Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated by US-Israeli strikes on 28 February, has been buried in his hometown of Mashhad following a six-day-long funeral procession.
Iranian media reported that between 41 and 43 million people participated in the ceremony, with Iran’s Press TV calling it “the largest procession the world has ever witnessed”.
State funeral proceedings began on Saturday when tens of thousands of Iranians gathered at the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran to see Khamenei’s coffin.
Ceremonies took place across five cities in Iraq and Iran, including Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala and Mashhad – where he was buried in the country’s holiest Shia shrine.
Mourners called for revenge, including leading chants of “Death to America” and holding banners reading “Kill Trump”. Others carried red flags bearing the word “Martyr”.
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Ali Khamenei took over the role as the country’s political and religious figurehead in 1989 from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, after serving as Iran’s president during the Iran-Iraq war.
He was as Iran’s supreme leader for four decades before he was killed at age 86 alongside his daughter, son-in-law and graddaughter in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in Tehran and was succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
This marked the first day of the US-Israel war on Iran, which remains ongoing – a major blow to American interests which sought to bring about Iranian surrender and regime change by toppling the supreme leader.
Rather than destabilising the country, Iran has arguably emerged stronger, exerting strategic dominance by cutting off the Strait of Hormuz and forcing the US to come to the negotiating table.
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Meanwhile, Trump’s militarism has lost him popularity in the US, with a majority of American voters thinking the Iran war is “not worth it”, according to a recent poll.
Iran’s new supreme leader has remained out of public view since he came into power, but three of Khamenei’s sons, who had not been seen since the start of the war, attended the funeral.
Delegations from several countries were in attendance, including senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, China and Turkey.
Supporters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza, Hezbollah from Lebanon and the Houthis from Yemen also came to pay their respects at the memorial ceremony.
This comes as renewed fighting between the US and Iran threatens the fragile truce held in place by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed last month, after Trump declared the ceasefire over and called Iranian leaders “scum” on Wednesday.
