Iran used the funeral ceremonies for slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a carefully orchestrated display of regional influence, religious symbolism and diplomatic hierarchy, deploying Quran recitations to send messages to allies, rivals and friends alike.The funeral, which moved through Tehran, Qom, Najaf and Karbala before the final burial in Mashhad, was as much a political theatre as it was a religious rite. Iran used it to tell its own public that the state could still rally the country in victory and grief; to reassure allies that Tehran had not buckled; to show major powers that it had not been broken; and to remind rivals that it was keeping score.Quran verses as diplomatic signalsWhen the Saudi delegation stepped forward to pay respects at Khamenei's coffin in Tehran's Grand Mosa