For Khamenei’s funeral, a highly scripted show of public mourning and fury

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Democracy Dies in Darkness

A regime that has survived months of attack by the United States and Israel is projecting a show of strength with enormous crowds and the reappearance of military leaders.

July 7, 2026 at 7:08 a.m. EDT11 minutes ago

A woman salutes the stage where the body of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid out for the public at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

TEHRAN ― Iran’s turn to harder line postwar politics has been on full display during funeral rites for the country’s assassinated supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, from the reappearance of senior military leaders to calls for revenge amid national mourning.