By Harvey Geh

DONALD Trump has warned that a “one shot” strike could take out Iranian chiefs gathered at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral.

The US president’s comments come amid reports that the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba has been banned from attending the six-day ceremony.

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Mourners grieve for Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday

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Trump warned that ‘one shot’ could take out a swathe of Iranian chiefsCredit: Splash

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Millions of people are expected at the ceremonies

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Security personnel gather to pray for Ali KhameneiCredit: AFP

Trump told Axios he has been following the week-long event in Tehran commemorating the tyrannical dictator’s 37-year reign.

And he explained that both his team and their Iranian counterparts have taken a week off from negotiations so mullah leaders can attend the funeral.

But he warned: “They are all there. One shot [and we can take them all out], but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with.”

The US president claimed Iran were “begging to make a deal”, and noted how he was surprised at how emotional millions of regime supporters appeared to be at the funeral.

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28.

Saying that he thought many Iranians despised the late Ayatollah for his brutal rule, Trump added: “Maybe it’s fake tears.”

Though the event will be attended by up to 20 million Iranians, regional world leaders and top mullah officials, one figure will be glaringly absent – the new Ayatollah.

Mojtaba, who took over as new Supreme Leader shortly after his father was assassinated in a US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, has reportedly been banned from going to the funeral.

He had asked to perform rites over his dad’s body on the last day of the ceremony.

The event will last six daysCredit: AFP

But security officials warned that the risk would be too high and that they wouldn’t be able to rule out the risk of Israel targeting the new dictator at his dad’s funeral.

Even if Tel Aviv didn’t attack him there, they would probably be tracking him down to his secret hideout, sources from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the New York Times.

Mojtaba’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and the new leader is in deep hiding amid reports he was left severely disfigured from the US strikes that killed his father.

He has not been seen publicly since he was named Ayatollah.

The late Supreme Leader’s funeral entered its second day on Sunday – with images showing scores of regime sympathisers gathering for the ceremonies.

Mourners flocked to Tehran to commemorate the despot’s four-decades-long rule which came to a dramatic end in February.

Dubbed the “funeral of the century” by regime chiefs, the event kicked off with the national anthem, religious eulogies and readings from the Koran.

Grieving hard-line supporters of the mullah regime waved Iranian flags while fuming: “Death to America!”

Sobbing mourners were also heard chanting “Our slogan is one word: Revenge, revenge,” and “We will kill, we will kill he who killed our Imam.”

It comes as the fragile ceasefire remains in place following an initial peace deal signed between the US and Iran last month.

Khamenei’s body is being taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the great Shi’ite centres of Iran and Iraq, before being laid to rest on Thursday in Mashhad.

The late pariah’s death came just one month after he greenlit his security forces’ blood-soaked crackdown on millions of anti-regime protesters in January.

Tens of thousands of arrests were made and roughly the same number of people were killed – with some human rights groups putting the death toll as high as 37,000.

Regional world leaders have flooded in to attend Khamenei’s funeral.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was among the high-profile guests.

His country acted as the mediator for crucial peace talks between the US and Iran.

Also in attendance for the major gathering were former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and the Afghan Taliban‘s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

They were joined by a host of other global representatives including officials from Iraq, Armenia, and Turkey.

A delegation of Gulf states also touched down, with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman joining the crowds.

Trump acknowledged the week of mourning taking place in Iran on Friday night.

He previously said Tehran was “dying to settle” as negotiations to end the war once and for all continue.

The US president said: “We gave them [Iran] a week off for a funeral because we’re nice.”

Source: TheSun