TEHRAN: Iran’s assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid to rest at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad early on Friday, according to state media. Thousands of mourners attended the funeral, while his son and successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, remained out of public view.
The burial in the northeastern city of Mashhad marked the end of a week of funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies held across Iran and Iraq. The events took place amid renewed tensions with the United States after weeks of truce in the four-month-old conflict.
Khamenei was assassinated in the opening strikes of the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28. The US and Iran later agreed to a truce last month.
On Thursday, Khamenei’s coffin was transported slowly through the packed streets of Mashhad toward the golden-domed Shrine of Imam Reza. White-turbaned clerics walked alongside the vehicle as black-clad mourners followed behind, waving Iranian flags, carrying portraits of the late leader and holding red placards bearing revolutionary slogans.
The burial concluded a week of funeral ceremonies that Iran’s clerical leadership had urged the public to attend in large numbers.
‘Kill Trump’ placards displayed
The whereabouts of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was declared Iran’s supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts in early March, one week after his father’s death, remain unknown to the public.
He has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. Although he has released written statements, no photographs, videos or audio recordings of him have been made public.
Reports suggest Mojtaba sustained serious injuries in the strike that killed his father, leaving his face disfigured and his limbs badly wounded.
Senior sources in Tehran say he is recovering but has not yet regained sufficient health to appear in public. Security officials are also reportedly limiting his exposure over fears of further US attacks.
As mourners gathered in Mashhad awaiting the funeral procession, crowds chanted slogans calling for revenge against US President Donald Trump.
“I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!” demonstrators shouted, while some women held placards reading, “Kill Trump.”
Anti-US slogans echo through shrine
As evening fell, thousands filled the courtyard of the shrine, chanting “Death to America” while funeral laments and traditional string music played over loudspeakers.
A helicopter later lifted Khamenei’s coffin over the tightly packed crowd for the final stretch to a blue-tiled arched chamber within the shrine complex.
Khamenei’s eldest son, Mostafa Khamenei, led the funeral prayer before a large group of male mourners carried the coffin, draped in Iran’s red, white and green national flag, into the shrine.
Video footage showed mourners holding candles, reaching toward the coffin and weeping as it passed.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported early Friday that the burials of Khamenei and four family members who were killed alongside him had been completed.
Before reaching Mashhad, Khamenei’s remains were taken in funeral processions through Tehran, Qom and the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, where large crowds gathered to pay their respects amid mourning chants and revolutionary slogans.