Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that any Iranian leader who seeks to destroy the Jewish state would be eliminated, as the funeral procession for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei got underway in Tehran.
“Khamenei, whose funeral is taking place now, was eliminated by Israel because he initiated and led the plan to destroy Israel in Iran and across the region,” Katz said in a Hebrew-language statement.
“The destroyer has been destroyed. Any Iranian leader who again tries to advance plans for Israel’s destruction will likewise be eliminated,” he vowed.
Katz said chants of “Death to Trump” during the funeral reflected “the true nature of the ayatollahs’ regime, beyond its campaign of smiles and deception.
“The powerful attack on Iran, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, removed the immediate existential threats hanging over Israel and severely damaged Iran’s strategic capabilities,” he continued. “Israel is prepared to once again defend itself, by its own forces, at any time and against any threat.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid Party) told JNS on Monday that Jerusalem reserves the right to act independently.
“Israel has always said that we’re going to retain the possibility of acting separately if any threat is being held against the security of the people of Israel,” Lapid said, speaking in English after his faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
“The United States is our greatest ally; we work with them, we have conducted this war, we’re engaged in this war with them, but if needs to be, Israel will act on its own in order to protect the people of Israel against this regime that is out for the total destruction and obliteration of the State of Israel,” he added.
A funeral procession for Khamenei kicked off the fourth day of week-long burial ceremonies on Monday morning.
Khamenei’s remains are set to be taken through the streets of Tehran on their way to Mehrabad International Airport in the western part of the capital.
The funeral cortege will last some 10 to 12 hours, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, who is overseeing the event, told state media.
Hassanzadeh said preparations for the procession began at 4 a.m. local time and that the procession would move from east to west.
Regime supporters lined the streets of Tehran early Monday, many carrying red flags symbolizing revenge, the IRGC-linked Fars News Agency reported.
Khamenei’s funeral ceremonies have been marked by repeated calls from Iranian officials, state media and regime supporters for the deaths of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said on Monday that Tehran had used the ceasefire with the United States to rebuild its military capabilities, according to Iran International.
“We are fully prepared and have used the ceasefire opportunity to improve our combat capability,” he said, warning that any attack on Iran would be met with a response “more crushing and more regret-inducing than before.”
The funeral ceremonies are scheduled to run through Thursday, when Khamenei is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed as the Islamic Republic’s third supreme leader following his father’s death, had not been seen at the ceremonies.
Three of Ali Khamenei’s other sons—Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam Hosseini Khamenei—appeared in public on Sunday for the first time since the war began on Feb. 28, offering prayers over their father’s body at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla of Tehran mosque, Iran International reported.
The New York Times, citing two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a source involved in planning the funeral, reported that Mojtaba Khamenei told officials he wants to attend the burial ceremony in Mashhad and lead the traditional prayer for the dead.
The newspaper cited the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the funeral preparations, as saying security officials had rejected the proposal over concerns Israel could attempt to assassinate the supreme leader at the ceremony or use it to track his whereabouts.
The younger Khamenei was injured in the airstrike that killed his father. While it is generally believed that Mojtaba is still alive, he has not appeared in public since the start of the war, and no images or audio recordings of him have been released.
