TEHRAN : Hundreds of thousands of mourners led by Iran\u2019s supreme leader gathered at Tehran University early on Tuesday for the funeral of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
\nState television showed people pouring on to the streets around the campus where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the eulogies for Rafsanjani despite their “differences”.
\nPresident Hassan Rouhani, parliament speaker Ali Larijani and his brother judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani accompanied the supreme leader at the prayers.
\nFormer president Mohammad Khatami, an ally of Rafsanjani but long out of favour with the regime, was not part of the official delegation at the service.
\nThe heavyweight politician, who died on Sunday at the age of 82, will be buried inside the crypt of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran\u2019s 1979 Islamic revolution.
\nKhomeini\u2019s mausoleum is in south Tehran.
\nBlack banners were raised in Tehran and some posters showed the supreme leader and Rafsanjani together smiling. Another poster said “good bye, old combatant”.
\nFree bus or metro travel was provided to the funeral venue.
\nSince Rafsanjani\u2019s death, messages of condolence have poured in both from at home and and abroad.
\nEven the White House sent a message, unprecedented since the 1979 revolution that led to cutting of ties between Tehran and Washington.
\n“Former president Rafsanjani was a prominent figure throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States sends our condolences to his family and loved ones,” spokesman Josh Ernest said.
\n“He was a consequential figure inside Iran. But you know, for what potential impact this could have on Iranian policy, I wouldn\u2019t speculate.”
\nOne of Iran\u2019s most controversial figures in the West, the head of its Revolutionary Guards\u2019 foreign operations division, Major General Qassem Suleimani, was seen at the funeral.
\nRafsanjani was a father-figure for Iran\u2019s moderate and reformist camps.
\nHe fell out of the regime\u2019s highest inner circle after the 2009 re-election of hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when he spoke out against the use of lethal force on protesters who claimed the vote was rigged.
\nVideo clips published on social media showed pockets of mourners in the streets around the funeral venue chanting slogans in support of Khatami and fellow reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi.
\nMousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, two of the losing candidates in the 2009 election, have been under house arrest since 2011 for leading the so-called Green Movement protests that the regime calls “sedition”.
\nKhatami is under a strict media ban and often prevented from attending public events.
\nRafsanjani\u2019s son Mohsen invited people to attend the service “in full tranquility”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN : Hundreds of thousands of mourners led by Iran\u2019s supreme leader gathered at Tehran University early on Tuesday for the funeral of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. State television showed people pouring on to the streets around the campus where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the eulogies for Rafsanjani despite their “differences”. President Hassan Rouhani, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n