The Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was banned from attending his father’s funeral on Saturday, following fears that Israel would attempt to assassinate him, The New York Times reported.

Khamenei hasn’t been seen in the public eye since he was wounded in the airstrike that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the first day of the war between Israel, the US, and Iran.

The funeral for the former Iranian Supreme Leader began on Saturday in Tehran with chants of “death to America, death to Israel,” while the ceremonies are expected to last at least a week with events across the country.

Television footage showed Khamenei’s coffin draped with the Iranian flag and topped with his black turban. It was placed, along with four other coffins of his slain family members, on a large black platform that resembled the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure at the center of Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.

The vast courtyard of the complex, the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, was filled with mourners, many waving Iranian flags and carrying photographs of the slain leader.

“‘Death to America’ chants echoed through Tehran’s Mosalla on the day of the farewell to ‘Mr. Martyr’,” state broadcaster Seda va Sima said.

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