As the Islamic Republic prepares for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, one question looms large: will his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei finally emerge from hiding?
The near week-long ceremony starting on Saturday will be held across several Iranian cities as well as in Iraq, and is being presented by the regime as a demonstration of strength after months of war and political turmoil.
State media have drawn comparisons with the 1989 funeral of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, when officials claimed millions attended.
Determined to recreate that spectacle, the authorities are offering free visas for foreign nationals, including from Afghanistan, alongside complimentary accommodation and meals in an apparent effort to boost attendance. (Critics say the visa scheme may also encourage Afghan labourers to remain in Iran after the ceremonies.)
Despite the regime's efforts to project unity, uncertainty surrounds the man now leading the Islamic Republic after the death of his father on the first day of the war.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since the US strike on the Supreme Leader's compound in central Tehran in late February. Since then, Iranian media have published only written statements attributed to him.
His wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, was killed in the same attack. A memorial service was held for her in Tehran on Wednesday, but Mojtaba was absent.
Zahra was the daughter of Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, one of Ali Khamenei's closest advisers and one of the Islamic Republic's most influential conservative figures. Haddad-Adel revealed only days ago that he had not been in contact with his son-in-law since the war began.
Even officials organising the funeral say they do not know whether Mojtaba will attend.
Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, Iran's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs and secretary of the committee overseeing the ceremonies, said the decision rested solely with the Supreme Leader's office and that organisers had received no information about whether he would appear.
The only public explanation for Mojtaba's disappearance came from Salar Velayatmadar, a member of parliament's National Security Committee, who claimed security officials had deliberately withheld all new images of the Supreme Leader so that enemies could not harm him through "witchcraft and occult sciences taught at universities such as Tel Aviv."
Mojtaba's prolonged absence has become a central issue in the fierce internal battle over negotiations with Washington.
Government negotiators insist they have his approval to pursue a deal with the US.
Hardline opponents reject that claim, pointing instead to a written statement attributed to Mojtaba in which he said that, "as a matter of principle", he held a different view.
They argue this demonstrates that the negotiating team, led by Parliament Speaker and former IRGC commander Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, never received authorisation to strike an agreement.
Pressure is therefore mounting on Mojtaba to appear publicly particularly at his father's funeral and make his position unmistakably clear.
Among the regime's most loyal supporters, the funeral is no longer being framed as a ceremony of mourning but as a rally against compromise with the US.
In an editorial published on Thursday, the IRGC-affiliated newspaper Javan declared: "We are not gathering to say goodbye. We must rise to avenge his blood."
The newspaper urged supporters to travel to Tehran "not only to bid farewell and take part in the funeral, but to join the gathering of those seeking vengeance for the martyred leader and to renew their pledge to the path he stood by until his final moments."
For the past four months, supporters of the Islamic Republic have held nightly rallies across Iranian cities in support of the regime and its new Supreme Leader.
Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the US, however, those demonstrations have increasingly turned into protests against the deal.
Crowds have chanted against senior officials and, in some cases, threatened President Masoud Pezeshkian with death if he ignores what they believe to be Mojtaba Khamenei's wishes.
Despite repeated government assurances that the Supreme Leader authorised the negotiations, many hardliners remain unconvinced. Having neither seen him in public nor heard him endorse the talks since the war began, they increasingly question whether such approval was ever given.
So significant has the anti-negotiation movement become that the Interior Ministry recently suggested the nightly demonstrations could be brought to an end after Ali Khamenei's funeral.
The announcement prompted hardline activists to urge supporters on social media to transform the funeral into their largest mobilisation yet, one final opportunity to pressure the leadership to abandon the agreement with Washington.
Senior IRGC commanders who support the deal have responded by warning they will prevent any attempt to "sow division" during or after the funeral.
Khamenei's funeral comes six months after the anti-regime uprising that swept across Iran and was brutally crushed by the Islamic Republic's security forces, leaving an estimated 42,000 people dead.
The protests, which called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, triggered the conflict that fundamentally reshaped Iran's political landscape.
The war killed many members of the regime's senior leadership, including Ali Khamenei himself, and left the Islamic Republic facing what many observers describe as the most fragile moment in its history.
Rather than bringing unity, Khamenei's funeral could expose the regime's deepening internal divisions.
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