Three of Khamenei’s sons join mass mourning in Tehran, but not his successor

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes in late February, was Iran’s second and longest serving supreme leader.

He became head of state in 1989, after the death of his mentor and predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khomeini, who led the 1979 Islamic Revolution, died just under ten years after founding the Islamic Republic.

His funeral was recognized by Guinness World Records as having the “largest percentage of population to attend a funeral,” with an estimated 10.2 million people — equivalent to one sixth of the country’s population — in attendance, according to official Iranian estimates.

The events surrounding the funeral were chaotic, with eight people killed and hundreds injured, according to a report written by the Associated Press news agency at the time.

Iran’s semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) wrote about the 1989 funeral earlier this week, describing how the enormous crowds exceeded the numbers expected by authorities.

When Khomeini’s coffin began moving in a convoy, mourners surged towards it, causing a crowd crush and forcing the funeral procession to be abandoned, according to ISNA. The coffin was airlifted away from the scene by helicopter to allow the crowds to disperse, it said.

Some mourners scratched their faces until they bled in their grief, the AP reported at the time. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had to hit some mourners’ hands to get them to let go of Khomeini’s coffin as it passed through the crowds, it described.

Palestinians inspect rubble at the site of an Israeli strike in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, on May 24.

Fourteen-year-old Karam dribbles a blue, yellow and white football down a sandy path in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

“Life before the war was beautiful. But now, there is no life,” he told CNN.

Around the teenager, Gaza’s deep blue, sea-tipped horizon has turned into a panorama of burned farmland, charred orchards and mountains of rubble.

As the US and Iran try to turn their truce into long-term peace, CNN has spoken to residents of the Gaza Strip who say they are living in the ashes of what they see as another impotent US-led deal.

Last fall, Israel and Hamas signed a two-phase agreement after two years of bombing and siege in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. But since then the death toll in the territory has continued to climb.

Read more about what life has been like in Gaza since the ceasefire deal here.

The funeral of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is now in its second day, and expected to last until Thursday.

The commemoration began on Friday, when Khamenei’s coffin was put on display in Tehran.

Here’s a look at what has been planned for the six-day funeral procession:

‌Qatar and Iran have announced the resumption of maritime trade between their ports.

Qatar’s Transport Ministry said in a statement ⁠posted on X on Sunday ​that maritime activities would resume ⁠with immediate effect.

Iranian state media reported the reopening of Qatar’s Al-Ruwais port to Iranian goods and the resumption of maritime trade between the two countries. The route between Al-Ruwais and the Iranian port of Dayyer is the shortest commercial shipping route across the Persian Gulf.

Qatar is one of the chief mediators between Iran and the United States and has consistently argued for dialogue to end the Gulf conflict.

A week ago, the emirate had urged ⁠all vessels to suspend ​sailing ​and maritime ⁠activities until ⁠further ‌notice amid renewed tensions over shipping in the southern Gulf.

Mourners hold portraits of Iran's slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of his funeral ceremonies in Tehran on Saturday.

“Ayatollah,” an Arabic term meaning “sign of God” or “divine sign,” is a senior clerical title in Twelver Shiite Islam typically reserved for scholars who have spent decades studying and teaching Islamic jurisprudence and theology in seminaries.

An ayatollah is generally regarded as a mujtahid — a jurist qualified to use independent legal reasoning and issue religious rulings.

While “ayatollah” is fundamentally a religious title, it has become closely intertwined with political authority in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly because the country’s supreme leader is expected to have high-level religious credentials. Shiite Islam is Iran’s official state religion, followed by an estimated 90 to 95 percent of the population.

The title has also taken on heightened political significance in recent years as Iranian state-linked institutions and media increasingly referred to Mojtaba Khamenei as an “ayatollah” as part of an effort to bolster his religious standing.

Before succeeding his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei was widely described as a hojatoleslam, a rank below ayatollah.

Under Iran’s constitution, the supreme leader must be a senior Islamic jurist, and elevating Mojtaba Khamenei’s clerical rank was seen by observers as a way to strengthen the religious legitimacy required for succession.

Analysts say the move also signalled a preference among hard-line power centers, including elements aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for a continuity candidate during a period of heightened instability, given that Ali Khamenei was killed following a deadly airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.

Some context: A central question looming over the funeral is whether Mojtaba Khamenei will appear to lead prayers for his father.

Mojtaba is believed to have been seriously wounded in that attack, which also killed his mother and his wife. He has remained in hiding since the war began, communicating with his supporters only through written statements, never showing his face or using his voice.

A convoy of at least five vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz today via a route which hugs the Omani coastline, tracking data suggests, in the latest tentative example of how commercial traffic is starting to recover.

The convoy — moving toward the Gulf of Oman and led by Liberia-flagged laden crude oil tanker “Hafeet” — included three tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a container ship, according to data from maritime tracking agency MarineTraffic.

The crossings came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its Navy had deployed patrol boats to block the “Omani route,” while issuing radio warnings to ships using the corridor, Iranian media and a Telegram channel affiliated with the IRGC said.

Tehran says vessels must have its permission to cross the vital chokehold and must use its designated routes. But a growing number of ships are using a route close to the Omani coast, threatening Iran’s leverage over the waterway.

