AMY GOODMAN: Millions of Iranians have attended funeral proceedings for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a joint Israeli-U.S. airstrike in February along with four members of his family — his daughter, his son-in-law, his daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter. His son, who’s been named the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, remained out of public view, but three of Khamenei’s sons, who had not been seen since the U.S. and Israel launched the war, attended the funeral. After days of mourning in Tehran, the supreme leader’s body arrived in the holy city of Qom on Monday before it will be brought to other holy sites.

This is a 29-year-old law student and mourner in Tehran, Atefe Sadri.

ATEFE SADRI: [translated] Just as I feel this way, I hear the same from people around me whose style of dress and level of religious observance differ from mine. Ayatollah Khamenei’s death has affected them deeply. I used to say to myself I wish circumstances had been different, so that such beautiful things could have happened while he was still alive and in his presence. But through his passing, the leader has given every Iranian a gift, a change in our people’s way of life and outlook. Among people my age, I can see that many people have become more devoted to the leader and to the Ahl al-Bayt , the prophet’s family.

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, President Trump renewed his threats to attack Iran, warning Tehran to reach an agreement or see the U.S., quote, “finish the job.” In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations on a final deal will not commence as long as threats continue.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reportedly fired missiles at ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz overnight. The British Navy reports a Qatari tanker carrying liquefied natural gas caught fire after it was struck. A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker was also reportedly hit. The ships were attempting to pass through a channel closer to Amman, bypassing Iranian-controlled waters.

For more, we go to Iran, to the capital, Tehran, where we’re joined by Reza Sayah, freelance journalist based in Tehran, where he’s reporting on the funeral of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for PBS and France 24.

Reza, thanks so much for being with us. Can you explain the significance of this moment and the millions of people who have come out?

REZA SAYAH: Yeah, and I think it had religious significance. It had political significance. And, you know, what a statement by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the world and the Iranian people. This was the largest crowd, the largest gathering I’ve ever seen. It was a show of unity. It was a show of devotion. And what was remarkable is the diversity of people that we saw out there. We just heard from one of the people, one of the mourners who attended the funeral, and that’s what I saw, as well, over these three people.

There were certainly mourners who were there for religious reasons. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader, was their religious leader, their spiritual leader. To many faithful here in Iran, he was the representative of God on Earth.

However, what was remarkable is that many people that we saw out there during these three days were not particularly religious. They were secular. But they were deeply antiwar, deeply anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist. And they came to pay their respects and give their admiration to the late supreme leader because they viewed him as the leader of the resistance movement, the leader in the fight against U.S. imperialism. In many ways, this is a new identity that’s taking shape for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He’s being revered and honored not just as the leader of Iran, but the man who took on two nuclear powers, the world’s empire, the United States and Israel, a country many view has aspirations to have hegemonic power in this region. So, quite a scene.

And it was also a logistical challenge, and what was remarkable is the cooperation, the people working together, the volunteers, thousands of people. There wasn’t a time where I took a few steps and I wasn’t offered a lemonade or juice, or someone who wanted to comfort me with some food or fan me. It was just a remarkable show of unity and cooperation, centered around this funeral services for the late Ayatollah Khamenei.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Reza, I wanted to ask you about the international reaction to this, on the one hand, very little coverage in the U.S. media of this, of this event, but also of the representatives from different countries who attended, the prime minister of Pakistan, the president of Tajikistan, of Armenia, of Georgia, and dignitaries, delegations from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Russia, China, India and Turkey. What does this say about the — by my count, those are representatives of governments that govern 40% of the world’s population. What does this say about the standing of Iran in the world today after the U.S. and Israeli attack?

REZA SAYAH: Well, I think it says that the Western narrative that we see in Western media, international media, in European capitals, it is still there. And in many ways, it’s a narrative that the Western media and European capitals are addicted to.

