Crowds in Tehran chanted "Death to America" during the state funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [1, 2].
The events mark a critical transition for the Iranian leadership and a public display of anti-U.S. sentiment during a period of high regional tension.
Funeral ceremonies began on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2024 [3]. The processions took place primarily at the Imam Reza shrine and throughout the streets of Tehran [3, 1]. The state has scheduled the ceremonies to last for a week [1].
Attendance estimates vary by source. Some reports said that millions of Iranians gathered for the event [1], while other accounts place the number of mourners in the hundreds of thousands [3].
Participants used the gathering to express anger toward the United States. Some supporters blame the U.S. for the death of the Supreme Leader [1, 4]. Mourners shouted "Death to America," while others called for revenge [4].
One participant in the procession said, "We will not forget the crimes of the United States; we demand justice" [4].
The atmosphere in the capital remained charged as the processions moved through the city. The state funeral served as both a religious rite and a political demonstration of the regime's continued influence over the public square [1, 3].
““Death to America””
The scale of the funeral and the prevalence of anti-US rhetoric suggest that the Iranian establishment is leveraging the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to solidify domestic loyalty and maintain a hardline foreign policy. By framing the mourning process around grievances against the US, the regime reinforces its ideological narrative of resistance during a volatile leadership succession.
