A huge crowd gathered at Khamenei’s funeral but Iran’s big leaders remained missing, former President and Mujtaba were also not seen.

Iran has bid final farewell to its former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was laid to rest in Mashhad on 9 July. He died in the American-Israeli airstrike on 28 February 2026. During Khamenei’s funeral, the most discussed issue was the absence of his son Mujtaba. However, other members of his family definitely attended his funeral.

Many former presidents were not seen at Khamenei’s funeral

According to CNN, Mujtaba did not attend the funeral due to security reasons. But the absence of many big political figures of Iran amid the crowd of millions of people at the funeral raised serious questions on the political future and unity of the country. Many former presidents were not seen during Khamenei’s funeral. This includes reformist leaders Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani. Khamenei had long-standing differences with him.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also absent during Khamenei’s funeral ceremony. His relations also deteriorated with the former Supreme Leader. However, on Monday, July 06, he was definitely seen in the funeral procession being given to Khamenei. After staying away from the political limelight for years, he appeared in public like this.

The absence of these big leaders at Khamenei’s final farewell raised new questions on the image of political unity of Iran, which Iranian officials wanted to project. However, experts say Iranian officials deliberately limited participation only to people close to the current leadership.

Iranian leadership had a great opportunity to show political unity

Arash Azizi, a US-based Iran expert and author of ‘What Iranians Want’, said organizers could have demonstrated political solidarity by including former presidents associated with reformist politics at Khamenei’s funeral. But instead he decided to include only the main and top officials of the government in the program.

Iran wanted to send this message through Khamenei’s funeral program

Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, said that despite losing its supreme leader, Tehran wanted to show that its system would continue to work. He can maintain continuity of rule. The huge crowd and the thoughtfully organized final farewell programs also indicate this. But the country’s conspicuous absence from the program also tells the world that its leadership still feels very insecure. Not trying to take everyone along.