Performer sparks outrage with anti- Donald Trump remarks at Iran leader’s funeral

Performer sparks outrage with anti- Donald Trump remarks at Iran leader’s funeral

AP

Tehran : A performer at the funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of US President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people in Tehran on Sunday.

Mohammad Rasouli, a poet, drew calls of "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"

Speaking to the crowd, Rasouli asked, referring to Trump: "Why is the most bas**rd man in the world still alive?" That drew cheers.

A far-larger crowd for the funeral than the day before attended the ceremony on Sunday. Mourners dressed in black walked to the site, carrying banners and flags honouring Khamenei and also calling for Trump's killing as he gave a speech in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a February 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.