Ali Khamenei’s six-day funeral expected to draw millions in Iran

Huge scale of funeral for supreme leader across five cities is intended to relay message of resistance to rest of the world

In the small hours of Friday the police roadblocks, stalls, posters and army vans were starting to appear across Tehran as millions of Iranians prepared to attend the long-delayed six-day funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei's, Iran's supreme leader for 36 turbulent years.

Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, and the funeral is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion. Small groups of mourners carrying flags were gathering along the roads festooned with the red fist, the symbol of the funeral alongside the slogan We must rise". At a ceremony dedicated to the families of martyrs, Khamenei's coffin was displayed.