Huge crowds lined the streets of the holy city of Mashhad for the burial of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was laid to rest at the shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's holiest Shia Muslim site, marking the end of six days of public mourning ceremonies that spanned five cities across Iran and neighboring Iraq.
The burial, reported by the state news agency IRNA, took place amidst heightened tensions following an exchange of strikes between Iran and the US. Earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused the US of bombing two bridges on the railway line from Tehran to Mashhad, an act they claimed was intended "in an effort to overshadow" the funeral.
Khamenei and several family members were killed in an Israeli strike on his Tehran residence on February 28, the day Iran's war with the US and Israel began. He has been succeeded as supreme leader by his son Mojtaba, who was reportedly seriously wounded in the same attack and has not been seen publicly since. Mojtaba Khamenei did not participate in the funeral ceremonies in Tehran and Qom, and his attendance at the burial was not indicated.
Earlier on Thursday, a plane carrying the coffins of Ali Khamenei, his granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter, and Mojtaba's wife landed in Mashhad. Prior to this, large crowds had participated in processions at two Shia shrines in Najaf and Karbala in Iraq.
Iranian television footage showed thousands of mourners dressed in black filling a main boulevard in central Mashhad. Many waved Iranian flags and red banners symbolizing vengeance, while others held photos of the late leader and signs calling for the death of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they hold responsible for the joint attack that initiated the war four months prior.
"The loss of the leader is heavier than losing our parents," one 35-year-old housewife, identified only as Hoda, told AFP news agency. "Only the death of Trump and Netanyahu will soothe our pain."
Later, Khamenei's coffin was transported by a lorry through the crowds towards the Imam Reza shrine, reaching the complex as night fell. The Imam Reza mausoleum, dating to the 9th Century, is a major pilgrimage site visited by millions annually. Imam Reza is the eighth Shia imam and the only one of the twelve believed to be buried in Iran.