00:20Millions of people crying in the streets for a man Donald Trump was sure everyone despised,
00:28and when he saw it happen live, he didn't hide his shock. I thought people hated him.
00:35That's Trump about Iran's own supreme leader at his funeral. Ali Khamenei ruled Iran for 36 years.
00:44He was killed on February 28th, the same day the U.S. and Israel launched strikes that dragged the Middle
00:51East into war.
00:52Now, months later, Iran is holding his funeral. Five days of ceremonies starting July 4, yes,
01:00America's 250th birthday, and ending July 9th with his burial in Mashhad.
01:06And the turnout? Millions, not hundreds, not thousands, millions flooding the streets of Tehran.
01:14That's what caught Trump off guard.
01:38In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
01:43Because in his mind, Khamenei wasn't a beloved figure.
01:46He was the enemy, the man the U.S. and Israel had just gone to war to remove.
01:52So when he watched the footage, senior Iranian officials, including the parliament speaker and foreign minister,
01:59visibly in tears at the farewell ceremony, he didn't expect it.
02:03His reaction? Pure disbelief.
02:06I thought people hated him.
02:08And then, almost immediately, he second-guessed the whole thing.
02:13Maybe it's fake tears.
02:14But here's the part that really made headlines.
02:17In the same conversation with Axios, Trump pointed out something chilling.
02:23Nearly all of Iran's surviving leadership was gathered in one place for this funeral.
02:28His words?
02:30They are all there. One shot, and we can take them all out.
02:33Then, the twist.
02:35But we are not going to do that, because then we would have nobody to negotiate with.
02:40Read that again.
02:41He's not denying the capability.
02:44He's saying the only reason Iran's leadership is still standing is because it's more useful to him alive at the
02:51negotiating table than gone.
02:53And it's not just talk.
02:55Both sides have actually agreed to something rare.
02:58A full week of silence.
03:08Iran, for its part, hit back hard.
03:14Their embassy in Armenia fired off a sharp statement, accusing Trump of having neither civilization nor history nor honor.
03:22So, what's really going on here?
03:25A president who expected hatred and got mourning instead.
03:29A rival government he assumed had no popular support, suddenly showing millions of people in the streets.
03:36And underneath it all, the quiet suggestion that even in war, funerals can be used as leverage.
03:43A week off isn't just etiquette, it's strategy.
03:47Even Khamenei's own son, Iran's new leader, Mojtaba, is reportedly skipping the funeral entirely over fears he could be the
03:56next target.
03:57So, genuine grief or, like Trump says, fake tears?
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