Tehran: A performer at the funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of US President Donald Trump before a crowd of thousands of people on Sunday in the capital, Tehran.
The comment represents the first, direct call for Trump's death by an emcee at the funeral, which has seen posters and graffiti calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The crucial demand comes as Tehran negotiates with the US over a permanent end to the war that's disrupted global energy supplies.
Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, drew calls of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Speaking to the crowd over loudspeakers at the funeral, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?”
The question drew cheers from the crowd
Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, later led a prayer at Tehran's Grand Mosalla for Khamenei and his late family members. On hand were Khamenei's sons Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, as well as Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Revolutionary Guard head Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Also there was Esmail Qaani, who leads the Guard's expeditionary Quds Force.
Iran's new supreme leader and another son of Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was the one found absent from the funeral processions. He's believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father. He is not attending mainly due to the death threats and security concerns from the opposing sides.
