The funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was attended by millions of mourners, as well as representatives of several dozen countries – presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, parliament speakers and many others.
However, as the multi-day event winds its way through Iran (before the procession moves into Iraq), Tehran residents spoke to Al Jazeera about one man whose absence, for many, was more striking than the presence of anyone who showed up: the country’s current Supreme Leader Mojtab Khamenei.
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Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since the Feb. 28 Israeli airstrike that wounded him and killed his father, Ali Khamenei, as well as Mojtaba’s wife Zahra Haddad-Adel and other family members. He was absent from the funeral of his wife and father.
Iranian officials attribute the absence to the ongoing threat of assassination. However, the presence of many family members, including Ali Khamenei’s sons Mostafa, Maysam and Massoud, during the week of public mourning for their father, as well as the presence of many of Iran’s political leaders and foreign dignitaries, underscored the absence of ruling Khamenei and fueled speculation about the extent of the injuries he suffered in the attack that killed his father.
“My country is no longer the Iran of the past, where the leader is publicly present,” Masoumeh, 26, said from Tehran, where he attended the funeral. “Mojtaba’s absence does not matter. But his presence is a sign of the country’s security, and now I have a feeling that the old security does not prevail in my country. The late supreme leader was the meaning of Iran’s power.”
Threats
On Monday, as Khamenei’s funeral procession passed through Tehran, Israel’s defense minister appeared to threaten his successor. Minister Israel Katz said in a statement in Hebrew that Khamenei “was killed by Israel because he set in motion and led a plan to destroy Israel.”
“The killer was killed,” Katz said. “Any Iranian leader who tries to push through plans to destroy Israel again will also be resisted.”
Last week, Katz more directly threatened to put Khamenei on Israel’s target list, prompting a sharp rebuke from Iran.
Much of Iran’s leadership has been systematically assassinated by Israel since it first struck Iran on February 28, kicking off the US-Israeli war with Iran, the uncertain outcome of which remains the subject of negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
In addition to Ali Khamenei, the Israeli strikes killed or incapacitated a wide range of senior officials, including Iran’s then-defense minister, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as senior figures in intelligence, military planning and nuclear-related institutions.
Millions of people gather on the streets of Tehran to attend a memorial ceremony for Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an attack claimed by Israel (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I believe that for the safety of (Mojtaba Khamenei), he should not appear in public and we should wait a little,” Fazeh, 35, said after the funeral. “The fact that the new leader has not been seen yet does not mean anything bad to me, because I know that the enemy showed no mercy to the former leader and will not show mercy to Mr. Mojtaba.”
Faese continued, emphasizing that in her opinion, the public absence of the supreme leader did not seem to affect the work of the government. However, she added: “I think people are right to say that there is no need to see him in person now. It is like believing in a mystical object, or in an invisible Shiite imam, or even in the existence of God: something you don’t see but believe in.”
Faese explained that she also rarely saw the previous leader in person, but gained a sense of confidence by following him in the media, where he usually appeared during crises or national emergencies. “Meeting a former leader in public used to mean safety,” she said. “But unfortunately, with the assassination of the leader, we came to the conclusion that at any moment we may not have the security that we have now.”
Mourners gather to pay respects to slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the third day of his funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran (Atta Kenare/AFP)
Speculation
Rumors about Mojtaba Khamenei’s health have spread since the attack that killed his father, wife and family members, fueled by the lack of any public sightings of the leader or photographs of him since the attack in late February.
Khamenei suffered serious injuries, including facial damage and significant damage to one or both legs, according to people close to his inner circle who spoke to the Reuters news agency, which coupled with his absence from the funeral of his wife and father led some to question the official portrayal of the Iranian state’s power.
The Islamic Republic, despite its claims, “cannot provide even for a few minutes the security of its leader to attend this important event,” Somayeh, 47, told Al Jazeera from Tehran, adding: “It appears that there is a conspiracy and that the government is still not honest and transparent with the people.”
Some in the government, in her opinion, benefited from the confusion caused by the absence of a supreme leader and “imposed their decisions and opinions on the people by proxy, managed affairs and cited him wherever they considered necessary to achieve their goals.”
Traditionally, an Iranian leader is not expected to be a constant presence in public. Instead, power is exercised through a dense network of institutional representatives, televised addresses, and written directives, with speech usually limited to major religious or national events.
“Like any leader, from a political point of view it is quite normal to expect to see a leader,” said Iranian-American political scientist Negar Mortazavi. “Not necessarily every day, (but) the two past supreme leaders were visible and were seen as the main unifying figures within the state.”
This makes Mojtaba’s public absence “definitely unusual”. But, she added, this situation was imposed “not intentionally” and that “there are reasons for this as well,” given the threat to Khamenei’s life.
At the same time, Mortazavi added that although this understanding is shared by most of the Iranian public, it cannot continue indefinitely. “They can’t hide him forever,” she said.