As thousands of people gathered in Iran for the funeral ceremonies of its late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, one of the most striking images showed the coffin of his 14-month-old granddaughter accompanying him in Tehran.The infant was one of several members of Khamenei’s family killed in an Israeli airstrike in the early moments of the war on February 28. Khamenei’s son-in-law, his eldest daughter and the wife of Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, were also honored during the ceremony.Earlier, Iran Embassy in India had also paid tribute to the child and said, ‘Martyr Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani. The young granddaughter of Ayatollah Khamenei, the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution, who had the privilege of martyrdom alongside him.”Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin was placed in Tehran’s Grand Moselle, where senior Iranian leaders, religious figures and foreign dignitaries paid tribute to him. Attendees included Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Massoud Pezeshkian.Footage broadcast by Iranian state media showed mourners dressed in black gathering for prayer, many throwing scarves and other personal items toward attendants for them to brush against the coffin, a traditional practice in Iran believed to provide blessings.The coffin was later draped with a red flag bearing the inscription “Ya Hussein”, a Shia expression commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. The flag, brought from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, Iraq, also symbolizes the bloodshed of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance in the Shia tradition.Authorities have announced that Khamenei’s funeral will last several days, with his body taken to several cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq. Mass road closures and security measures are expected in Tehran as thousands of mourners attend the ceremony.Meanwhile, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as Iran’s supreme leader, is likely to skip the funeral due to security concerns.