Ahmadinejad Back from the Dead at Khamenei’s Funeral

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran’s former president reported as killed at start of the war spotted among millions of mourners in Tehran

Screenshot from this Telegraph article. | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, was among the mourners at the funeral procession for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei
Iran’s former president has appeared at the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei despite having been reported killed at the start of the war.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of millions of mourners who poured into Tehran dressed in black on Monday to escort the slain supreme leader’s coffin through the capital.

The former hardline president, who governed from 2005 to 2013, was declared dead by several Iranian state-affiliated media outlets on the opening day of the war, when Israeli and US strikes killed Khamenei and much of the country’s leadership.

It was thought he had been killed when a missile struck near his home.

He was never seen or heard from in the months that followed, and no official confirmation or denial of his fate was issued, leaving his status among the many uncertainties of the war’s chaotic first days.

On Monday, however, he was seen in public for the first time since the war, moving among the mourners in a jacket with a mask pulled down to his throat. » | Akhtar Makoli | Monday, July 6, 2026

Democracy Now! Report from Tehran: Millions Attend Ali Khamenei's Funeral amid Widespread Sense of Victory in War

July 7, 2026 | Millions of people are estimated to be participating in the multiday state funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Iran this week. After ruling the Islamic Republic of Iran for over three dozen years, Khamenei was killed by a joint Israeli-U.S. airstrike on February 28. N

ow viewed as a martyr by both his religious base and the wider Iranian public, Khamenei has taken on a "new identity" as "the leader of the resistance movement, the leader in the fight against U.S. imperialism," says Tehran-based journalist Reza Sayah, who has been reporting on the funeral proceedings.

Sayah also discusses the absence of Khamenei's son and chosen successor Mojtaba Khamenei from the public eye, the Iranian government's position on the thousands of protesters killed by security forces in the early months of 2026 and more.


Democracy Now! can be supported here.

Crowds Gather in Tehran for Ayatollah’s Funeral Procession

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Tens of thousands of Iranians have viewed the casket of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was exalted by some and despised by others. He was killed four months ago at the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks.

Huge crowds were amassing in the Iranian capital, Tehran, for the third consecutive day on Monday to mourn Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, who ruled his country for decades with an iron fist before he was killed in the war with the United States and Israel.

The ayatollah’s body is expected to be carried through the city in a public procession. Later this week, it will be borne to several cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq that are significant to Shiite Muslims, before being buried in his hometown, Mashhad.

Grieving supporters of Iran’s Islamic Republic have wept and called for revenge as they viewed the casket of the killed leader since the funeral ceremonies began on Saturday. On Sunday, tens of thousands of mourners, including senior Iranian officials, packed Tehran for prayers for the slain supreme leader.

Though he was exalted by many, Ayatollah Khamenei was also despised by numerous other Iranians for presiding over an authoritarian state that brutally crushed dissent. Earlier this year, Iranian security forces suppressed mass antigovernment protests, killing thousands, according to Iranian officials and human rights groups.

For Iran’s current leaders, the mass funeral has served in part as a show of national unity around the deceased leader. But his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been conspicuously absent from the ceremonies.

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since succeeding his father, who was killed when Israeli forces bombarded Ayatollah Khamenei’s compound on the first day of the war in late February. And his absence from the funeral ceremonies has emerged as a point of scrutiny for Iran’s leadership as they seek to project stability and continuity. Iran Live Updates » | Aaron Boxerman and Abdi Latif Dahir | Monday, July 6, 2026

Why Iran's Unseen Leader Remains in the Shadows • FRANCE 24 English

July 5, 2026 | The images emerging from Tehran are striking. Tens of thousands of mourners dressed in black have gathered at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla for the funeral and lying in state of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following his assassination on the opening day of a war between Iran and the United States on February 28. Negar Mortazavi is an Iranian-American journalist, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy, and host of the Iran Podcast.

