Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's national funeral continues in Tehran, successor Mojtaba Khamenei absent

While most senior Iranian officials attended, his son and designated successor as Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was notably absent and has not yet appeared publicly. The religious ceremony, led by Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani, a prominent 97-year-old Shiite cleric from Qom, lasted about ten minutes. Among those present around the coffin in the Great Mosalla complex were President Massoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and General Esmaïl Qaani, commander of the Quds Force.

The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, also made a public appearance after being discreet since the start of the war between Iran, Israel, and the United States on February 28. State television showed three of Ali Khamenei's other sons—Massoud, Mostafa, and Meysam—attending. Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in the Israeli-American bombings that killed his father on the first day of the conflict, has communicated only through official statements since his designation.

Former presidents Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Rohani, who had strained relations with the late Supreme Leader, were also absent. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf praised the gathering on social media platform X, calling it a tribute from the "proud and invincible nation of Islamic Iran" to its "martyr." Ali Khamenei's coffin,