{"id":146,"date":"2026-07-05T13:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=146"},"modified":"2026-07-05T13:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:18:09","slug":"ayatollah-khamenei-funeral-attended-by-sons-but-iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khamenei-is-absent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"Ayatollah Khamenei funeral attended by sons \u2014 but Iran supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is absent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-n09rg6xnt-1783237148810.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261783222781\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Three sons of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/04\/us-news\/iranians-mourn-late-ayatollah-khamenei-whose-nuclear-quest-brought-war-during-dayslong-funeral\/\">slain Iranian leader\u00a0Ayatollah Ali \u200bKhamenei<\/a>\u00a0prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son \u200cwho has <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/08\/world-news\/mojtaba-khamenei-named-irans-next-supreme-leader\/\">succeeded him as\u00a0Iran\u2019s\u00a0supreme leader<\/a>, did not make an appearance.<\/p>\n<p>State TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Tehran\u2019s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex.<\/p>\n<p>In a show of public devotion to the theocratic \u200bstate and revolutionary zeal, the Islamic Republic is <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/04\/world-news\/trump-says-iran-gets-week-off-for-lengthy-khamenei-funeral-isnt-that-nice\/\">staging a week of\u00a0mass funeral processions\u00a0for Khamenei<\/a>, including taking \u200bhis remains to Shi\u2019ite religious sites in neighboring Iraq.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mourners pray during a public farewell ceremony to pay their respects to late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran, Iran, July 4, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After a day lying in state indoors for \u2060senior Iranian leaders and foreign officials to visit, Khamenei\u2019s coffin was displayed outdoors on Saturday under glass, along with those \u200bof his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and 14-month-old granddaughter.<\/p>\n<p>There has still been no public sighting or image released of Mojtaba, said to \u200bhave been injured in the attack that killed his father and the other family members on February 28, when Israel and the US bombed Iranian targets at the start of the war.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/23\/us-news\/iran-supreme-leader-mojtaba-khameneis-face-is-so-disfigured-hell-need-plastic-surgery\/\">face was disfigured\u00a0and he suffered a significant injury to one or both legs<\/a>, people close \u200bto his inner circle told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>A ceasefire has suspended the four-month-old war under an\u00a0agreement with Washington\u00a0that Iran\u2019s authorities say \u200bwill ultimately bring huge economic benefits, in line with what they describe as a victory over a superpower.<\/p>\n<p>President Trump\u00a0told the Axios \u200cnews \u2060website that peace talks had been paused for a week for the events surrounding the funeral.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Islamic Republic is staging a week of\u00a0mass funeral processions\u00a0for Khamenei. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mourners pay their respects to Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf prayed behind the coffins. <\/p>\n<p>Masoud Khamenei was seen crying and wiping his tears with a keffiyeh \u2014 the checkered scarf that is a symbol in Iran of militant revolutionary ideals and solidarity with Palestinians \u2014 as an imam \u200brecited funeral prayers.<\/p>\n<p>Crowds of Iranians, \u200bmany weeping and some beating \u2060their chests, have thronged the Mosalla, including overnight.<\/p>\n<p>The Iranian metro railway network said it had clocked 7 million trips from late on Saturday to Sunday morning as people flocked to \u200bthe centre.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in Israeli and US airstrikes. <span class=\"credit\">KHAMENEI.IR\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran\u2019s current supreme leader, did not appear at his late dad\u2019s funeral on Sunday. <span class=\"credit\">ISNA\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After what authorities are billing as a massive procession in central Tehran on Monday, \u200bthe remains will \u2060be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the centre of Iran\u2019s Shi\u2019ite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>From there the body will be flown to Iraq for ceremonies in the Shi\u2019ite holy shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p> It will return \u2060to Iran \u200bon Thursday for another procession in Mashhad, to be buried near the \u200btomb of another of the medieval Shi\u2019ite imams.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities plan to mobilize millions of people for big processions over the coming days, offering transport, food and lodging.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three sons of slain Iranian leader\u00a0Ayatollah Ali \u200bKhamenei\u00a0prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son \u200cwho has succeeded him as\u00a0Iran\u2019s\u00a0supreme leader, did not make an appearance. State TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Tehran\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-n09rg6xnt-1783237148810.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1783222781&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}