IRAN LATEST: Supreme leader no-show for father's funeral as Iran vows support for Hezbollah
· Toronto Sun
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered to mourn the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday in Tehran, although his successor Mojtaba Khamenei was not seen despite three of his brothers attending.
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At least one speaker called for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump, who told Axios on Saturday that they gave Iran a “week off for a funeral because we’re nice” while also saying that they could take out the new Iranian leadership with “one shot” during the weeklong funeral if they so desired.
The second day of mourning also saw Iran and Qatar resume maritime trade on the same day the Islamic Republic confirmed that it was planning to charge ships new “service fees” to cross the Strait of Hormuz with allies being granted special treatment, according to The Independent.
Here’s the latest on the Iran war for Sunday:
Mojtaba no-show for father’s funeral
The new supreme leader of Iran was reportedly a no-show at this father’s funeral, as well as four other family members, on Sunday as he remains in hiding following the strikes that killed Ali and other top Iranian officials in February.
Mojtaba suffered facial injuries and possibly wounds to one or both legs during the attack, Reuters reported citing people close to his inner circle, and he hasn’t been seen in public since being chosen as the new supreme leader.
Monday is expected to draw the biggest crowds yet ahead of Thursday’s burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, where Ali was born. The week will also include ceremonies across Iran and in some Shiite cities in Iraq, according to CNN.
Meanwhile, one person who spoke to the crowd of mourners reportedly referred to Trump when he asked: “Why is the most b—— man in the world still alive?” Poet Mohammad Rasouli also reportedly told the crowd, via The Independent, that “the world is no longer a good place” for Trump.
Iranian official meets with Hezbollah leaders
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary Speaker, reportedly met with senior Hezbollah officials amid the funeral events in Tehran, saying support for their armed proxies is an “Islamic and revolutionary duty.”
Ghalibaf also called Hezbollah’s role in the U.S.-Iran war a “historic turning point,” CNN reported citing the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, and said the “Resistance Front and Lebanon” remain a “red” line in negotiations with the U.S.
Hezbollah has been trading strikes with Israel in southern Lebanon amid the U.S.-Iran skirmishes.
OPEC+ boosts quotas
Several OPEC+ members raised oil production quotas despite the fraught ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. being tested multiple times since a memorandum of understanding was signed last month.
Officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman “decided to implement a production adjustment of 188,000 barrels per day,” a statement said, which would be implemented in August.
Gulf countries cut oil output when Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz for several months in response to U.S. and Israel strikes.
U.S. navy ends search for service member
The U.S. navy’s search for a missing helicopter crew member was suspended after the aircraft plunged Wednesday into the Arabian Sea.
It came after “extensive” efforts were made by the navy and air force to retrieve the crew member, the Naval Forces Central Command said on social media.
“For more than 102 hours, an extensive and co-ordinated search and rescue effort spanning over 14,000 square miles was conducted,” the navy said.
Three of the four crew members were recovered when a MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush went down in the region, CNN reported, although there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.”
Qatar, Iran to resume maritime trade
Goods will resume flowing between Qatari and Iranian ports with immediate effect, the Gulf nations said.
Iranian state media reported that Qatar’s Al-Ruwais port was accepting Iranian goods after the emirate urged vessels to suspend maritime activities until further notice amid re-heightened tensions in the southern Gulf, CNN reported.
Qatar has played a key role in mediating the dispute between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran also said it would reward allies with special treatment when the country begins charging new “service fees” to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement, meant to reward countries that helped Iran during its war with the U.S., was announced at a forum in Beijing, although it was unclear when the charges would take effect, The Independent reported.
Iran’s Ambassador to China Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also said they were working with Oman on a deal to manage traffic in the strait.
Trump, Netanyahu to meet next week?
Reports say that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Trump in Washington as early as next Monday, CNN reported, citing sources in Israel.
The peace deal between Iran and the U.S. will top the agenda, the source said, as well as a new security deal for Israel, which expires in 2028 and includes about $3.8 billion in funding per year from the U.S.
The leaders reportedly had a phone call on Friday and agreed to meet in the near term with the normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia also on the docket.
The news came after Trump told Axios on Saturday that Netanyahu “knows who the boss is.”
