Iran is preparing days of mass funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a show of public devotion to the country and proof that its revolutionary fervour still burns strong.

Iran’s supreme leader was killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes in their first attack of the war. The funeral events will begin over the weekend in Tehran, with mass processions planned next week in Qom and Mashhad and ceremonies in Iraq.

Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi told state media that “the large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic”.

Mr Saidi said they hope to mobilise millions of supporters to flood Iran’s cities, laying on transport, accommodation and food, to proclaim the might of their theocratic state after it survived what they saw as an existential war.

Mr Khamenei’s death and the succession of his son Mojtaba as Iran’s third supreme leader, in a conflict with its greatest foes, mark an epochal moment in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history.

The son, dangerously wounded in the strike that killed his father, has not been seen in any new image since the war began.

After news of Mr Khamenei’s killing began to circulate in the first days of the war, Tehran residents reported sounds of cheering erupting from behind the windows of houses and apartments in parts of the city.

Millions of sobbing people mobbed Mr Khamenei’s funeral procession, and some climbed on the ambulance, the dead leader’s naked leg spilling from his shroud as Revolutionary Guards battled to push back the crowd.

Ms Samira, 35, whose husband owns a restaurant in Tehran, said her family did not plan to attend any funeral events and was leaving Tehran for the week.

“It is like life has stopped and there are Basijis everywhere,’’ she said, referring to the voluntary militia organisation affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.

(Reuters/NAN)