Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate meetings on Saturday with representatives of Hezbollah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Houthis on the sidelines of the funeral ceremonies for slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran's Press TV outlet reported.
Araghchi's Remarks on Resistance
“The Zionist enemy and the criminal U.S. imagine that they can destroy the resistance by physically assassinating its leaders,” Araghchi said in remarks published by the state-run outlet. “Yet in reality, the pure blood of the resistance martyrs has led to the disgrace and defeat of the American criminals and the Zionist regime.”
In a meeting with Mohammad Fneish, a Shi’a Lebanese politician and representative of Hezbollah, Araghchi reiterated that Tehran was seeking to end the war in Lebanon in ongoing talks with the United States. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s top diplomat told Hamas’s Muhammad Ismail Darwish, who heads the terrorist group’s leadership council, that Tehran would continue to support the Palestinian cause until the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Funeral Ceremonies Underway
Khamenei’s funeral got underway in Tehran on Friday, more than four months after he was targeted and killed in the opening Israeli Air Force strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury.” The multi-day ceremonies are scheduled to run through Thursday, when Khamenei is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
Thousands of mourners gathered at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla of Tehran mosque on Sunday, with some carrying red banners symbolizing revenge and chanting slogans calling for the deaths of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mojtaba Khamenei's Absence
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader following his father’s death, had not been seen at the ceremonies as of Sunday morning. The New York Times, citing two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a source involved in planning the funeral, reported that Mojtaba told officials he wants to attend the burial ceremony in Mashhad and lead the traditional prayer for the dead. However, security officials rejected the proposal over concerns Israel could attempt to assassinate the supreme leader at the ceremony or use it to track his whereabouts.
The younger Khamenei was injured in the airstrike that killed his father. While it is generally believed that Mojtaba is still alive, he has not appeared in public since the start of the war, and no images or audio recordings of him have been released.
Three of Ali Khamenei’s other sons — Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam Hosseini Khamenei — appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since the war began on Feb. 28, offering prayers over their father’s remains at the mosque, Iran International reported.
