World·NewIran buries its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country's holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being ‌disfigured in the strike that killed his father.Burial in holy city of Mashhad follows week of huge crowds at processions, rallies and mourning ceremoniesThomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 09, 2026 8:42 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.The coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is carried through a crowd as mourners jostle to reach and touch it outside the Imam Hussein Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, early Thursday. (Khalil Hamra/The Associated Press)Iran buries its slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country's holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being ‌disfigured in the strike that killed his father.The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that has coincided with a renewed burst of conflict with the United States following weeks of truce.Khamenei's body was carried by truck slowly through the crammed Mashhad streets toward the gilt dome and minarets of the Shrine of Imam Reza, flanked by white-turbaned clerics walking on either side. Black-clad mourners pressed in ​close behind, waving Iranian flags, photographs of the late Khamenei and red placards with revolutionary slogans.As Khamenei's body was transported around Iran and Iraq ​over the past week, the Islamic Republic's clerical leaders encouraged huge crowds to attend in an effort to vaunt the might and ideological fire of their theocratic state.However, despite surviving a months-long blitz by the United States and Israel, Iran faces huge ​internal challenges and the legacy of Khamenei's 37-year rule is bitterly disputed.'Kill Trump' placardsThe 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 Feb. 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.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.WATCH | Hundreds of thousands packed the streets of Tehran:Scenes from Iran's days-long funeral for assassinated leaderJuly 7|Duration 2:07Hundreds of thousands of mourners pack the streets of Tehran to say their goodbyes to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's late supreme leader killed in a joint attack between the U.S. and Israel back on Feb. 28. The four-day funeral procession takes place against the backdrop of a ceasefire with the U.S. as the two countries look for a permanent end to the war, which delayed the ceremony up until now.As crowds jostled in Mashhad awaiting Khamenei's funeral cortège, 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."The roads leading to the shrine were a sea of black-clad mourners on Thursday, some responding to shouted chants in praise of Khamenei and against Iran's enemies, including the old revolutionary slogan of "Death to America."U.S. and Iran exchange intensifying fire across Persian GulfAnalysisAs Trump declares ceasefire over, Iran's leadership is divided over how it wants the war to endAs the crowds awaited the coffins of Khamenei and his family in the sweltering July heat, hoses pumped water high into the air to spray across the mourners and keep them cool.Khamenei's remains, along with those of four family ​members killed alongside him, have already been paraded through Tehran, the Shia 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 Shia laments and chanted revolutionary slogans.Martyrdom holds a central place in Shia 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.Khamenei's long rule and disputed legacyThe 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.Mourners gather for Khamenei's burial in Mashhad on Thursday. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)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 marginalized the elected president and parliament, was conducted in concert with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which 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.