Slain Ayatollah’s son attends funeral as current Ayatollah stays away Three sons of slain Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed beside his coffin and those of four other family members on Sunday, but Mojtaba, the son who has succeeded him as Iran's supreme leader, did not make an appearance. State TV showed Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud Khamenei praying behind the coffins laid out in the vast courtyard of Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla, a sprawling religious complex. Earlier reports claimed that Mojtaba wanted to attend his father's funeral but was advised against it by senior leaders from the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.