Large crowds of black-clad mourners gathered outside Tehran’s main mosque to pay their respects to Iran’s former supreme leader on the first day of his funeral commemorations.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body is currently in Greater Mosalla, ahead of his eventual burial in his hometown of Mashhad next Thursday.

Authorities expect between 15 million and 20 million people to attend the ceremonies across Iran and Iraq over the next few days, which will take place more than four months after Khamenei was killed in US and Israeli strikes.

Masses of supporters of the Islamic regime turned out on Saturday morning, apparently chanting slogans against the United States and in support of revenge for the assassination of the ayatollah.

“We came [to the funeral] because we promised the supreme leader that we would support him until the end,” Professor Reza, 37, told AFP in the courtyard of Greater Mosalla.

“For a long time we shouted that we would sacrifice our lives for the leader, but it was he who sacrificed himself for us.”

Arash Rahimi, 40, told Reuters: “Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their supreme leader.

“As our leader has said, we have a blood feud with the United States. Our relations with the United States will never be good.”

Khamenei was killed during joint Israeli-US attacks on Iran in late February, in what quickly escalated into a broader regional conflict.

US President Donald Trump said Iran’s government was “dying to reach a peace deal to end the war after a preliminary agreement was reached between the two, adding on Friday: “We gave them [Iran] a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.

Much of central Tehran will be closed over the weekend as the funeral ceremony begins. It is expected to be the largest funeral ever held in terms of attendees as a proportion of the country’s population.

Khamenei’s body will remain in Greater Mosalla for three days, along with the remains of his relatives who also died in the airstrikes.

Then there will be three more days of events outside the capital.