Iran is burying its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, more than four months after he was killed by Israeli and U.S. airstrikes at the start of the war. Tehran has turned his funeral into a massive event. Authorities have choreographed it as a momentous political and religious event. The aim is to mobilize domestic support, strengthen regional alliances, and reinforce the leadership of his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The funeral began on July 3 with an official ceremony for foreign leaders in Tehran. Over the next two days, crowded public mourning ceremonies were held at the Grand Mosalla Mosque, culminating in a public funeral procession in the capital on July 6. The next day, a similar procession was held in the Iranian city of Qom, a center of Shia religious learning.
After public processions through the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq on July 8, Khamenei was finally buried in the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, the northeastern Iranian city where he was born.
A man walks past a billboard on a street in Tehran displaying images of Khamenei and his son, the current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
A statue of Khamenei’s hand stands in Enghelab Square ahead of his funeral in Tehran.
A vehicle carrying the coffins of Khamenei and members of his family moves through a funeral procession in Tehran.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir offer prayers during the state funeral for Khamenei in Tehran. (Handout photo by the Pakistani government).
Mourners gather at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla Mosque to pay their final respects to Khamenei on July 4.
Mourners shout slogans as they pay their final respects to Khamenei at the start of funeral ceremonies at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla Mosque on July 4.
A volunteer hands out watermelon slices as mourners gather at Grand Mosalla Mosque for funeral ceremonies for Khamenei.
Members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces stand near a portrait of Khamenei at the Imam Hussein Shrine on the eve of funeral ceremonies in the central Iraqi city of Karbala on July 8.
Mourners gather at Al-Kufa Intersection Bridge at the start of Khamenei funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, on July 8.
A cleric mourns over the coffin of Khamenei’s granddaughter at the Imam Abbas Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, on July 8. (Handout photo by the media office of the Imam Abbas Shrine).
Mourners gather by Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, where Khamenei was buried on July 9.
