Huge crowds gather in Iran for funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei - killed in US airstrike | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Crowds of people loyal to the Iranian
2. 0:02regime have been paying their respects
3. 0:04to the country's late supreme leader Ali
4. 0:07Hami. In a week of funeral ceremonies in
5. 0:10the capital, Tehran, the Ayatollah, who
6. 0:12ruled Iran for more than three decades,
7. 0:14was killed in USIsraeli strikes in
8. 0:16February. Here's our world news
9. 0:18correspondent Joe Inwood.
10. 0:22>> This is the image Iran wants to project
11. 0:24to the world.
12. 0:27A country united, grieving for the loss
13. 0:30of their supreme leader killed in the
14. 0:32opening salvos of this war.
15. 0:35In these crowds, anyone willing to speak
16. 0:37on camera had the same message.
17. 0:41>> Our emnity with America has just begun.
18. 0:43I think it's even more than before. And
19. 0:46with the threats the US is making,
20. 0:48people like me should volunteer and
21. 0:50stand against them.
22. 0:54It's claimed millions will take part in
23. 0:56six days of national mourning for the
24. 0:58man who ruled for more than three
25. 1:00decades over a repressive state.
26. 1:06>> I regret a lot why I didn't come to see
27. 1:08the leader when he was alive. I should
28. 1:10have discovered him much earlier. I
29. 1:13learned too late.
30. 1:16>> Ali Hamayi was killed in USIsraeli
31. 1:18strikes on the first day of the war.
32. 1:21He's lying in state alongside members of
33. 1:23his family, including his baby
34. 1:25granddaughter.
35. 1:27Supporters of the regime marched through
36. 1:28the streets.
37. 1:31>> Death to America, death to Israel. They
38. 1:34chant.
39. 1:37>> There has so far been no sign of the new
40. 1:39supreme leader, Mojaba Hamayi, said to
41. 1:43have been injured in the strike that
42. 1:44killed his father.
43. 1:47Of
44. 1:49course, there are millions of Iranians
45. 1:51who will not be joining in the morning
46. 1:52for Ali Hamayim.
47. 1:56>> Despite these shows of fervor, many in
48. 1:58this country opposed his clerical rule
49. 2:00and were met with brutal force. They are
50. 2:03not represented here.
51. 2:07>> The Iranian authorities have said this
52. 2:09will be the funeral of the century, but
53. 2:11it is also about a display of strength
54. 2:14for a regime coming out of war.
55. 2:17Joe Inwood, BBC News.
56. 2:19>> Well, we've been getting more details on
57. 2:21this from our senior international
58. 2:22correspondent, Nal Al- Magafi, who's
59. 2:25reporting from Tehran on condition that
60. 2:27none of her material is used on the
61. 2:30BBC's Persian service, restrictions
62. 2:32which apply to all international media
63. 2:34working in Iran.
64. 2:36We are at the funeral of the supreme
65. 2:38leader Ali here in the center of in
66. 2:42their main Muslah and it's quite an
67. 2:44extraordinary moment to witness
68. 2:47firsthand. If you look behind me you can
69. 2:49see his coffin and the coffins of those
70. 2:51from his family that were killed with
71. 2:53him. He was killed on the 28th of
72. 2:55February and usually in Islamic
73. 2:56tradition he should be buried right
74. 2:58away. But they have been waiting for the
75. 3:01perfect moment, for the ceasefire to
76. 3:03hold for long enough to be able to hold
77. 3:06an event like this one. We've been told
78. 3:08that millions of Iranians from across
79. 3:10the country have come for this event.
80. 3:13But I've got to say, I'm quite
81. 3:14surprised. It's not as busy as I thought
82. 3:16it would be. This is a significant
83. 3:19moment for the Islamic Republic. It is a
84. 3:22carefully choreographed show of unity
85. 3:24and it's also their way of telling the
86. 3:27world that the regime is still firmly in