Thousands of people were participating in the state-organized mourning ceremony in the Iranian capital Tehran for the killed leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh.
The entire political elite of Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and new President Masoud Pezeshkian, were also present.
Khamenei conducted a prayer for the dead in front of Haniyeh’s coffin.
With chants like “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” the crowd expressed their support for Haniyeh and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as their resistance against Israel.
The Iranian government declared three days of national mourning after the targeted killing of the high-ranking Hamas leader in Tehran.
Haniyeh is due to be buried on Friday in his adopted homeland of Qatar.
Haniyeh was in Tehran on Tuesday for a visit to attend Pezeshkian’s inauguration as the new Iranian president when he became the victim of a night-time strike. Hamas and Iran accuse their arch-enemy Israel of carrying out the attack.
Experts say that it is still unclear what exactly led to his death, asserting that it was either an airstrike or a missile attack that caused it. The site of the attack was a “special residence” in northern Tehran – allegedly in the palace of the former Persian Shah – which is usually strictly guarded.
Hamas and Iran have both threatened imminent retaliation against Israel.
Khamenei and President Pezeshkian described a punitive action as the country’s legitimate right, given that the attack had been carried out on Iranian soil. In a crisis meeting on Wednesday, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council reviewed several scenarios but details have not yet been disclosed.
