Khamenei’s Funeral Happened At America And Israel’s Mercy. What It Revealed About Iran, Its Neighbors, And What Comes Next.
Only Four Heads Of State Or Government Showed Up: Georgia, Iraq, Tajikistan, And Pakistan. Most Arabs And Muslims Skipped. Russia, China, And India Sent Lower-Level Delegations.
The Funeral. Despite all the images that inundate the media, the truth is that the Middle East and the world did not stop for Ali Khamenei’s funeral. Tehran wanted a regional and international climax. Instead, it revealed something else: no major leader came, allies hedged, and security fears dominated.
No Change. Any signs of new thinking in Iran? None. Regime loyalists proudly flaunted placards and banners calling to murder American and Israeli leaders.
The Shame. President Trump cut Iran down to size: “We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.” It was vintage Trump. It was also strategically revealing. America and Israel gave the regime time to bury the man whose system spent decades chanting death to America and Israel. This speaks to the higher moral ground we hold against a regime known as the world’s biggest state sponsor of terror.
The Drama. You don’t want to miss this newsletter. Let’s unpack what the funeral told us about Iran, its neighbors, and the regime’s standing after the war.
… But first, a photo that still says everything. Don’t miss the caption.
Some Images Stay In Our Memory Forever: Rimon Kirsht staring down a Hamas terrorist during her release from captivity. If you ever feel overwhelmed by the noise, the hatred, the slogans, and the people who excuse terror as politics, remember this moment. It shows courage after unimaginable fear. It shows dignity after cruelty. It shows a woman refusing to let Hamas define the final frame of her captivity. Read more about this moment here.
POOR SHOWING BY IRAN’S PARTNERS AND ARAB/MUSLIM NEIGHBORS.
The Funeral Pause, courtesy of America And Israel. President Trump said it plainly in his Fourth of July remarks: “We gave them a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.”
That one line deflated the image of defiance that Iran constructed in the lead-up to the funeral.
The President later explained that Iranian leaders were gathered in one place, but the United States chose not to strike and finish them off because then there would be nobody left to negotiate with. That is the real context.
A New Warning. After the funeral, the President issued a fresh warning to the Iranians, almost reminding them the week off is over, declaring the U.S. is prepared to completely dismantle the country’s infrastructure “in a small part of an afternoon” if a diplomatic deal cannot be reached. “We’re going to win one way or the other. We’re going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job, okay. And it won’t be tough to finish the job. I’d rather make a deal, because I don’t want to affect 91 million people. We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply. We can knock out their electricity and power generating plants. And I would say in a small part of an afternoon, every plant will be gone. And they know that.”
The Guest List.
Top leaders of Russia, China, and India, robust partners of the regime since 1979, were absent. RussianPresident Putin dispatched a special presidential envoy, China sent a deputy parliament speaker, and Indiasent a deputy foreign minister alongside a governor of one of its 28 states in the union.
57 Arab and Muslim countries, but only 9 showed up. They are the parliament speakers of Oman and Qatar, defense minister of Lebanon, vice president of Turkey, prime minister of Pakistan, president of Iraq, president of Tajikistan, foreign minister of Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia’s deputy foreign minister.
The Saudi participation was likely a last-minute decision. It was not announced by the Iranians in advance, and it was not a high-level endorsement for the Iranian regime. What it did was to fulfil a diplomatic protocol between warring neighbors.
But Saudis And Iranians locked horns on social media after the first day of the funeral, after the Iranians played a verse from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, as the Saudi delegation entered the hall. The verse implied that Iran defeated Saudi Arabia in the war, and that Iran stood with the divine truth and the Saudis did not. Not Nice! More in this video below.
The Iranians played a verse from the Muslim holy book as Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Al-Khreiji filed past Khamenei’s casket. The Saudis say the verse was manipulated to show other Muslims that the Iranian regime was on the side of good while Saudi Arabia sided with evil. The Saudis were livid on social media. Play this video
Qataris Walked Out? There are unconfirmed reports that the Qatari delegation pulled out of the remainder of the event to protest the Iranian regime’s playlist of holy verses, played as specific delegations filed past the casket, that seemed to belittle Iran’s Arab neighbors. The Iranian playlist literally portrayed the regime as the righteous party and the neighbors as wrongdoers in the eyes of God. This might not sound important to someone in Brooklyn but it can lead to wars in the Middle East!
