Supreme leader’s coffin creeps through crowds in Tehran as Trump effigy is hanged

Middle East ConflictIran begins funeral procession through Tehran for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiAuthorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday as Khamenei, 86, is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleIranians mourn former supreme leader01:14Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 6, 2026, 12:58 AM EDT / Updated July 6, 2026, 7:12 AM EDTBy Chantal Da SilvaA truck carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei crawled through Tehran’s thronged streets to chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” on Monday.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Some in the huge crowds, which were kept from getting too close the the convoy by large numbers Iranian military and police, openly wept, while others called for revenge against President Donald Trump.A Reuters photograph showed at least one effigy of Trump being hanged. Red, white and green Islamic Republic flags and red banners with lettering calling for revenge lined the route.Mourners hang an effigy President Donald Trump in Tehran.Alkis Konstantinidis / ReutersAlongside Khamenei, who was 86, lay coffins of family members also killed in the airstrike on Feb. 28 that brought an end to the supreme leader’s nearly four-decade rule, when the U.S. and Israel launched an attack triggering the war with Iran.Latticework typical to the shrine of an imam, or religious leader, festooned the side of the truck carrying the coffins. Photographs of Khamenei hung throughout the Iranian capital. In some he is seen with his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has been named supreme leader but hasn’t appeared in public or issued an audio statement since the war began. Another photo shows Khamenei with the superimposed image of a green-eyed little girl, his 14-mont...