On the Ground Covering the World's Largest State Funeral

I'm in Tehran and Mashhad covering this historic six-day funeral procession of the country's Supreme Leader.

(Photo: Patrick Henningsen ©2026)

This last week has been an intense and immersive exercise in Iranian society, religion, politics and history. For the last week I’ve been following the state funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei who, along with his daughter Boshra Khamenei, her daughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani, the Leader’s son-in-law Mesbah Bagheri Kani, and his daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad-Adel—were all assassinated by the US and Israel, in failed attempt to enact ‘regime change’ in Iran. Instead, this ill-conceived act of imperial violence backfired in ways that are hard to comprehend, at least for Americans and their Israeli proxies. But for anyone living in West Asia with just a modicum of understanding of the revolutionary government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, buttressed by its Shia faith.

The video below was filmed in Tehran just two days ago…