Calls for Killing of Trump at Funeral of Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

THE GUARDIAN: New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei still absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside father’s coffin

Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump.

Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war.

The funeral prayers for the former supreme leader and four other family members created a political spectacle at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla that melded grief with calls for revenge.

Many people had stayed in the mosque overnight or arrived well before dawn to be ready for the start of the prayer reading at 8am.

Holding Iranian flags and pictures of their martyred leader, and waving red flags symbolising vengeance the crowds were vastly larger and more militant than on Saturday, the first day of this elaborately conceived funeral designed to impress on the world that Iran has social resilience and determination to preserve its independence. » | Patrick Wintour in Tehran | Sunday, July 5, 2026

Huge Crowds Mass in Tehran for Ayatollah’s State Funeral

THE NEW YORK TIMES: As days of public mourning ceremonies began, Iranians viewed the casket of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed four months ago at the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks.

Huge crowds of Iranians gathered on Saturday to view the casket of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at an elaborate state funeral for the Iranian supreme leader, who dominated Iran for decades before being killed in the U.S.-Israeli war in late February.

Tens of thousands of people began arriving at dawn at the Grand Mosalla mosque in the capital, Tehran, for the start of six days of public ceremonies. Millions are expected to participate in the funeral as Ayatollah Khamenei’s body is transported to cities across the country.

Journalists for The New York Times at the event saw grieving supporters erupt in tears at the sight of the caskets of Ayatollah Khamenei and of several family members who were killed along with him, including his daughter and two grandchildren. Encased in glass and draped in Iranian flags, the caskets were placed atop a stage, with the ayatollah’s coffin positioned above the others.

It is a turbulent moment for Iran, which has spiraled from crisis to crisis. Huge antigovernment protests earlier this year were met with a brutal government crackdown, followed by months of war with the United States and Israel. Israeli airstrikes killed Ayatollah Khamenei, along with other top Iranian leaders, on the first day of the conflict.

While Ayatollah Khamenei’s supporters mourn him, many other Iranians view the lengthy and expensive funeral program with anger. Over 37 years of authoritarian rule, he harshly repressed dissent and allowed economic mismanagement and corruption to fester.

His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been named the country’s new supreme leader. It is unclear whether the son would attend the funeral; he has not been publicly seen since his appointment.

The funeral ceremonies, which overlapped with America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, are taking place more than four months after Ayatollah Khamenei was killed, in the wake of a U.S.-Iran cease-fire signed last month. Analysts say the Iranian authorities were probably wary of organizing a mourning event featuring senior leaders when the threat of U.S. or Israeli attacks loomed.

After a procession in Tehran on Monday, his body will be taken to the city of Qom and then on to Karbala and Najaf in Iraq; all three cities hold sacred significance for Shiite Muslims. On Thursday, his remains will be buried in his hometown, Mashhad.

The event in Tehran was intended as a show of strength for Iran’s Islamic Republic, which survived despite U.S. and Israeli hopes for regime change. Conservative supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei said they had slept in their cars overnight to avoid missing the ceremony.

But there were signs of criticism from religious hard-liners who see the cease-fire with the United States as a capitulation. Some mourners carried a banner that read, “What happened to revenge for the blood of our martyred Imam?” a reference to the ayatollah, according to video posted by Iran’s state broadcaster. » | Abdi Latif Dahir, Aaron Boxerman, Yeganeh Torbati and James C. McKinley Jr. | Saturday, July 4, 2026

Thousands Pay Tribute as Britain Says Final Farewell to Its Queen

THE NEW YORK TIMES: More than 100 world leaders, including President Biden, attended the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, and Britons lined the streets for a procession that took her to her final resting place at Windsor Castle.


After a state funeral at Westminster Abbey and a procession across central London, Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was lowered into the royal vault of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. | Andrew Testa for The New York Times
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest on Monday after a majestic state funeral that drew tens of millions of Britons together in a vast expression of grief and gratitude, as they bade farewell to a sovereign whose seven-decade reign had spanned their lives and defined their times.

It was the culmination of 10 days of mourning since the queen died on Sept. 8 in Scotland — a highly choreographed series of rituals that fell amid a deepening economic crisis and a fraught political transition in Britain — and yet everything about the day seemed destined to be etched into history.

Tens of thousands of people lined the route of the cortege past the landmarks of London. In Hyde Park, people watching the service on large screens joined in “The Lord’s Prayer” when it was recited at Westminster Abbey. Thousands more cheered, many strewing flowers in the path of her glass-topped hearse, as the queen’s coffin was driven to Windsor Castle, where she was buried next to her husband, Prince Philip.

“In this changing world, she was a pillar of the old world,” said Richard Roe, 36, who works in finance in Zurich and flew home for the funeral. “It’s nice to have something that’s stable and stands for good values.”

An unbroken thread of sadness ran through the day, but also an acute sense of uncertainty. The queen, who died at 96, was one of the last living links to World War II and the twilight of Britain’s imperial age. The country she embodied with such dignity has fundamentally changed. » | Mark Landler | Monday, September 19, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II Is Buried at Windsor Alongside Her Husband, Prince Philip: After a state funeral at Westminster Abbey and a procession across central London, the British monarch was interred at the King George VI Memorial Chapel. »

Prince William Moves Into the Spotlight as Heir to the Throne: Many royal watchers and historians are looking to William and his wife, Catherine, who rank high in popularity polls, as the long-term future of the British monarchy. »

The Guardian view on the Queen’s funeral: stirring emotions that transcend logic: Ministers want to reduce workers’ rights and increase bankers’ bonuses. They should be brave enough to reform the crown »

Royal Family Turns Out in Flawless Fashion for the Queen’s Funeral

THE GUARDIAN: From pillbox hats to pearls and sharp tailoring, the dress code was one of resplendent solemnity

The Queen Consort with, left, the Duchess of Sussex and, right, Prince George, the Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte. Photograph: Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock
There was not a hair out of place, nor a shoe unpolished. Not one speck of lint on a jacket was to be seen. For the grandest, most gorgeous of occasions the dress code was resplendent solemnity, in pearls and pillbox hats, high heels and sharp tailoring.

For the royal family this was, as the archbishop of Canterbury noted, a portrait of grief under the brightest spotlight. The Queen Consort, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex found a little privacy under wide-brimmed hats, or veils, or both. And while Britain was looking at the royal family, the rest of the world was looking at Britain. » | Jess Cartner-Morley | Monday, September 19, 2022

LIVE: Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral

Watch live coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral held at Westminster Abbey. Heads of state, members of the Royal Family, and others will attend.

The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II - BBC News

Live coverage of HM Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London and the committal service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
Embedding on external websites has been disallowed by the BBC. Therefore, it has to be watched on YouTube itself; so, in order to watch this coverage, please click here

Queen Elizabeth II: Final Preparations Made for First State Funeral since Winston Churchill

Final preparations are underway here at Westminster Abbey ahead of the Queen's state funeral tomorrow morning - the first since Winston Churchill's in 1965.

Crowds have continued to make their way into central London, some queuing for the lying-in-state, while others are camping out alongside the funeral route, ready to witness this historic occasion.

Hundreds of foreign dignitaries are also now here - they'll be inside the Abbey for the service itself.

But there will also be some special invited guests there, who've been rewarded by the Queen in the past for their service to the country.

‘Stain on Queen’s Memory’: Saudi Crown Prince’s Planned Visit Condemned

THE GUARDIAN: Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and other campaigners condemn plan

Mohammed bin Salman plans to visit London to pay respects to the Queen, a visit that has been condemned by human rights activists Photograph: Bandar al-Jaloud/Saudi Royal Palace/AFP/Getty Images
Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to touch down in London on Sunday to pay his respects to the Queen has been condemned by Hatice Cengiz and other human rights defenders as a “stain” on the monarch’s memory and an attempt by the Saudi crown prince to use mourning to “seek legitimacy and normalisation”.

