TEHRAN, Iran — During Sunday’s funeral ceremony for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a performing poet stood before a crowd of hundreds of thousands in the capital city of Tehran and openly called for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump.
It marked the first time an emcee at the funeral directly made such a call, though the event had already featured posters and graffiti demanding the deaths of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These extreme sentiments have persisted even as Tehran continues negotiations with the United States aimed at permanently ending a war that has disrupted energy supplies around the world.
The poet, Mohammad Rasouli, stirred the crowd into chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” as he addressed mourners through loudspeakers.
Rasouli directed a pointed question at the crowd about Trump, asking: “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?” The crowd responded with loud cheers, and again erupted when Rasouli declared that “the world is no longer a good place for” Trump.
Sunday’s gathering drew significantly more attendees than the previous day’s ceremony. Mourners clad in black made their way to the funeral site, carrying flags and banners honoring Khamenei while also displaying messages calling for Trump’s killing — all while Trump was delivering a speech in Washington to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
During that Washington address, Trump spoke about the American military, saying: “We’ve had tremendous success. You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”
U.S. federal authorities have been monitoring Iranian threats against Trump and other members of his administration for years. The tension traces back to Trump’s 2020 order to kill Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who commanded the Quds Force, the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. While Iran has repeatedly denied any plot to assassinate Trump, hard-line propaganda produced in Iran has long suggested the American president was a target.
Khamenei, who led Iran for decades, was killed at the age of 86 in an airstrike on February 28 at the start of the Iran war. His funeral could serve to strengthen Iran’s theocratic government and bolster the standing of his son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has taken over as the country’s new supreme leader.
The political stakes are high as Iran attempts to use its strategic position along the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in ongoing peace negotiations with the United States, while also remaining on guard against the possibility of further Israeli military action.
The funeral had been postponed while the war continued, and diplomatic talks between the two nations are currently on hold pending the conclusion of the funeral proceedings.
