Iran war live: Khamenei’s funeral march begins as mourners threaten Trump

Hundreds of thousands of mourners began a procession this morning through the Iranian capital of Tehran for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

His flag-draped coffin, and those of his family killed on 28 February in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the US, will be carried on board a truck.

Iranian authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday after the slain leader is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.

The new supreme leader of Iran did not attend the funeral of his father, although three of his other sons prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday.

There have been threats from mourners to avenge Khamenei's death. Iranian mourners were seen carrying signs calling for the killing of both US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US federal agencies have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump's ordering the 2020 killing of Gen Qassem Soleimani, who had led the elite Quds Force.

We are pausing this live blog now - please head over to The Independent’s homepage for more updates.

Explosion heard in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces “triggered an explosion” overnight in the town of Hula in Lebanon's Marjayoun district, according to Lebanon’s national news agency.

On Sunday, Israel's military chief visited forces deployed around Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon and vowed to push ahead with the campaign against Hezbollah.

"The IDF will continue to operate decisively to remove threats from Lebanese territory and is prepared to transition rapidly to offensive operations should the ceasefire be violated," Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir told soldiers during the visit.

Large crowds call for Iranian revenge against the West

The huge crowds of Iranians marched through the streets of Tehran on Monday in Ali Khamenei’s funeral procession have been calling for revenge against Iran’s Western foes/

Drone footage on state television showed many tens of thousands of people crammed into a boulevard in central Tehran.

How much of this is orchestrated and how much is organic support for the regime is unclear. What is certain is that it is a much needed show of public strength for a regime beleaguered by mass protests - that it brutally repressed - and a costly war with the US and Israel.

Caskets of the slain leader and four of his family members were driven in a large truck through the streets, while fire hoses sprayed water from above to keep the marchers cool.

As they passed under a bridge, mourners hurled stones at a billboard hung from above showing US president Donald Trump with a bullet aimed at his head.

"The US killed our father," it read. "We won't let you go!"

As demonstrators set fire to US and British flags, women in black chadors held aloft red placards with the English words "KILL TRUMP" in black letters.

Others held aloft posters with the faces of Trump, vice president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth or Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, each depicted in the crosshairs of a gunsight, with the words "There will be blood".

The larger crowds waved Iranian flags and red banners with a slogan calling out to the "avengers of Khamenei", adapting a phrase at the heart of Shi'ite Islam since the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was killed in battle in the seventh century.

No sign of current supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei

As we’ve been reporting, on Sunday, three sons of the slain leader prayed beside his coffin at a huge Tehran prayer hall.

But Mojtaba Khamenei, the son who succeeded him as Iran's supreme leader, did not make an appearance.

Believed to have been disfigured by wounds in the attack that killed his father, the younger Khamenei has yet to be seen in public since the war began on 28 February with Israeli and S airstrikes on Iran.

The mourning ceremonies began on Friday when the coffins of the elder Khamenei, one of his daughters and her 14-month-old child, one of his sons-in-law, and the wife of Mojtaba lay in state for Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries.

Further large-scale ceremonies were held outdoors on Saturday and Sunday before Monday's huge funeral procession.

Latest pictures from Ali Khamenei's funeral procession

Recap: Funeral postpones talks with US

As Ali Khamenei’s body is transported to cities in Iran and neighbouring Iraq, talks over reaching a permanent end to the US conflict appear to be on hold until the end of the funeral.

The funeral was in part a show of unity and defiance as Iran demands a measure of control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war.

The US has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear program.

The US assisted 70 transits of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday, a multinational maritime body overseen by the US Navy said Sunday.

It called traffic steady along routes near Oman and Iran but still below prewar levels. The threat level remained "substantial" and mine clearance and surveying work continued.

Netanyahu claims countries are secretly calling him to ‘make some deals’ after JD Vance’s rebuke of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against Vice President JD Vance’s criticism of him and Israel during a Sunday Fox News interview.

In June, Vance, speaking at a White House press briefing, put it bluntly as he addressed far-right Israeli ministers who’ve called for the war with Iran to continue: “I guess my response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of nine million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”

At that same conference, Vance referred to the U.S. as Israel’s sole remaining “powerful ally”, which Netanyahu sought to refute on Sunday.

In response, Netanyahu sarcastically quipped on Fox’s The Sunday Briefing that Israel retains the “tremendous support” of “small” India, which is home to over 1.4 billion people.

Netanyahu claims Christians in Lebanon sought Israeli annexation

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel to protect themselves from Hezbollah.

“Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,” Netanyahu told Fox News, without naming which villages had sought annexation.

Earlier on Friday, residents of Christian villages in the Marjeyoun district rejected reports claiming they had sought annexation, saying in a statement that they had “no power nor the legal right” to make decisions of such magnitude.

The villages reaffirmed their “loyalty to their national identity” and their “attachment to their Lebanese flag”.

Iranian hardline newspaper calls for avenging Ali Khamenei's killing

Hardline Iranian newspapers have called for avenging Ali Khamenei’s killing in their editions published this morning.

The Asr-e Iranian newspaper devoted its front page to the demand, using the headline: “Blood for blood", according to Iran International.

It said that the revenge was “the right of the people and the duty of officials.”

Nobonyad newspaper asked: “Why shouldn’t we kill the one who killed our leader?”

Body of late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei arrives in Tehran as thousands gather to pay tribute - ICYMI