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Ahmadinejad 'back from dead' as he is seen at Ayatollah's funeral weeks after Iran announced death
Ahmadinejad 'back from dead' as he is seen at Ayatollah's funeral weeks after Iran announced death
Story by Sabrina PentyThe former president of Iran, who was reported dead at the start of the war, has been spotted at the funeral of his country's Supreme Leader.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who governed Iran from 2005 to 2013, was declared dead by local news outlets on the day the war broke out, after Israeli and US strikes targeted Tehran's leaders.
Iranian media believed he had been killed when a missile struck near his home, and was not seen or heard from in the months that followed.
But on Monday, he was seen in public for the first time since the war broke out back in February, after he was spotted among a crowd of mourners ahead of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral.
A picture shows Ahmadinejad in the crowd wearing a jacket with a mask pulled down to his neck as mourners dressed in black flooded into Iran's capital on Monday for a procession as part of the Ayatollah's funeral.
Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of his family members who were killed on February 28 in an airstrike, sat aboard a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam.
The massive turnout was encouraged by Iran's theocracy as a sign of strength, and it came as the Islamic Republic negotiates with the US over a permanent end to the war.
Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a massive crowd stretching for miles from Tehran's Azadi, or Freedom, Square along a multilane street of the same name.
Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was reported dead at the start of the war, has been spotted at the funeral of his country's Supreme Leader. He is pictured in this image wearing a light brown jacket and a mask pulled down to his neck
People attend a funeral procession for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, in Tehran, Iran July 6, 2026
A woman mourner reacts during a funerary procession for Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his family members near Azadi Square in Tehran on July 6, 2026
The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, which drew over 1 million people.
Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck crept down the street.
People alongside the truck and elsewhere on the route carried placards, signs and banners calling for Trump's death.
Funeral procession for Iran's slain supreme leader draws thousands
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US federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force.
Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.
Trump, meanwhile, promised to destroy Iran’s civilisation during the war, among other threats.
The US is eager to press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.
The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the strait, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war.
Millions of Iranians gather along the streets of Tehran to attend a farewell ceremony for Iran's former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the US-Israeli attacks, in Tehran, Iran, on July 6, 2026
The ceremony drew large crowds carrying Iranian flags and portraits as mourners filled Damavand Avenue and the Imam Hossein, Enghelab and Azadi squares across the capital
A mourner passes under a cooling spray from a riot police water cannon vehicle after paying final respects to Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the third day of his funeral ceremonies on July 6, 2026 in Tehran, Iran
The US has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including the nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel targeted top Iranian leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position.
It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.
