Trump issues fresh warning to Iran

Mourners call for vengeance on US president

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN:

US President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States would either reach a deal with Iran or "finish the job," renewing his threat of military action as Tehran projects defiance following the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Crowds of Iranians marched through the streets of Tehran on Monday in a funeral procession for slain leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the biggest day yet in a week of massive memorial ceremonies demonstrating the grip of surviving clerical leaders.

"We're either going to make a deal or we're going to finish the job. OK. And it won't be tough to finish the job. I'd rather make a deal, because I don't want to affect 91 million people," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply.... They don't have any money now. We haven't given them any money."

Drone footage on state television showed many tens of thousands of people crammed into a boulevard in central Tehran.

The caskets of the slain leader and four of his family members were driven in a large truck through the streets, while fire hoses sprayed water from above to keep the marchers cool.

As they passed under a bridge, mourners hurled stones at a billboard hung from above showing US President Donald Trump with a bullet aimed at his head. "The US killed our father," it read. "We won't let you go!"

As demonstrators set fire to US and British flags, women in black chadors held aloft red placards with the English words "KILL TRUMP" in black letters.

Others held aloft posters with the faces of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, each depicted in the crosshairs of a gunsight, with the words "There will be blood".

The larger crowds waved Iranian flags and red banners with a slogan calling out to the "avengers of Khamenei", adapting a phrase at the heart of Shi'ite Islam since the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad was killed in battle in the seventh century.

Referring to the February 28 US-Israeli attack that killed Khamenei, Iran's Mission to the UN said its perpetrators "have sown in the heart of the Iranian nation the seeds of hatred and vengeance, which will one day clutch them by the collar."

It added in a post on X that the event showed the 'robust' bond between Iranians and the state, saying this 'reality of Iranian society' reflected the balance of power in the country.