Iranians mourn Khamenei as they gather for first Friday prayers during war

Worshippers wave Iranian flags and chant slogans against the US and Israel, as they gather to pray amid attacks and Ramadan.

Iranian worshipers, many holding portraits of the late assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have gathered in Tehran and other cities for the first Friday prayers since the United States-Israeli war on the country began seven days ago.

People chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans as they gathered for midday prayers on Friday during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, undeterred by a ferocious bombardment on the capital, an Al Jazeera team on the ground reported.

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Iranian flags were also waved as people prepared to pray, in a sign of support for the Iranian government amid the ongoing strikes, including an attack in the early hours of the conflict that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black streaming to an open space outside the Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital.

In the background of one video, a man speaking through a loudspeaker mourned Khamenei, describing him as “the embodiment of piety and guardianship in our time,” while others, seated on prayer rugs, openly wept.

Photographs showed worshippers marching in a demonstration against the US-Israeli war following prayers.

A woman holds a picture of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as government supporters march against the ongoing US-Israeli war after Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand mosque [Vahid Salemi / AP]

Similar scenes were observed in footage from other cities across Iran, including Ilam and Borujerd in the west and Zahedan in the southeast, AFP reported.

The prayers were held as the US and Israeli waves of strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, following threats from United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the bombardment was “about to surge dramatically”.

The latest strikes on the capital hit a military academy and sites near a street housing key political offices, where Khamenei was killed on Saturday, as well as residential buildings, parking lots and gas stations, according to reports.

Prayers amid war

Worshipers in many countries across the Middle East observed the third Friday prayers of Ramadan amid unprecedented threats and disruption amid the ongoing war.

While US and Israeli strikes hit Iran, the Israeli military also continued its attacks in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut. Huge numbers of Lebanese have been displaced by the Israeli attacks, amid Israeli orders to issue threats of forced displacement in targeted areas.

Meanwhile, countries across the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been targeted by Iranian drones or missiles in retaliatory strikes, mainly on US or Israeli presence.

And in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel’s Civil Administration said it had cancelled Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in the latest restrictions on activity at the complex.

Civil Administration Chief Brigadier General Hisham Ibrahim said on Thursday via the Israeli army’s Al Munasiq platform that the decision was taken in light of Iran launching retaliatory strikes at “Israel and the entire region”.