Meanwhile, several vessels including a Chinese-owned bulk carrier and Chinese-owned chemical tanker crossed the strait earlier Sunday in the opposite direction, using a route closer to the Iranian side of the channel, MarineTraffic data shows.

On Saturday, several vessels attempted to cross the critical waterway close to Oman but made abrupt U-turns. Windward, a shipping intelligence firm, said Sunday that those turnarounds coincided with IRGC patrol boats operating in the area. Four out of the eight ships which initially turned back yesterday have since crossed the strait.

People cool themselves under sprayed water as they attend a public farewell ceremony for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, in Tehran, on Sunday.

The mercury was well past 86 degrees Fahrenheit (above 30 Celsius) as the sun beat down on the Iranian streets full of mourners.

Not unusual for July in Tehran, it provided a further test to the thousands upon thousands of black-clad pilgrims.

Fire trucks hosed down the passing crowds, as countless stalls offered watermelon and cold drinks.

Rousing religious songs poured over the scene from enormous speakers as vendors sold flags sporting the late supreme leader’s smiling face.

The mood on the street wasn’t celebratory, but it was certainly upbeat.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society issued instructions for mourners to avoid heatstrokes, according to state media, including maintaining breathing space, avoid falling and continuing to move with the flow of the procession. Water was also sprayed on crowds from rooftops in an effort to cool down pilgrims.

CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government but maintains full editorial control of its reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning another meeting with US President Donald Trump at a critical time, amid ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as looming Israeli elections.

This will be Netanyahu’s seventh visit to the US to meet Trump, more than any other world leader. But it is his first since the US and Israel launched the opening strikes of the war against Iran in late February.

Since then, clear rifts in the relationship have emerged, with the leaders pursuing differing strategies on the Middle East.

Trump wants to pursue diplomacy with Iran; Netanyahu has long been skeptical of Tehran’s intentions and is ready to resume strikes on Iran. Trump has limited Israel’s military operations in Lebanon; Netanyahu is under domestic pressure to expand attacks on Hezbollah. The US is putting pressure on Israel to advance the Gaza ceasefire plan; Israel is striking Gaza nearly every day.

From Trump’s perspective, it’s the US calling the shots. Yesterday, Trump told Axios that Netanyahu “knows who the boss is.” But Netanyahu wants to influence those shots, especially with an upcoming election in Israel in late-October, in which the long-time Israeli leader’s coalition is trailing in the polls.

Trump was supposed to be a big part of Netanyahu’s re-election strategy, and he may still be. But many Israelis have grown skeptical of Trump over the ceasefire deal with Iran.

To be sure, the two leaders share many goals, including normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That would be a monumental shift in the Middle East, but the Saudis have made clear that won’t happen without a viable path toward a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has expressly rejected.

Three of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s children prayed over his body earlier today — but not Mojtaba, who succeeded him as Supreme Leader.

⁠Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam Khamenei were all seen mourning their father, as well as the four other family members killed, as their coffins lay at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran.

Mostafa, 64, is a Shiite cleric and the eldest of the late Supreme Leader’s children. He has had limited political activity and does not currently hold a position in the Iranian government. He is, however, described as influential in religious circles.

Masoud, 52, is also a cleric and the third son of the late Khamenei. He directs the Office for Preserving and Publishing Khamenei’s Works, which is responsible for preserving and promoting the Supreme Leader’s speeches. He controls a large propaganda apparatus, according to the pro-reform activist outlet Iranwire, with connections to multiple media outlets.

Meysam, 48, is the youngest of Khamanei’s children, and maintains a relatively low public profile compared to his siblings. He has also worked at the Office for Preserving and Publishing the Supreme Leader’s Works.

Others who made an appearance Sunday include Mojtaba’s father-in-law Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, and Khamenei’s son-in-law Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani – whose 4-year-old daughter, Zahra, was laid to rest in the small coffin.

In other news, two Romanian men were handed lengthy jail sentences by a British court on Friday for their part in a “targeted” knife attack, which left a prominent exiled Iranian journalist hospitalized.

Pouria Zeraati, a television anchor at the UK-based Iran International, was stabbed three times in his thigh outside his home in Wimbledon, southwest London in March 2024.

The two men — Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25 — were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, PA Media reported. Badea was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and Stana 12 years.

Overwhelming evidence pointed to this attack being carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime, said the trial’s presiding judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, according to PA.

“I am sure that this was an attack carried out for and for the benefit of a foreign power,” she said. “Pouria Zeraati was a well known critic of the regime and he had previously been subjected to threats, as had members of his family.”

Prosecutors argued that the attack had been planned for a year beforehand, during which time Bedea, and another man David Andrei, who remains in Romania and wasn’t on trial, visited the property eight times across five different dates.

The attack forced Zeraati to move abroad “for fear of any reprisals” and left him “scared and anxious,” he said in a victim impact statement.

Later on Friday, the UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the sentencing “sends a clear message to the Iranian regime and those who do its bidding.”

“For anyone to act on behalf of Iran and to plan and carry out an attack on a journalist, on British soil, is deplorable,” she added.