©picture alliance / NurPhoto | Morteza Nikoubazl
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed in a written message on Saturday that the death of his father and predecessor will be avenged. According to him, retribution is “a demand of the nation” and must “certainly” follow. Via his Telegram channel, he wrote that Iran will avenge the “blood of the martyred leader and of all the martyrs.”
The message came during the funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in an airstrike at the start of the Israeli-American war against Iran. Ali Khamenei led the country for 37 years and was buried in Mashhad, his hometown in northeastern Iran, following a six-day mourning ceremony.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as Supreme Leader, has not appeared in public since his appointment in March. According to Reuters, he may still be recovering from injuries he sustained in the same attack that killed his father. His absence is fueling speculation about internal tensions in Tehran and security concerns surrounding the new leader. The mourning ceremonies in Iran also took on a distinctly anti-American and anti-Israeli tone. During the funeral in Mashhad, slogans such as “Death to America” were chanted, and in some places, messages were displayed calling for revenge for the former leader’s death.
This threatening rhetoric fits into the tense context between the two countries and Israel, as an ally of the U.S. The war between Iran on one side and the U.S. and Israel on the other lasted more than five weeks, until a provisional ceasefire was agreed upon in early April. But despite that ceasefire, tensions have flared up again. This week, the U.S. and Iran carried out new attacks in the Gulf region.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump reacted strongly to the Iranian threats. He said he had ordered the U.S. military to prepare for heavy retaliatory strikes if Iran were to attempt to assassinate him. Trump stated on Truth Social that thousands of missiles are on standby and that Iran would be completely destroyed if the regime actually tried to kill him.
©picture alliance / NurPhoto | Morteza Nikoubazl - Foto: Vrouwelijke pro-regeringsaanhangers dragen tijdens de begrafenis van Irans overleden Opperste Leider ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Teheran borden met boodschappen tegen de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump en de Israëlische premier Benjamin Netanyahu.