in Tehran for the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with family members at the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
Governor of Bihar Syed Ata Hasnain and Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita represented India at the funeral ceremony.
The crowds are projected to be the largest since Iranians took to the streets in December and January to protest living conditions in the country, as per the New York Post.