TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran began a procession on Monday through its capital, Tehran, for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei._x000D_
_x000D_
Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, and those of his family killed on Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, will be carried on board a truck._x000D_
_x000D_
They will be taken through the streets of Tehran on their way to Mehrabad International Airport._x000D_
_x000D_
Iranian state television reported the procession had started._x000D_
_x000D_
Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began on Saturday and will end on Thursday as the 86-year-old Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace._x000D_
_x000D_
The US is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial._x000D_
_x000D_
As the funeral has gone on, however, there’s increasingly been threats from mourners to avenge Khamenei’s death. Mourners and the signs they carry have called for the killing of both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu._x000D_
_x000D_
US federal authorities 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. Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs._x000D_
_x000D_
Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran’s civilization during the war, among other threats._x000D_
_x000D_
“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,†mourner Fatima Hassan said Monday morning. “We are not here to say goodbye to him, we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.â€Three sons of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son who has succeeded him as Iran’s supreme leader, did not make an appearance.
