Tens of thousands of mourners packed Tehran on Sunday amid a six-day funeral ceremony for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei, 86, was killed in the United States and Israeli airstrikes that marked the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28. In the ensuing months, the fighting claimed the lives of over 50 senior-ranking political and military officials, reshaping the established leadership of Iran.
That the strength of its leadership has irrevocably suffered is the exact notion Iran hopes to dispel with its high-visibility ceremonies this week. Experts say that the historic gatherings are meant to serve as a powerful endorsement of the Islamic Republic, demonstrating unity throughout the country despite the war’s massive economic and political setbacks.
“The funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei is far more than a religious ceremony,” Negar Mortazavi, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, tells TIME. “The message is that while the leader is gone, the Islamic Republic’s institutions remain intact and the state endures.”
Iranian officials have vocalized similar sentiments. Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi told state media on July 3 that the funeral is meant to be “another referendum for the Islamic Republic.”
Iranian media said that up to 20 million people are expected to attend the funeral proceedings in Tehran. Adding to its display of crowd strength, most of the nation’s remaining leadership has been in attendance, including an appearance by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who before last week had not been seen since the war began.
Footage from Iranian state media also showed three of Khamenei's sons—Mostafa, Meysam, and Masoud—crying as the coffins of their father and other family members were carried out into Tehran's Grand Mosalla on Sunday. Yet, one of Khamenei’s sons has been notably absent from this show of state power:
