Crowds of mourners surround the convoy carrying the coffins of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family during a funeral procession, before he is buried at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran’s most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. Braving sweltering heat and calling for revenge, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed on July 9 for the burial of slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) /
Iran on Friday laid to rest its former supreme leader Ali Khamenei over four months after his killing in an airstrike, as two days of US and Iranian attacks raised fears of a return to all-out war.
Khamenei’s flag-covered coffin was carried aloft into the shrine of Imam Reza in his home city of Mashhad in eastern Iran as a sea of people waited outside and listened to prayers, with no sign of a public appearance by his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei.
The “body of the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution was buried in the memorial hall of the shrine of Imam Reza,” state broadcaster IRIB reported.
The burial came after a second day of tit-for-tat attacks by Washington and Tehran’s forces, with Iranian officials reporting that US strikes killed 17 people and state media saying one targeted a railway line between Tehran and Mashhad.
