The funeral of Sayyed Ali Khamenei: A world that does not surrender

Pedro Monzón Barata Pedro Monzón Barata
Source: Al Mayadeen English
Today 16:04
13 Min Read
Millions fill Tehran to honor Sayyed Ali Khamenei, whose funeral underscores Iran's unity, resistance, and enduring alliances with countries including Cuba.

Tehran has become these days the epicenter of grief and political affirmation. Millions of people, dressed in black, have flooded the streets of the Iranian capital to bid farewell to the one who for 36 years was the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, struck down on February 28 in a cowardly attack by the United States and "Israel" that also claimed the lives of four members of his family.

The assassination, carried out in a joint attack by the United States and "Israel", was intended to decapitate the Islamic Republic and fracture the spirit of a people who have made resistance their reason for being. However, the result has been the opposite: the Iranian nation has emerged more united than ever, transformed into an unbreakable wall against fascism and imperial arrogance.

Images of the casket draped in the Iranian flag and adorned with a black turban—symbol of his lineage as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad—and a Palestinian keffiyeh have circled the globe. An estimated 12 to 20 million attendees have been counted, making it a historic event.

For the small island of Cuba, this farewell is not a distant event. An official delegation headed by the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Walter Baluja García, has traveled to Tehran to participate in the funeral honors, a sign of the brotherhood forged between two nations that have made resistance against imperialism their calling card on the international stage.

Martyrdom consolidated the nation's unity
The logistical magnitude of these funerals is unprecedented. Sayyed Khamenei's body, preserved for four months since the bombing, has been displayed alongside the coffins of his daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and son-in-law, who died simultaneously in the attack. The decision by Washington and Tel Aviv to assassinate not only the leader but also his family reveals the criminal nature of the enemy, which respects neither the most elementary principles of international law nor the most basic precepts of humanity.

The ceremonies officially began on Saturday, July 4, under the motto "We Must Rise", a temporal coincidence that has acquired profound symbolic meaning: the body of the Iranian leader has been laid to rest during the 250th anniversary of American independence, a period that this country has flooded with wars of plunder, coups d'état, and aggression against the peoples of the world.

US President Donald Trump, in a comment that constitutes a crude provocation, declared, "We gave Iran a week off for a funeral because we're good." The response from the streets of Tehran was not long in coming: attendees chanted slogans against the United States and demanded vengeance. "Everyone here has come to avenge the blood of their supreme leader," Arash Rahimi, 40, told Reuters.

The plans of Washington and Tel Aviv to weaken and divide Iran have failed miserably. The martyrdom of the leader has sealed national unity around the principles of the Islamic Revolution. The massive turnout at the funerals constitutes a popular referendum on the legitimacy of the Islamic system, a resounding response to those in the West who have tried to paint a picture of a fractured and unsupported regime.

Sayyed Ali Khamenei: Erudition and symbol of virtue
To understand the dimension of Sayyed Khamenei's legacy, it is necessary to delve into his personal characteristics, his moral stature, and his strategic vision—qualities that made him an exceptional leader.

Sayyed Khamenei was not just a politician or a military commander; he was above all a sage, a man of profound spirituality and religious knowledge who knew how to combine theological erudition with political pragmatism. His figure was invested with a high moral symbolism that transcended Iran's borders and made him an ethical reference for resistance movements worldwide. He was known for his humility, his austere life, and his closeness to the most disadvantaged sectors of society.

Attendees at the funeral—many of them young people who had not even been born when Sayyed Khamenei assumed leadership in 1989—expressed admiration for the ayatollah's coherence and firmness. For them, Sayyed Khamenei was the personification of resistance, a man who never wavered under pressure, who maintained his anti-imperialist discourse for 36 years without deviating an inch.

Sayyed Khamenei's trajectory is the chronicle of the Islamic Revolution itself. Born in Mashhad in 1939, he was a close disciple of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and actively participated in the movement that overthrew the Shah in 1979. A survivor of a 1981 bomb attack that permanently paralyzed his right arm, he assumed the presidency of Iran during the bloody war against Iraq. In 1989, after Imam Khomeini's death, he was appointed as his successor at the head of the Islamic Republic.

His legacy rests on several key pillars:

The architect of a powerful state: Sayyed Khamenei consolidated the power of his office until he became the undisputed political and military figure of Iran. As commander-in-chief, he extended his authority over all branches of government and the armed forces, including the Revolutionary Guard. Under his leadership, Iran was transformed into a mature sovereign state, capable of preserving its unity despite decades of sanctions.
The champion of Resistance: Sayyed Khamenei's most important legacy was his unshakable commitment to the doctrine of resistance against the global domination of the United States and "Israel". This doctrine built the "Axis of Resistance," a network of allies and armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. It was Sayyed Khamenei who made the Palestinian cause a central axis of Iranian foreign policy.
The strategist of international balance: Sayyed Khamenei knew how to weave strategic alliances with powers such as China and Russia, conceiving the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with China not only as an economic agreement but as a dialogue between civilizations and a pillar of a multipolar world order.
Cuba in Tehran: The embrace of two resistances
For Cuba, participation in these funerals is the reaffirmation of a strategic alliance that Sayyed Khamenei cultivated for more than two decades. The official delegation of the island was received at Imam Khomeini International Airport by the Director General for the Americas of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Dr. Zahra Ershadi, a sign of the high level of bilateral relations.

The Cuban presence, however, was not limited to the funeral ceremony. In the days following, Cuban minister Baluja García met with Iran's Minister of Science, Hossein Simaei-Sarraf, to underline the need to expand academic and educational ties. The Cuban minister praised Iran's scientific advances despite sanctions, while his Iranian counterpart expressed hope that Cuba, like Iran, can overcome US pressures.

