Exiled Iranian prince Reza Pahlavi said Iran is not mourning the death of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, insisting the country is instead grieving people killed by the regime and expressing “righteous anger.”

In a post on X addressed to foreign representatives who have traveled to Tehran to attend Khamenei’s funeral, Pahlavi argued that the state ceremonies are being staged for propaganda rather than genuine national grief. He accused the leadership of spending Iranian money to create a spectacle and said no democratic leaders have attended.

Pahlavi also referenced Iran’s deadly crackdown on a January uprising, claiming more than 40,000 people were killed on January 8 and 9 by Khamenei, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and “their machinery of repression.”

He said what foreign observers are seeing in Tehran is not mourning for a ruler, but anger and bravery that, in his view, will help bring down the remaining “criminal regime.” The exiled prince’s comments coincided with the ongoing international presence in Iran’s capital for Khamenei’s funeral events, which have been accompanied by vows from hardline figures promising retaliation.