Ali Khamenei was buried at Mashhad’s Shrine of Imam Reza after a week of funeral ceremonies in Iran and Iraq. The burial unfolded amid anti-US chants and continued attention on successor Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence from public view.
Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was buried at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad early on Friday, state media reported, bringing to a close a week of mass funeral processions and mourning ceremonies. His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, remained out of public view throughout the burial, with his whereabouts continuing to draw attention.
The burial at Iran’s holiest shrine followed a week of funeral events, rallies and religious ceremonies in Iran and Iraq. The ceremonies coincided with renewed tensions between Iran and the United States after weeks of truce in the four-month-old war.
Khamenei was killed in the first strikes of the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28. The United States and Iran agreed to a truce last month.
On Thursday, mourners accompanied Khamenei’s coffin through the packed streets of Mashhad toward the Shrine of Imam Reza. White-turbaned clerics walked alongside the truck carrying his body, while black-clad mourners waved Iranian flags, held photographs of Khamenei and displayed red placards bearing revolutionary slogans.
Iran’s clerical leadership encouraged large crowds to attend the funeral events in an effort to project the strength and ideological commitment of the Islamic Republic. The ceremonies marked the culmination of a week of public mourning in both Iran and Iraq.
Despite surviving months of conflict with the United States and Israel, Iran continues to face significant internal challenges. Khamenei’s 37-year rule also remains deeply disputed within the country.
MOJTABA KHAMENEI REMAINS ABSENT
Mojtaba Khamenei, who a clerical assembly proclaimed supreme leader in early March, one week after his father’s death, has not appeared in public since the war began.
Although he has issued written statements, authorities have not released any image, video or audio recording of him.
According to senior sources in Tehran, Mojtaba suffered severe injuries in the strike that killed his father, leaving him with facial disfigurement and serious limb injuries. The sources said he is recovering but has not regained sufficient health to make public appearances. State security services are also limiting his exposure over concerns about possible future US attacks.
ANTI-US SLOGANS DOMINATE FUNERAL
As crowds gathered in Mashhad for the funeral procession, mourners chanted slogans calling for revenge against US President Donald Trump.
“I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!” the crowd shouted, while some women held placards reading “Kill Trump.”
The courtyard of the Shrine of Imam Reza filled with mourners as evening fell. Chants of “Death to America” echoed across the shrine alongside funeral laments and music broadcast through loudspeakers.
A helicopter lifted Khamenei’s coffin over the tightly packed crowd for the final stretch to a blue-tiled arched recess inside the shrine.
Khamenei’s eldest son, Mostafa, led the funeral prayer before male mourners carried the coffin, draped in the colours of Iran’s national flag, into the shrine. Many inside the complex held candles, reached toward the coffin and wept.
The official IRNA news agency reported early on Friday that authorities completed the burials of Khamenei and four family members who were killed alongside him.
The Shrine of Imam Reza, located in Khamenei’s hometown of Mashhad, is one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest sites and serves as a major pilgrimage destination.
Before the burial, authorities carried Khamenei’s remains through Tehran, the clerical centre of Qom and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. Large crowds attended each event, chanting revolutionary slogans and participating in Shi’ite mourning rituals.
Martyrdom occupies a central place in Shi’ite theology, and Iranian authorities have framed Khamenei’s death at the hands of foreign enemies within that religious and political tradition.
FUNERAL MARKS END OF NEARLY FOUR DECADES IN POWER
Khamenei’s funeral comes at a pivotal moment for Iran, ending nearly four decades of his leadership and taking place months after the latest nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic.
Security forces suppressed those protests, which were driven by anger over the sanctions-hit economy, by killing thousands of demonstrators during a broad crackdown that echoed previous episodes of unrest.
Analysts believe Iran emerged from the war with the United States in a stronger strategic position while retaining control over the Strait of Hormuz. However, the country also suffered widespread damage that added to its economic challenges.
Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989, a decade after Iran’s Islamic Revolution. During his tenure, he consolidated political, military and economic authority in the office of the supreme leader while increasingly sidelining the elected president and parliament.
He strengthened that system in close coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose influence expanded throughout his rule. Mojtaba Khamenei assumed the position of supreme leader with the backing of the Guards, which many observers now regard as the dominant force in Iran’s political and strategic decision-making.
With agency inputs.