One of the most promising fields of this cooperation is biotechnology. Cuba and Iran have made significant advances in the production of medicines and vaccines, defying the scientific blockade imposed by the West. Cooperation in this sector, which Khamenei personally promoted, has allowed both countries to develop their own capabilities in a strategic area for public health and national sovereignty.

This important visit is not an isolated event. It is the continuation of a relationship that reached its highest point in December 2023, when President Miguel Díaz-Canel made a historic visit to Tehran and met with Sayyed Khamenei. At that meeting, the Iranian leader was direct: "These capacities must be used to form an alliance and a coalition between countries that share the same position against the coercive behaviors of the United States." Sayyed Khamenei's admiration for the Cuban Revolution was based on what he called the "three S's": "revolutionary sincerity," "revolutionary resistance," and "revolutionary seriousness."

The vision of Fidel Castro: A brother, a friend, and an ally
To understand the depth of the bond between Cuba and Iran, it is essential to refer to the words of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, who laid the foundations of this brotherhood. During his official visit to Tehran in May 2001, Fidel declared: "Iran is a brotherly people, a friend and ally." And he added: "I have not come to make a business trip; I have come to make a political trip."

Fidel saw in revolutionary Iran "the main bulwark of independence, of the dignity of this region." For the Cuban leader, the Islamic Revolution had broken the role that American imperialism had assigned to Iran in the days of the Shah, and its people, "intelligent, combative and brave," were destined to play a major role on the world stage.

Khamenei himself recognized that "the Cuban Revolution and the figure of Castro always had a special attraction for Iranian revolutionaries, even before the triumph of the Islamic Revolution." That mutual admiration was the foundation on which an alliance was built that remains unshakable today.

In 2010, in one of his celebrated "Reflections," Fidel wrote: "Iran will not bow to the threats of any adversary," a prediction that history has confirmed.

Army General Raúl Castro continued this line of brotherhood. In June 2023, when receiving the president of Iran, he thanked the Iranian government for its support in Cuba's struggle against the unjust economic, commercial, and financial blockade, reaffirming that the ties between both nations transcend the ups and downs of international politics.

The Tehran-Havana alliance: A bond that transcends
The Tehran-Havana alliance, forged in shared resistance against imperialism, will survive the death of its main architect. It is not a contingency: the foundations of this brotherhood date back to 2001, when Khamenei declared to Fidel Castro: "Based on our religious thoughts, we consider the United States an arrogant regime, and we oppose a unipolar world." That conviction, expressed a quarter of a century ago, remains today the axis of the relationship between both nations.

Therefore, it can be affirmed that the bond between both nations is not merely strategic; it is a spiritual bond, based on mutual respect and the certainty that resistance is a value in itself. Cuba has witnessed how Sayyed Khamenei turned Iran into a regional power despite sanctions. Iran has admired Cuba's ability to resist six decades of blockade without surrendering.

Cuba is confident that the agreements signed in 2023, especially in science, health, energy, and biotechnology, will continue to be fulfilled. The presence of the Cuban delegation at the funerals indicates that Havana not only pays tribute but also maintains its interest in developing cooperation and strengthening ties with the new Iranian leadership.

Iranian Women: Protagonists of the Revolution
At the funeral rites, Iranian women embody a just and living Revolution. Their massive and leading presence at the funerals is the most eloquent response to those who seek to portray Iranian women as oppressed.

The Western media machine has woven a web of lies and distortions to delegitimize the Islamic Republic. One of the main axes has been the alleged oppression of women in Iran, an accusation that collapses under its own weight. The spectacle of Khamenei's funerals, where Iranian women have been in the front row, watching over their leader and chanting slogans against the United States and Israel, is the best proof that the Western narrative is a farce.

The West, which has oppressed its own women for centuries, presumes to lecture Iran, ignoring that the Islamic Revolution elevated the status of Iranian women to unprecedented levels. Iranian women are professionals, scientists, politicians, academics, and businesswomen. They access higher education in percentages higher than men and actively participate in all areas of national life.

Continuity of leadership and the enduring legacy
It can be assured that the new Iranian leadership, headed by Ayatollah Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei and guided by his father's spiritual and political heritage, will maintain the firm line of resistance against imperialism. The Revolution is a collective process, and the principles that guide it are rooted in the consciousness of the people. Iran will continue to be a beacon for liberation movements, a bastion against fascism and imperial arrogance.

The funeral of Sayyed Ali Khamenei, with its massive public turnout and the presence of world leaders, is a testament to his ability to mobilize and to the centrality of his figure in the imagination of the Islamic Revolution. He was the guardian of Iranian sovereignty, the symbol of resistance against imperialism. In a world where fascism advances, Iran has constituted itself as a wall against imperial tyranny, challenging the unipolar world order and proving that people who resist can triumph.

The ceremonies will continue for 40 days, but his legacy no longer belongs only to Iran: it is the legacy of all those who believe that another world is possible. The Iranian nation will preserve and deepen that legacy. Cooperation with Cuba, China, Russia, and all peoples who resist imperialism will continue to be the axis of a foreign policy that seeks to build a multipolar and just world. Cuba and Iran, united by grief and hope, will continue writing together the history of resistance that Sayyed Khamenei knew how to weave.

Sayyed Khamenei's death is not an end but the beginning of a new stage. Strengthened by the martyrdom of its leader, Iran will continue to be the voice of the voiceless. Just as Imam Hussein transcended his death to become an eternal symbol of the struggle against tyranny, Sayyed Ali Khamenei will live in the memory of people as the man who did not surrender.

Peace be upon Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and may his legacy inspire generations to come to continue the struggle for a more just and sovereign world.

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