Ali Khamenei, Iran's former Supreme Leader, will be cremated today at Mashhad after a week-long funeral ceremony across five Iranian cities and two counties. As thousands of people attended the funeral processions, Iranian officials and policy makers said that Khamenei's death in the US-Israel strikes has "united the people of Iran" and "silenced" all those who had risen against the government in January.
Prof Seyed Emamain, Founder of Governance and Policy Thinktank (GPTT), and Ali Salehian, Head of the International Department GPTT, have spoken to NDTV about the mass uprising against Khamenei's rule in January to mass support after his death.
What has changed in Iran after the Supreme Leader's death, and how is Iran dealing with the internal dissent and external war?
Prof Seyed Emamain: Ali Khamenei's death has revolutionised Iranian society. Crowds at the funeral are not a mobilisation of people; it is the Iranian society being revolutionised. Iranian society was involved in domestic politics and diversified views with regard to political and cultural issues, but war brought about an existential threat to the Iranian people and to the sovereignty and integrity of Iran. So society as a whole came to the conclusion that it's time to defend the country and civilisation. Because Donald Trump clearly threatened that Iranian civilisation would be wiped out. So the Iranian people came together with a very high level of patriotism that we had never experienced before.
It's time Iranians are thinking of the current war as a war on Iranian civilisation and war on Iranian sovereignty - and what we saw in the last four months is a revolution of the society.
Ali Salehain: Over 4,000 civilians were in Iran during the war, including 170 children at the Minab school - which was a turning point in the country. You may have a different political view, but when people saw that children were being killed just for fun, all Iranians made a united front against a foreign invader. Regardless of political views, when people see that a foreign invader is attacking them, they all decide to be united.
Before Khamenei's death, Iran was facing civilian unrest in which thousands of civilians demanded to end Khamenei's rule. Thousands of these people were killed in a major military crackdown in January. How did a war end the crisis, and is it not the peace within Iran that ended the problem?
Seyed Emamain: What happened on January 8, as an academician and thinktanker, I will not deny some domestic disagreements amongst the Iranians. It was also because of some deep economic problems faced by the people of Iran due to decades of US sanctions. But the unrest was organised by a group called 'Mike Pumpo Mossad Agents' in Iran.
It was a very challenging time for Iranian national security. It was a very sophisticated warfare machinery designed by Israelis and the US to topple the Iranian regime but also to divide Iranian territorial integrity.
The war, now, is not just a military war; it is a sophisticated, multifaceted information warfare.
How will Iran deal with the unrest situation and the international perception about it?
Ali Salehain: Different nations have different internal and external challenges. Iran, as a civilisation, has faced threats all along, from the Mongols to Saddam Hussein. We have learnt to survive as a civilisation and defeated them in the past.
What about the demand for revenge during Khamenei's funeral procession?
Seyed Emamain: There is a public demand for reviving Iranian deterrence. Once this is done, there should be no chance of state terrorism against Iran.
Ali Salehain: The Iranian government has to assure people that deterrence is now revived and the aggressor has been punished.
What would you say about Iran attacking neighbouring countries during the war?
Ali Salehain: Our war is not with our neighbours. We have been living together for thousands of years. But the problem is US bases - if they want peace, let the Iranians eliminate the bases. Our problem is the US bases, not our neighbours.
