Mourners enter Khamenei’s funeral venue ahead of processions; huge crowds expected

Thousands of mourners enter Tehran’s Grand Mosalla for the funeral ceremonies of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, AFP journalists say, ahead of the official start.

The main courtyard of the vast complex is filled with people as authorities impose extensive traffic restrictions across the capital. Another AFP journalist sees mourners walking several kilometers to reach the venue.

Huge crowds are expected to pay their final respects to Khamenei at the start of marathon funeral ceremonies intended to serve as a show of strength to the Islamic Republic’s foes.

Iranian authorities say they anticipate between 15 and 20 million participants in Tehran alone over the next three days for tributes to the man who ran the country for three-and-a-half decades.

Six days of funeral ceremonies are planned to commemorate Khamenei, who ruled Iran as its number one from 1989 until his killing aged 86 on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.