‘I was shocked, thought people hated him’: Trump on Iranians crying at Khamenei’s funeral | World

US President Donald Trump said he was “shocked” to see massive public mourning at the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remarking that he had expected a very different reaction inside Iran. “I was shocked,” Trump told Axios when asked about the funeral scenes.

“I thought people hated him,” he added.

Trump’s remarks came as hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Tehran on Saturday for the start of Khamenei’s days-long funeral ceremonies. Many in the crowd chanted, “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” while carrying banners and flags bearing Khamenei’s image. Billboards across the Iranian capital also displayed his portraits, and crowds of men were seen rhythmically beating their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.

Khamenei’s week-long funeral schedule

Khamenei, who led Iran from 1989 until his death at the age of 86, was killed along with several members of his family and senior officials in an Israeli strike on the opening day of the Iran-Israel war on February 28.

His coffin will remain in Tehran for three days before being taken to the holy city of Qom on Tuesday (July 7). A procession is then planned in neighbouring Iraq on Wednesday, with his burial scheduled for Thursday in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

He is expected to be buried alongside several family members who were also killed in the February 28 strike, including his infant granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani, his daughter, son-in-law and the wife of his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Why Mojtaba skip his father’s funeral?

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said he will not attend the funeral ceremonies for his father, former Supreme Leader, due to security concerns, according to the current leader’s representative in India, Ayatollah Hakim Elahi. Elahi attributed the decision to Israeli threats and surveillance risks that would make public attendance dangerous.

The funeral for Khamenei could provide a boost for the country’s theocracy and its new supreme leader.

That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the US over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again. The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks are on hold until it is over. 

Also Read: Khamenei’s funeral braces for 20 million attendees, but why has Iran dug up thousands of graves?

Also Read: Iranian Speaker, Foreign Minister break down during Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral | VIDEO