Iranian mourners set fire to a giant Lego-style effigy of US President Donald Trump during funeral processions for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, underscoring the deep hostility gripping the region following the Iranian supreme leader's death in a US-Israeli airstrike.
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| Source: telegram/@presstv |
Thousands gathered in the northeastern city of Mashhad for the final leg of a week-long funeral procession, where local media captured the moment a Trump effigy, suspended from a construction crane, was set ablaze. As flames consumed the figure, crowds erupted into chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" in Farsi, reflecting the raw anger following Khamenei's killing.
The late Iranian supreme leader died alongside several family members in the opening wave of US-Israeli strikes on Tehran in late February. His death triggered an unprecedented outpouring of mourning across Iran, with state media reporting that millions participated in memorial ceremonies that began in Tehran and culminated in his burial in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday.
Throughout the procession, mourners carried red-and-white flags, symbols of martyrdom and vengeance in Shia Islamic tradition, signaling that Khamenei's death is being framed not as an ending, but as a rallying point for retaliation.
Key Takeaways by Planet Today
Symbolic rage reflects a deeper crisis: The public burning of Trump's effigy is more than street theater. It reveals how Khamenei's killing has hardened Iranian public sentiment against Washington, turning a diplomatic rupture into a deeply personal national grievance that could shape Iranian policy for years.
Bounties and death threats signal escalating rhetoric: Banners offering a $100 million bounty for Trump's assassination, alongside posters targeting Vice President J.D. Vance, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggest Iran's public anger is being directed at the entire US-Israeli leadership chain, not just Trump alone.
Trump acknowledges being a marked man: Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump admitted he "may be gone" and that he is Tehran's "number one target," a rare public acknowledgment of the personal risk he faces following the strikes that killed Khamenei.
Military escalation continues in parallel: The funeral rhetoric is unfolding against the backdrop of renewed hostilities, with the US striking dozens of targets inside Iran and Tehran launching retaliatory attacks just this week, indicating the conflict is far from contained despite Khamenei's death. {alertInfo}
In Tehran, the anger was equally visible before the cortege moved on to Mashhad. Mourners threw stones at a billboard depicting Trump with a bullet aimed at his head, accompanied by the message: "The US killed our father. We won't let you go!" Other posters placed Vance, Hegseth, and Netanyahu in crosshairs beneath the ominous slogan "There will be blood," suggesting Iranian officials and citizens alike view the conflict as extending well beyond Trump himself. Trump's admission in Ankara that he is Iran's top target came directly amid this fresh wave of hostilities. The latest exchange, described as some of the most intense direct fighting between the two nations in years, has raised fears that Khamenei's funeral may mark not a de-escalation, but the beginning of a more sustained and dangerous phase of conflict between Washington and Tehran.
This is not the first time Iran has used viral, meme-style content to target Trump and Israeli leadership. During the March conflict, Iranian state-linked channels ran an online propaganda campaign featuring AI-generated Lego-style videos depicting Trump and Israeli officials in states of panic, several of which spread widely across social media platforms. The Mashhad effigy burning appears to be a physical, real-world extension of that same messaging strategy, blending traditional funeral mourning rituals with modern information warfare aimed at both domestic and international audiences.
As the region braces for what comes next, the imagery from Khamenei's funeral, effigies in flames, bounty banners, and crosshair posters, paints a stark picture of how personal and unresolved this conflict has become, with both nations signaling that the confrontation is far from over.