Iran’s supreme leader absent from funeral of father Ali Khamenei

Three sons of killed ayatollah were seen beside coffin during ceremonies drawing huge crowds in Tehran

Three sons of the former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed beside his coffin and those of ⁠four other family members ⁠on Sunday, but Mojtaba, ​the son who has succeeded him as Iran’s supreme 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’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex.

In a show of public devotion to the theocratic state and revolutionary zeal, the country is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, including taking his remains to Shia religious sites in neighbouring Iraq.