As mourners poured into the capital this week to commemorate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the slain supreme leader of Iran, many Tehran residents headed in the opposite direction.
Instead of partaking in sorrowful chants and funeral processions, they have joined a huge exodus northward to tranquil mountain villages and buzzing beachside resorts.
Their escape from the capital is a reminder that not everyone is mourning the end to Ayatollah Khamenei’s nearly four decades in power — a period marked by fierce repression of dissent, including a bloody crackdown in January on nationwide protests that killed thousands.
For some Iranians leaving the city, defying the orchestrated mass spectacle of Mr. Khamenei’s funeral comes not through counter-protests, but by posting selfies on social media of decadent brunches.
As funeral coverage showcased busloads of mourners arriving from all over the country to camp out in the capital, some Tehranis’ social media pages featured bumper-to-bumper traffic along the highway heading north.
“Everyone wants to run away from this business, and these ridiculous ceremonies,” said Iman, a 38-year old architect from the capital. Like many interviewed about contentious topics in Iran, she requested her full name be withheld for security reasons.
The images and sentiments of Tehran’s wealthy escapees represent just a portion of Iran’s population, many of whom are struggling from Iran’s severe economic crisis and do not have the option to flee the city.
The fault lines between Iranians who support the government and those who want to end authoritarian clerical rule have deepened in the past year.
First there were the nationwide antigovernment protests that were violently crushed, traumatizing swathes of the population. A month later, the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran, killing Ayatollah Khamenei in the opening strikes.
Some Iranians welcomed the war as the only way to end clerical rule, with a few even filming themselves cheering the supreme leader’s death. Those sentiments waned, however, as the U.S.-Israeli strikes failed to topple the government, but killed thousands of civilians and battered Iranian infrastructure and universities.
Deeply disillusioned by the crackdown and the war, opponents of the state have few options for voicing their discontent, especially as the streets have been overtaken almost daily by rallies of hard-line loyalists emboldened by the government’s survival of the war.
What is left, it seems, is to disengage.
The Motel Ghoo, a swanky hotel on the Caspian Sea, posted pictures on social media on Saturday of the tree-lined surrounding streets, brimming with cars and revelers. The comments below the post showed the divisions playing out among Iranians in real time.
“Look how happy they are mourning the supreme leader,” one follower commented, with a laughing and fire emoji.
“Well done,” another commentator wrote. “Go so Tehran becomes less crowded.”
There is no way to accurately gauge how many people have left — or entered — the capital. But several Tehran residents have described their own neighborhoods as empty as on holiday weekends, when locals head north for vacations en masse.
Some wealthier Tehranis who stayed in the capital appeared to have carved out their own bubble, as one of the world’s biggest funerals for their theocratic government unfolded a few miles away.
“Rich Kids of Tehran,” a widely followed Instagram account featuring the flashy lives of Tehran’s wealthiest residents, posted snapshots of cocktails, bikini-clad women lounging at lavish pools, and partyers swarming a D.J.
“How’s your weekend going lovely people?” the poster wrote. “Good vibes, and stay motivated.”
