{"id":1752,"date":"2026-07-06T13:50:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/07\/06\/khameneis-funeral-reflects-a-real-sense-of-unity-analyst-video\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:50:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:50:46","slug":"khameneis-funeral-reflects-a-real-sense-of-unity-analyst-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1752","title":{"rendered":"Khamenei\u2019s funeral reflects \u2018a real sense of unity\u2019 \u2013 analyst (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The high turnout reveals the unwillingness of Iranians to allow the US to decide who will govern them, Christopher Helali has told RT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands are attending the funeral of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran in a clear display of solidarity and defiance by the country\u2019s people, geostrategic analyst Christopher Helali, who is attending the ceremony, has told RT.<\/p>\n

Khamenei was assassinated in an airstrike on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, along with several close relatives, including his son-in-law, daughter and 14-month-old granddaughter. His son Mojtaba Khamenei, who was wounded in the attack, was chosen to succeed him as the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

In an interview with RT on Monday, Helali told RT that there is \u201ca real sense of unity\u201d<\/em> at the funeral.<\/p>\n

By showing up to the ceremony in such massive numbers, the Iranians are signaling that \u201cthey want to have a strong country, a stable country, a resilient country, and they want their sovereignty,\u201d<\/em> he said.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Deputy
US had no reason to attack Iran \u2013 Medvedev<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very important thing. That\u2019s a red line. They won\u2019t allow America or the Zionist regime, as they say [referring to Israel], to dictate to them what government they can have and how they can live,\u201d<\/em> the analyst stressed.<\/p>\n

According to Helali, Khamenei\u2019s funeral has also completely negated Washington\u2019s narrative that Iran is in international isolation.
<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOver 120 countries are represented here,\u201d<\/em> he said, adding that not only \u201cmost of the Global South,\u201d<\/em> but nations viewed as the US allies like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also sent delegations, he said.<\/p>\n

The presence of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chair of the Security Council, at the ceremony was \u201cvery important,\u201d<\/em> the analyst noted.<\/p>\n

Moscow and Tehran \u201cfind themselves\u2026 in the closest point they\u2019ve ever been in history\u2026 and I believe that in the coming years, we\u2019re going to see an even deeper relationship\u2026 as they confront the same hostile Euro-Atlantic forces that seek to destroy their sovereignty,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Mourners demand \u2018revenge\u2019 for slain Iranian leader (VIDEOS)
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Khamenei\u2019s funeral, which is taking place between June 3 and 9, will see the supreme leader\u2019s body transferred through at least five cities, with an estimated 30 million expected to participate in the mourning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The high turnout reveals the unwillingness of Iranians to allow the US to decide who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}