🔶 The absence of Rouhani, Zarif, and Ahmadinejad; a show of power at Khamenei’s ceremony 🔻 Report by Niloofar Gholami The funeral procession ceremony for Ali Khamenei, the former leader of the Islamic Republic, held at Tehran’s Mosalla, in addition to a long line of government officials, military commanders, and delegations from countries close to the Iranian government, also included the absence of some well-known figures from the establishment. These absences, from the very first hours, became a subject of speculation and analysis in Iran’s political sphere. Among the missing figures, names such as Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Rouhani were more prominent than others; three figures who, each at a different point during the past four decades, played roles at the highest levels of power in the Islamic Republic. However, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, about whom many rumors had also been circulated during Iran’s war days, appeared on Monday, July 15, in the funeral procession march in Tehran for Khamenei. The simultaneous absence of these individuals in a ceremony that was meant to symbolize the unity of the system on the threshold of a power transfer raises the question of whether the combination of those present and those absent was simply the result of ceremonial considerations or reflected a new political alignment of power in the Islamic Republic. This question was also raised by some figures close to the reformist current. Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, the former head of Mohammad Khatami’s office, described the ceremony as “the most important historical opportunity to display internal unity,” and criticized the organizers for why all senior officials of the Islamic Republic—from presidents and heads of parliament to ministers and figures who had disagreements with Ali Khamenei in past years—were not invited for an official appearance.