Tehran [Iran], July 10 – Iran has laid the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest after six days of funeral rites and mourning ceremonies.
More than four months after his death Khamenei was buried at one of the country’s holiest Shia pilgrimage sites. He was killed on February 28 the same day the US and Israel launched military strikes on Iran.
According to Iranian state media Khamenei was buried on Friday morning at the Imam Reza Shrine in his birthplace of Mashhad. The religious complex known for its massive golden dome and gold-plated minarets is regarded as one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Shia muslims.
Although the burial was conducted in private it followed a week of public mourning ceremonies and funeral processions.
The events drew more than 15 million participants according to official figures while Iranian estimates suggested the total attendance may have exceeded 30 million.
However Khamenei’s son and the current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei did not appear in public during the funeral ceremonies. He has not been seen publicly since the joint US-Israeli strike on Khamenei’s residence in central Tehran on February 28, in which Khamenei was killed. The attack is widely regarded as the beginning of the war between the US, Israel and Iran.
Public mourning began last Saturday at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex where Khamenei’s coffin was placed on display for the public. Delegations from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi movement in Yemen attended the ceremony. Even larger crowds gathered at the same venue the following day.
Khamenei’s coffin was carried on the back of a truck during a funeral procession stretching nearly 10 km to Azadi Square the site of some of the largest public gatherings since Iran’s 1979 islamicrevolution.
On Thursday morning, Khamenei’s body was flown to Mashhad for the burial. Mourners dressed in black joined the procession carrying Iranian flags portraits of the late leader and red placards bearing revolutionary slogans.
Meanwhile a memorial service in Khamenei’s honour is scheduled to be held in the city of Qom on Saturday. MojtabaKhamenei is expected to attend raising the possibility of his first public appearance since the war began.