There was no question that this was the largest gathering I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember in modern history, looking back, a public gathering this big. But when you look at international news coverage from Western media, there’s still questions about the size. I’ve seen a lot of reports describing the crowd as thousands of mourners, a lot of people still questioning if many of these mourners were paid, given incentives by, given food. To many people here, it’s laughable.

But it’s an indication that that narrative is still there. Those capitals, those European capitals, the media downplaying what many view is an emerging power here in the Islamic Republic, which is an outcome of the war that was started on February 28th with the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, a war where many analysts, many observers or certainly many supporters of the Islamic Republic believe that Iran won.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: There were also some shots of the president of Iran walking among some of the mourners.

REZA SAYAH: Yeah.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Isn’t there a concern among the Iranian leaders that Israeli — 

REZA SAYAH: No.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — agents within Iran might be pinpointing the whereabouts of the key leaders during these ceremonies to establish ongoing surveillance for future assassination attempts?

REZA SAYAH: Yeah, even if there is a concern, you know, I think that they’re still — they would still go. And he went. And this is something that maybe is difficult for people in the West to understand about Iranian culture and the notion and the value of martyrdom.

When I was out in the crowds yesterday, one thing that I noticed was that the millions of people out there, most of them didn’t care about how they looked. They weren’t into trends in fashion, what they were looking like, which is values you see in the West and in the United States, and it’s very normal. But here, in the culture, that’s not emphasized. The values here are devotion to your faith, to your country, to your leaders and your fellow countrymen. And certainly, there’s this idea of martyrdom. And indeed, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in many people’s view, had the ultimate honor in Shia Islam to be martyred.

So, no, I think Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, you know, wants to show that he’s a man of the people, and I think it’s genuine. And oftentimes you see leaders come out among the people. So, for the Iranian people, that wasn’t very unusual.

AMY GOODMAN: So, let me ask you about his three sons, who had not been seen since U.S. and Israel attacked and killed their father. They were shown, but Mojtaba Khamenei, chosen to replace his father as the supreme leader, has not been shown. Do you believe he is alive, Reza?

REZA SAYAH: I don’t know. You know, it’s — obviously, that’s a question that many people ask. My guess, if I was to guess, he is alive. I don’t think the establishment here, the leadership, would appoint him as the next supreme leader after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei if he wasn’t alive. They’d have a lot of complicated explaining to do. It is very likely that he didn’t show up for security reasons. Some people are speculating that he was badly injured in that strike on February 28th. But all of this is speculation.

But we should point out that these questions about the whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader, you know, they’re not being asked here in Iran. They’re mostly being asked in the West by the international media. And again, in a lot of people’s views here, it’s another — it’s another effort to maybe downplay the impact of the funeral ceremony and the presence of so many people. To many Iranians who support the government, whether he shows up in public or not, they believe he is leading effectively with his decisions. But as long as he doesn’t appear in public, I think those questions are going to be there.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Reza, I wanted to ask you about these plans to actually then move his body to Iraq, given the fact that Iraq is essentially a client state of the United States. What’s the reason for that? And what could be the potential impact within Iraq?

REZA SAYAH: Yeah, I think, you know, from the moment this ceremony started on Saturday, all the destinations, all the paths where the coffin and the convoy went, they had symbolic meanings. And the reason that his body is going to be transported to Iraq are because of the holy sites of Najaf and Karbala. They have significant meanings in Shia Islam. And Ayatollah Khamenei has a lot of admirers, a lot of fans there. And I’ve seen reports that they’re preparing for the ceremony there. So that’s why they’re doing it. It has religious significance, and they want to show, I think, that this is a man that’s admired in the entire region. And after they’re done in Iraq, Karbala and Najaf, the ceremony will culminate in Mashhad. That’s where Ayatollah Khamenei was born, and that’s where he’s going to be buried.

AMY GOODMAN: Reza Sayah, what about the role of the Supreme Leader Khamenei in the repression of the protests? What role did he play? And also, with the millions of people who have come out, what about the dissidents in Iran? Where do they stand today?

