Mashhad: Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been laid to rest at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, more than four months after he was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his residence in central Tehran.
According to Iranian state media, the burial took place early Friday at the country’s holiest Shia shrine, located in Khamenei’s birthplace of Mashhad. The shrine, distinguished by its golden dome and towering gilded minarets, is one of the most significant religious sites in the Muslim world.
The burial ceremony was conducted privately after a week of nationwide mourning and funeral processions. Iranian authorities said the commemorative events drew more than 15 million participants across the country, while some official estimates suggested the total attendance may have exceeded 30 million.
Khamenei’s son and successor as Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was notably absent from the public funeral ceremonies. He has not appeared publicly since the February 28 attack that killed his father and marked the beginning of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
The funeral had originally been scheduled for March but was postponed because of the conflict that followed the strike.
Public funeral ceremonies formally commenced last Saturday at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, where tens of thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects. Delegations representing Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis also attended the ceremony.
The following day witnessed an even larger turnout, while on Monday an estimated 12 million people lined Tehran’s streets as Khamenei’s coffin was carried on a truck during a 10-kilometre funeral procession to Azadi Square, a symbolic venue that has hosted many of the Islamic Republic’s largest public gatherings since the 1979 Revolution.