The Tally? In all, out of nearly 200 countries in the world, only four heads of state or government showed up: the presidents of Georgia, Iraq, and Tajikistan, and the prime minister of Pakistan. Not exactly an A-list.
Taliban Angry Too. And it’s not just the Arabs. The Iranian regime also managed to anger the Taliban government of Afghanistan by inviting their rival Afghan factions and giving them state protocol. Taliban supporters on social media accused Iran of double standards for inviting both Taliban officials and anti-Taliban Afghan figures. Taliban Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the ceremony. But so did Ahmad Massoud, shown on the right in the picture below. He is the leader of an anti-Taliban faction, and Mohammad Mohaqiq, the head of another faction. Taliban supporters on X criticized Tehran over the invitations, urging the Taliban regime to summon Iran’s ambassador, or retaliate by inviting to Kabul members of the Iranian Sunni insurgent group Jaish al-Adl, which Iran considers a terrorist group. [Read more about this sideshow here].
A Million Views For A Fake Video. Some pro-regime content online tried to turn the funeral into proof of mass devotion. At least one viral video showing huge crowds was reportedly AI-generated and circulated by an account outside Iran. The funeral became not only a state event, but also an influence operation. This viral video below that showed a sea of mourners in Tehran turned out to be AI generated, and it wasn’t even uploaded from inside Iran. Turned out the video was uploaded by an account created or based in neighboring Pakistan; another proof the regime has more proxy backers outside Iran than inside. See the video below and two screenshots that give a glimpse into an operation meant to amplify the Iranian funeral.
Click here to see this AI generated video uploaded by an account claiming to show a sea of mourners in Tehran. The account turned out to be operating out of Pakistan.
The X account pushing a video that showed a sea of mourners in Iran turned out to be fake, both the video and the account. You can see both here.
The Incitement. The regime also used the occasion to show that its ideology has not changed. Loyalists carried banners calling to “Kill Trump,” displayed threats against President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and continued the same anti-American and anti-Israel messaging that brought the region to this point. Here are some interesting examples.
A still from a state media video from Iran that shows regime supporters carrying a #KillTrump banner in red alongside the yellow flag of Hezbollah, the terror group in Lebanon that acts as the regime’s terror vanguard in the region and the world. [source]
Iranian Bounty On Trump. Islamic Republic loyalists attending the funeral of Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday carried a large banner reading, “Kill Trump – $100 Million Iranian Bounty,” during the procession. See the source and play the video below.
A $100 million bounty for killing the U.S. President, in Tehran on Monday. Click to watch the video
A Wanted Poster For Trump And Netanyahu in Tehran. A large poster depicting US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as wanted men was displayed on Monday among crowds attending the funeral procession. The poster carried English-language threats, including “There will be blood” and “Kill Trump,” alongside images of Trump and Netanyahu marked with crosshairs, echoing calls by Iranian officials and pro-government figures who repeatedly called for revenge over Khamenei’s elimination.
Source: Iran International
Another Kill Trump poster in Tehran during the funeral:
Senator Lindsey Graham, in an X post, on Khamenei funeral participants raising banners calling to kill him: “At least they used a good photo of me. Judge me by my enemies.”
Wait … There’s Also A Meme War Underway. The funeral also became open season for meme-makers. One image making the rounds [see below] showed Khamenei holding a “Death to Israel” placard while Netanyahu stood behind him, measuring him for a nearby casket.
Araghchi’s Diatribe Against CENTCOM. Even before the burial, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi objected to Arab military commanders meeting with the CENTCOM chief in Bahrain for a regional security dialogue focused on threats from Iran and its proxies. Many Arabs, Israelis, and Americans responded to the Iranian minister by reminding him which regime spent 47 years exporting instability across the region.
The CENTCOM posted a photo on X of 12 Arab army commanders meeting with the CENTCOM commander in Bahrain. Iran’s foreign minister responded to the meeting with a post in English on X. [source]
