tehran, iran —
It’s been a historic week for Iran.
This is the second time in the Islamic Republic’s nearly 50-year history that the country has buried its supreme leader. Ali Khamenei ruled Iran for almost 40 years as a spiritual leader and iron-fisted dictator. For many in Iran, he is the only leader they have known.
Then, as frenzied funeral festivities reached a crescendo, American bombs and missiles struck across the country in retaliation for Iranian attacks on civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Just a few months ago, such an attack would have been a seismic event for the region. But after two wars in nine months, there was a sense of weary resignation when news of the airstrikes hit Tehran on Wednesday.
Just a week in Iran’s capital gave me an eye-opening insight into where the country is today.
The government claimed this week that more than 10 million mourners attended the funeral of late Ayatollah Khamenei. The numbers are nearly impossible to assess independently, but at least hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets in Tehran for Monday’s funeral procession. Much of the 20-kilometer (12-mile) march route was a river of black-clad mourners carrying red flags of martyrdom and revenge.
While many in Tehran chose to distance themselves from the funeral (literally), we drove into Tehran to avoid the traffic jams as locals left the city to enjoy the national holiday elsewhere. The funeral event was filled with Shiite believers and people loyal to the government.
The weight of support revealed this week casts doubt on the idea that regime change in Iran is a viable proposition for Iran’s enemies abroad — after all, when the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran in February, U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to overthrow the leadership.
The funeral, especially the procession in Tehran on Monday, was a very emotional event. This is not uncommon among followers of Shiite Islam, a tradition that is an outward expression of faith. However, the funeral seems to have been very personal for many in attendance.
“I loved him more than my father. It’s like I lost my father again,” Nafiseh Sadat Sadri, 30, told CNN. “I feel like I’m an orphan, and it warms my heart.”
“He was our leader. He was a great person,” said Fatemeh, 25. “I plan to continue on his path.” She drove overnight from the central Iranian city of Kashan to join the funeral procession.
Some wanted something in return.
“We came here to avenge the blood of our leader. We are not going to put this aside for even a second,” a young woman named Mahtab Ehsani told CNN as she stood in the crowd waiting for Khamenei’s coffin on Monday. “Blood must be returned with blood.”
“We will not rest until we kill President Trump,” said Qasem Karate, a cleric from Tehran.
I also received a phone call from the person in charge. Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, said in a statement Thursday that this week was “not just a farewell ceremony or a memorial…it was a call, signed by millions of grieving mourners, for revenge for a beloved man.”
Anger towards America and most importantly Trump was everywhere. Every day, dozens of mourners come to us and promise to kill the US president in retaliation for the assassination of their leader.
Throat-slitting gestures and chants of “Kill Trump” and “Death to America” were common reactions to a team of international journalists, but the CNN team also encountered “Welcome,” greetings, polite questions and requests for selfies.
During this year’s Ramadan war, the atmosphere was much darker.
Without warning, a U.S. bomb fell from the Iranian night sky, leaving many fearing for their safety and creating even more open hostility in the streets. Public anger became more raw as the country dealt with a rain of bombs from the sky, largely unchecked.
That doesn’t mean we only heard blind obedience to the party line.
“I am criticizing the authorities of my country,” Tayebeh Sadat, a government official in Tehran, told CNN. “They were supposed to do the right thing with the people overseas, and they didn’t. The negotiations were against the will of the nation. They wasted all the efforts of our military.”
Slogans “No negotiating with the devil” and “Cursed be those who negotiate” were scrawled in chalk on the wall separating men and women from the huge mosque complex in Mosalla, which Khamenei took over as state-run this week. Meanwhile, this week a video purportedly showing Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi throwing stones while walking through the streets of Tehran was circulated on social media by both pro-government and anti-government accounts. CNN has not been able to independently verify the video.
Relieving U.S.-led sanctions will be central to negotiations with the United States. Still, some may choose the dire economic hardship imposed on the Iranian people over a deal with President Trump.
The country currently suffers from an unemployment rate of around 8%, as estimated by the United Nations, and inflation, estimated by the World Bank, of over 40%. Even before the war, the economy was struggling, with per capita national income falling from about $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024.
The government’s months-long internet shutdown has strangled parts of the economy that relied on the World Wide Web, especially businesses with overseas customers.
What is clear is that Iran has no confidence in the United States. Ongoing negotiations have been twice derailed by US-led bombing campaigns. During President Trump’s first term, he unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, reached after years of careful negotiations with European allies.
Before the memorandum and its fragile ceasefire were scrapped on Wednesday, it was clear that the two countries read the agreement in very different ways. Taking paragraph 5 as an example, it goes on to say that Iran will “use its best efforts to make arrangements for the safe passage of commercial ships free of charge for a period of 60 days…” and states that Iran will discuss “future administrative and maritime services” with neighboring Oman.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said this means a return to prewar conditions of free passage through the strait. In Iran, Tehran was already planning a maritime service fee, a toll by a different name, for ships in transit, with a slightly different interpretation of the same article. The Iranians also considered themselves responsible for setting the conditions for passage through the strait, Iranian officials said.
As with many things, the view from Tehran is very different.
CNN operates only with permission from the Iranian government but maintains full editorial control of its coverage.
