On July 4, 2026 (Day 128 of the Iran-Israel-US war, Operation Epic Fury / Saturday), the biggest state funeral in Iran’s history opened — on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, a timing authorities did not acknowledge and did not need to, as “Death to America” and “revenge, revenge” echoed through Tehran’s Grand Mosalla. DAY ONE: hundreds of thousands of mourners filled the vast complex — gender-segregated crowds in black waving the blood-red flags that signify a call for vengeance under Shia Islam, beating their chests before the glass case holding Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin, his black clerical turban atop it marking descent from the Prophet. The caskets of the family killed with him on February 28 sat beneath his — his eldest daughter, a son-in-law, the wife of his son and successor, and, displayed prominently, the tiny coffin of his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani. An outdoor stage had been rebuilt as the husseiniyah where he once preached: his chair, a microphone on a stand, a table beside it, Khomeini’s image above — an empty chair as the regime’s central image. Mourners walked miles through extensive traffic restrictions to reach the venue; mist cannons sprayed the crowds against heat nudging 40°C; authorities advised visitors not to rush and not to linger, managing the memory of Khomeini’s chaotic 1989 funeral. Iran’s Health Ministry estimated around 15 million people will take part over the coming days. THE EMPTY CHAIR ABOVE THE EMPTY CHAIR: new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei made no appearance on day one — he has never shown his face or used his voice since the war began, communicating only through written statements attributed to him by state media, and his absence is deepening doubts about his health and fueling questions over who is actually leading the nation. The security logic is brutal: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said days ago that Mojtaba is “marked for death,” the IRGC warned against any attempt to target the country in the coming days, and authorities announced the complete closure of Tehran’s airspace for Monday, when the coffin parades through the capital — a former head of Israeli military intelligence’s Iran branch told CNN the Iranians see threats “from the air and from the ground” and “don’t want to take any chances,” with the 2024 Haniyeh assassination during a Tehran state occasion haunting every planner. THE CLOCK: President Trump said the United States is giving Iran “a week off” for the funeral — an unsentimental formulation that sets the diplomatic resumption clock to the July 9 burial in Mashhad, where Khamenei will be laid beside his family. The itinerary locked: three days in Tehran, the coffin moving Tuesday to Qom for ceremonies between the Fatima Masoumeh shrine and Jamkaran Mosque, Wednesday into Iraq for processions through Najaf and Karbala, burial Thursday in Mashhad — with highways converted to parking zones, schools and stadiums housing pilgrims, and flights disrupted nationwide. THE STRAIT PUSHES BACK: tracking data showed at least eight ships U-turning on Saturday after attempting to transit the strait by hugging the Omani coast — the first hard evidence that Iran’s route enforcement is biting during the funeral pause, converting the compliance battle from warnings into turned-around hulls a day after Ghalibaf floated “joint management of Iran and Oman” over the waterway. THE UNITED FRONT: President Pezeshkian prayed at the coffin alongside top officials, negotiator Ghalibaf visibly tearful — a survived leadership displaying continuity for a government still shaken by January’s mass protests, which rights groups say were crushed with thousands dead; Chatham House’s Sanam Vakil called the week “a tightly choreographed display of mourning, continuity and regime control.” Army commander-in-chief Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami vowed to “avenge the blood” of the slain leader. From the crowd: “Imam Khamenei was our heart, our father, our everything. I still can’t believe they martyred him. We will not rest until we avenge his death.” Net assessment: day one passed without incident — the watch item that matters most — but the week’s architecture is now fully visible: a regime converting grief into legitimacy and leverage, an invisible leader under an explicit death threat, a strait where enforcement just turned physical, and a superpower checking its watch.