Mojtaba KhameneiIran’s new supreme leader remained absent from public view on Sunday as his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and four family members received state funeral prayers in Tehran. While state television showed Khamenei’s three sons praying with Iran’s political and military leaders, Mojtaba’s continued absence raised eyebrows after Iranian state media said he would miss the funeral due to security concerns.The prayers were held at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, where Khamenei’s body has been lying in state since Saturday for public mourning and an official farewell ceremony.State television showed Mustafa, Messam and Massoud Khamenei praying behind the coffin of Imam Khomeini’s great mossala in Tehran. According to the Associated Press, 97-year-old Shia cleric Ayatollah Ja’far Sobani then presided over the funeral prayer, which was attended by the three brothers, as well as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Revolutionary Guards Commander-in-Chief Ayatollah Ja’far Sobani. Ahmed Vahidi and Quds Force commander Esmail Qani.The new supreme leader is expected to miss the six-day funeral due to security concerns amid ongoing threats from Israel to assassinate him. Although Mojtaba has not made a public appearance since taking over, in a written statement he approved the memorandum of understanding signed by the presidents of Iran and the United States after receiving assurances from senior Iranian officials that “the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front” will be upheld despite holding “different views.”Mojtaba has not been seen in public since his father and four other family members were killed during Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iranian targets at the start of the war on February 28. Since then, official photos of the new supreme leader have not been released. People close to his inner circle told Reuters he suffered facial disfigurement and serious injuries to one or both legs in the attack.The funeral began on Saturday, with Khamenei’s body placed indoors for senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to pay their respects. His coffin was later displayed outdoors under glass along with those of his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter.During Sunday prayers, state television showed Masoud Khamenei wiping tears with a headscarf as he recited funeral prayers. Throughout the evening, crowds gathered in Mosala, with many mourners crying and some beating their chests. Iran’s metro network said 7 million trips were made to central Tehran from Saturday night to Sunday morning.Funeral plans will continue, with Iranian authorities saying a massive procession will be held in central Tehran on Monday before Khamenei’s body is flown to the seminary city of Qom on Tuesday. The remains will be flown to Iraq’s Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday for further rites before returning to Iran for a final procession and burial on Thursday in Mashhad, near the Imam Reza shrine.
