TEHRAN, March 6, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Crowds of Iranians gathered in central 
Tehran and elsewhere for the first Friday prayers since the start of the war 
with the United States and Israel.

Online footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed 
in black, some carrying Iranian flags, streaming to an open space outside the 
Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital.

This week's Friday prayers were also the first since the killing of Iran's 
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the wave of US and Israeli strikes 
that triggered the Middle East war.

In the background of one video, a man speaking through a loudspeaker mourned 
the late supreme leader.

"We bear witness that he was the embodiment of piety and guardianship in our 
time," he said as some worshippers seated on prayer rugs wept.

Recitations of Quranic verses blared from loudspeakers later on at the 
gathering, which took place amid a heavy security deployment to the area.

Footage from other cities across Iran, including Ilam and Borujerd in the 
west and Zahedan in the southeast, showed similar scenes, with many 
worshippers holding Iranian flags.

The war began on Saturday with US and Israeli strikes on Iran which responded 
by attacking US bases in Gulf countries and mainland Israel with drone and 
missile strikes.

Iran's health ministry said nearly 1,000 people had been killed in the US and 
Israeli strikes which hit military sites as well as residential areas and 
other infrastructure.

AFP could not independently verify the toll.

Iranian attacks killed at least 10 people in Israel according to first 
responders there, while the US military has reported the deaths of six of its 
personnel since the war erupted.