Cengiz, who was engaged to Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Istanbul consulate in 2018, said she wished that Prince Mohammed would be arrested for murder when he lands in London, but said she feared that UK authorities would turn a blind eye to serious and credible allegations against the future king.

A source has told the Guardian that Prince Mohammed will travel to the UK to deliver his kingdom’s condolences to the royal family, though there was no confirmation or information about whether he would attend the funeral service at Westminster Abbey. CNN Arabic first reported the news on Thursday night. » | Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington | Friday, September 16, 2022

Queen's Funeral Guests: Who Will - and Who Won't - Attend

GETTY IMAGES
BBC: The Queen's funeral on Monday is set to be one of the biggest gatherings of royalty and politicians hosted in the UK for decades.

Invitations went out over the weekend, with some 500 heads of state and foreign dignitaries expected to attend.

The majority of leaders have been asked to arrive on commercial flights and told they will be bussed en masse from a site in west London.

The ceremony at Westminster Abbey has a capacity for around 2,200 people.

Here's what we know so far about who will and won't be in attendance.

Members of royal families from across Europe, many of whom were blood relatives of the Queen, are expected.

Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde have confirmed they will be there, as have King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife, Queen Maxima, along with his mother, former Dutch queen Princess Beatrix.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain have also accepted an invitation, as have the royal families of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Monaco.

The White House has confirmed that President Joe Biden will attend along with First Lady Jill Biden, although they are understood not to be travelling to the service by bus. » | BBC | Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Foreign Dignitaries Must Share Buses to Travel to the Queen’s Funeral

THE GUARDIAN: Government guidance sets out strict rules urging international royalty and presidents to travel by commercial flights

A floral tribute to Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace in London. Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images
Foreign heads of state arriving for the Queen’s funeral must travel by bus en masse to Westminster Abbey, rather than using private cars, according to newly issued government guidance.

The documents, seen by the Guardian, set out strict rules for the dozens of international presidents, kings, queens and prime ministers expected to attend the funeral, urging them to travel by commercial flights to avoid swamping London’s airports.

The instructions lay bare the logistical challenge of accommodating the sheer number of overseas dignitaries who will be arriving in London over next weekend – and will pose a dilemma for Joe Biden, who is likely to require a significant amount of additional security. The US president has confirmed he will attend the funeral in person. » | Jessica Elgot and Pippa Crerar | Sunday, September 11, 2022

‘Biden would never ride a bus’: UK and US play down strict rules for Queen’s funeral: Liz Truss’s spokesperson says ‘arrangements will vary’ as more foreign dignitaries confirm attendance »

Germany: Merkel and Kissinger Bid Farewell to Former-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt

The state funeral for the former chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, took place at the Saint Michael's church in his hometown Hamburg, Monday. Schmidt died on November 10 at the age of 96-years-old.

Italy to Hold State Funeral for Shipwreck Migrants

José Manuel Barroso, European Commission President

BBC: Italy is to hold a state funeral for the hundreds of migrants who died after their boat capsized close to the island of Lampedusa last Thursday.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta made the announcement during a visit to the island with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Barroso pledged 30m euros ($40m; £25m) of EU funds to help refugees in Italy.

At least 274 people, mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, died in the wreck.

Of more than 500 people on board, only 155 have survived. Divers are recovering bodies.

It is one of Italy's worst disasters involving a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants from Africa.

Lampedusa is a key destination for such boats and many residents have long complained that the authorities in Italy and the European Union are not doing enough to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year. » | Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Hugo Chávez Funeral
Venezuela mourns Hugo Chávez, who died after a two-year battle with cancer on Tuesday, at his state funeral in Caracas. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuba's Raul Castro joined about 30 other heads of state to pay respect to the charismatic and controversial leader. Thousands gathered in silence outside the ceremony watching the service on big screens