'Millions' of Iranians Fill the Streets for Ayatollah Khamenei's Funeral

Massive crowds have filled the streets in Iran for the funeral procession of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who the United States and Israel assassinated on February 28.

Key Details: The funeral will last six days total and culminate with a final burial in Khamenei's hometown of Mashhad on Thursday. Iran's New Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen at the public ceremonies, though three of his brothers made appearances. The New York Times (Lean Left bias) said its reporters "saw grieving supporters erupt in tears at the sight of the caskets of Ayatollah Khamenei and of several family members who were killed along with him."

Crowd Size: Outlets and commentators of different biases have framed the crowd size differently. On Saturday, The Guardian (Left) and American Conservative (Lean Right) which have often been critical of Israel in their Middle East coverage, said organizers claimed the crowd could reach up to 30 million. On Monday, The Guardian said a crowd of "millions" assembled to mourn. Max Blumenthal (Left) of The Grayzone (Left), another outlet critical of Israel, attended the funeral, which he said was the "largest" in history and had "millions" of attendees. BBC News (Center) said "thousands" took to the streets in its headline, but in its coverage wrote, "Iran's new leaders want this spectacle of millions of mourners, grieving and angry, to send a message of strength."

Vengeance Framing: The pro-Israel Fox News (Right), on the other hand, wrapped its funeral coverage into a live feed more widely focused on the pause in ceasefire negotiations and America's 250th birthday. The outlet prominently highlighted "Death to America" chants at the funeral and wrote, "President Donald Trump has given Iran a break for its funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but Iran is not stopping its war and 'revenge' rhetoric." Many mainstream outlets across the left-to-right spectrum, like Washington Post (Lean Left), Newsweek (Center), Times of Israel (Center), CBN (Right) and others, highlighted "Death to America" chants or other vengeful sentiments in headlines.

Commentary: Glenn Greenwald (Center), who has often been critical of Israel, wrote on X, "Max Blumenthal is in Iran, covering the massive turnout of Iranians for the funeral of Ali Khamenei (and his daughter and granddaughters), and somehow has survived despite being an American Jew. Almost impossible to imagine crowd sizes this large for a modern-day American leader." ZeroHedge (Lean Right) highlighted that Democratic Party operative Calla Walsh, who has worked for Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, attended the funeral. ZeroHedge framed Walsh as part of a trend within the Democratic Party where "earnest, idealistic" Gen Z Democrats are "mutat[ing] into something darker… as socialists and Islamists gain power in their party."

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