Although huge crowds filled the streets of Tehran for the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday, analysts and even senior Iranian officials cautioned that turnout should not be viewed as proof of widespread support for the Islamic Republic.

“If anyone’s thinking this is a litmus test for the popularity of the Islamic Republic, history tells us otherwise. It’s a funeral, and Iranians do funerals very well,” Ali Ansari, a professor of modern history at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews told the Times of Israel on Monday.

Reuters spoke with several attendees who said they came out of curiosity or because of religious tradition rather than political loyalty to the regime.

“My attendance does not mean that I am pro-regime, this big event happened in my country and I wanted to witness history,” said Hamidreza, a 63-year-old retired teacher from Tehran who requested that his last name not be published.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the size of the crowd, although drone footage appeared to show hundreds of thousands of mourners.

Analysts estimate the Iranian regime maintains a loyal ideological base of roughly 15% to 20% of the country’s 93 million people, citing election results in which hardline candidates have consistently drawn that level of support. In the 2024 presidential election, hardline candidate Saeed Jalili received about 13.5 million votes.

The funeral marked Iran’s first burial of a supreme leader since 1989, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was laid to rest following the Islamic Revolution. Khamenei, who was killed on February 28, was buried months later because of the war, allowing authorities time to organize an elaborate state funeral.

The ceremonies also marked the first major public gatherings since the end of the recent war, which supporters of the Islamic Republic viewed as an existential conflict.

“If we do not respect our leaders, the world will not respect us,” said Houshang Dabiri, 51, who traveled from Shiraz to attend the funeral.

A senior Iranian source acknowledged that those attending did so for different reasons, including religious obligation, support for the government, and participation in state-organized public demonstrations.