REZA SAYAH: [inaudible] public, but they are still here. I spoke to a number of them. I interviewed a number of them. They’re still skeptical about the support of the Islamic Republic. They are still angry and, rightly so, outraged about the deadly crackdown that took place in January, where thousands of people killed. Many of those opponents and critics of the government of the Islamic Republic blame Ayatollah Khamenei for that deadly crackdown and other deadly crackdowns that have taken place throughout the history of the Islamic Republic. So, they are there, but they haven’t been in the streets, obviously. There’s been such a huge security presence over the past couple of months. It’ll be interesting to see, moving forward, how they react to the presence that they saw from the supporters yesterday, and what strategy they have moving forward.

As far as the Islamic Republic itself, it has repeatedly acknowledged that civilians were killed in January. But their position is that many of these civilians — not all, many of them — were armed by Israel, foreign elements. And there is evidence, there’s indications, that they intentionally attacked police headquarters, government buildings explicitly to topple the regime. So, the Islamic Republic’s position is that even though civilians, you know, were killed, this was an armed insurgency, and they responded to a movement that was fueled and funded and armed by foreign enemies.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Reza, what do you make about all the reporting in the U.S. press about divisions within the Iranian leadership after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, and what — especially in terms of what to do in terms of the Strait of Hormuz or a peace agreement with the U.S.?

REZA SAYAH: Well, those, the fact that there’s a heated, intense debate is accurate here. There are factions here within the leadership and among people that believe that they should not negotiate with a country that four months ago assassinated the leader, assassinated more than a hundred political and military leaders, attacked — dropped a bomb on a school and killed 160 people and, you know, thousands of innocent civilians. This is a faction that believes that it’s a mistake to negotiate with Washington, and Washington can never be trusted. And there is a faction that’s worried about the economy, the sanctions. Their priority is getting the economy going. This is a struggling economy, and people are paying the price.

So, the debate is real. It’s an intense debate. But are there divisions? Are there destabilizing divisions? No. I think the debate is happening, but the leadership here and the people understand that they must show unity. And they understand that their opponents, their critics, their enemies, and especially Washington, is going to exaggerate these divisions in an effort to show instability in Iran. But from Iran’s point of view, it’s not unusual for countries and leaderships and governments to have debates and differences. And we are seeing that when it comes to how to move forward with negotiations in the conflict with Washington.

AMY GOODMAN: Reza Sayah, in this last minute we have, why is the funeral being held now? The supreme leader was killed some four months ago. And you have President Trump, after seeing video of Iranian leaders at the funeral, saying to Axios, “They are all there. One shot [and we can take them all out], but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with.” Reza?

REZA SAYAH: Yeah. In Shia Islam, it is encouraged to bury the dead very quickly, within one or two days. Obviously, this didn’t happen. The war had everything to do with the funeral being delayed. And I think with a ceasefire in place, they decided that this was the time to do it, that that’s what went behind their decisions.

And as far as the rhetoric coming from Washington, I think many Iranians, from the leadership to the public, you know, are used to this kind of rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, Mr. Trump himself. Remember, you know, he was the president who threatened to eliminate the civilization. And I’ll never forget that night, where I was sitting in my apartment, where he had put the deadline, threatening to destroy the Iranian civilization. And for the first time in my life, you know, I thought, you know, “Is Tehran, is the city where I’m staying with my 7-year-old daughter, is it going to be attacked with a nuclear bomb?” So, yeah, I think, you know, people are used to that, that kind of rhetoric with Mr. Trump, and many expect it to continue.

AMY GOODMAN: Reza Sayah, freelance journalist based in Tehran, Iran, where he’s reporting on the funeral of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for PBS and France 24. Thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe.

Coming up, an update on the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the jailed pediatrician, former director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital. He’s been imprisoned by Israel since December 2024. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Sheel, Sheel,” “Carry, Carry,” performed by the New York City Palestinian Youth Choir.