By CUI HAIPEI in Dubai, UAE and JAN YUMUL in Hong Kong |
China Daily |
Relative calm settled on Friday after two days of tit-for-tat strikes between the United States and Iran, as Tehran completed burial rites for its late supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Mediators, meanwhile, are ramping up efforts to pull the two foes back to negotiations and avert a full-scale regional war.
Khamenei's flag-covered coffin was carried aloft into the shrine of Imam Reza in his home city of Mashhad in northeastern 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 has been laid to rest in the memorial hall of the Imam Reza Shrine," state broadcaster IRIB reported. Iran's Press TV said an estimated 41 million to 43 million people had taken part in massive funeral ceremonies starting from July 3.
