Iran has buried its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the country's holiest shrine in Mashhad, concluding a week of national mourning and public grief. His son and presumed successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, remained out of public sight, reportedly disfigured in the strike that claimed his father's life. The burial on Thursday coincided with a renewed surge of conflict with the United States, following a recent period of de-escalation.Thousands gathered in Mashhad on Thursday morning, their procession winding towards the Shrine of Imam Reza, its golden dome gleaming. Waving Iranian flags, images of the late leader, and revolutionary placards, the crowds participated in the final rites. Throughout the past week, as Khamenei's body travelled across Iran and Iraq, the Islamic Republic's clerical establishment orchestrated these vast public displays, aiming to project the strength and ideological fervour of their theocratic government.However, despite enduring a sustained campaign from adversaries like the United States and Israel, Iran grapples with significant domestic issues. The 37-year legacy of Ayatollah Khamenei's rule remains a deeply contentious subject within the nation.‘Kill Trump’ placards as ceremonyThe whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, proclaimed Supreme Leader by a clerical assembly a week after his ​father's death, has ⁠remained a mystery to Iranians. He has not appeared ‌in public since the war began with the strike that killed Ali Khamenei on February 28, and while he has issued written statements, no image or video or voice recording of him has been issued.He suffered debilitating injuries in that same strike, his face disfigured and ‌limbs badly wounded.Mourners display a banner that reads Kill Trump during the third day of funeral ceremonies for Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 6, 2026 (Getty)Senior sources in Tehran have said he is recovering but ‌that he has not yet been well enough to manage public appearances and state security services are also trying to limit his exposure in case of more U.S. attacks. As crowds jostled in Mashhad awaiting Khamenei's funeral cortege, the crowd chanted slogans demanding revenge on U.S. President Donald Trump for his killing.“I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, ⁠Trump, we will kill you!” they shouted, with women holding up placards reading "Kill Trump". Khamenei's remains, along with those of four family members killed alongside him, have already been paraded through Tehran, the Shi'ite Muslim clerical centre of Qom, and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. At each event, huge crowds have thronged the streets to the mournful accompaniment of sung Shi'ite laments and chanted revolutionary slogans.Martydom holds a central place in Shi'ite theology and Khamenei's death at the hands of foreign enemies has played into a religious and political tradition that runs deep through the Islamic Republic.Mourners attend a funeral procession on the day of the burial of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, in Mashhad, Iran, July 9, 2026 (Reuters)The funeral comes at a critical moment for Iran, turning the page of nearly ‌four decades of Khamenei's rule and months after the latest round of mass nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic.Security forces ​put down that unrest, sparked by anger over the sanctions-throttled economy, by killing thousands of demonstrators in a wave of ‌repression that echoed other bouts of violence over recent years. While analysts ⁠see Iran as having emerged from the war strategically strengthened, with its grip over the vital Strait of Hormuz intact, ⁠it has suffered widespread damage that has added to internal economic woes.The late Khamenei was appointed supreme leader in 1989, a decade after the Islamic revolution, and over the ‌decades he consolidated political, economic and military ​power in his office.That effort, which increasingly marginalised the elected president and parliament, ‌was conducted in concert with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ​that grew in influence throughout Khamenei's rule.Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed with the backing of the Guards, who are now seen as the dominant force in Iranian political and strategic thinking.