Huge crowds in Mashhad as Iran’s late supreme leader is buried
Massive Gatherings Mark Khamenei's Final Resting Place in Mashhad
Huge crowds in Mashhad as Iran - Thousands of mourners dressed in black filled the streets of Mashhad on Thursday as Iran prepared to lay its late supreme leader to rest. The procession wound along a central boulevard toward the magnificent Imam Reza shrine, where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be buried following six days of ceremonies spanning five cities across Iran and neighboring Iraq.
The state news agency IRNA reported that the burial took place amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States. An exchange of military strikes threatened to undermine a preliminary agreement aimed at ending the conflict that claimed Khamenei's life. Earlier that day, Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused American forces of bombing two bridges on the railway connecting Tehran to Mashhad during the night, claiming this was done "in an effort to overshadow" the funeral proceedings.
A Leader Lost in War
Khamenei and several family members perished when an Israeli strike hit his Tehran residence on February 28, 2025. This attack occurred on the very first day of Iran's war with both the United States and Israel. His son Mojtaba, now 56 years old, succeeded him as supreme leader but has remained largely out of public view since being seriously wounded in the same assault.
Mojtaba did not participate in funeral ceremonies held in Tehran and Qom, and observers noted no clear indication that he attended the Mashhad burial. On Thursday morning, an aircraft arrived in Mashhad carrying coffins containing Khamenei, his granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter, and Mojtaba's wife. These bodies had flown from Iraq, where enormous crowds had joined processions at two major Shia shrines in Najaf and Karbala.
Voices of Grief and Resolve
Television footage captured thousands of mourners walking through central Mashhad in the afternoon. Many carried Iranian flags and red banners representing vengeance. Some held photographs of the deceased leader while others displayed placards demanding the death of US President Donald Trump. Alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump had ordered the joint attack four months prior that ignited the war.
"The loss of the leader is heavier than losing our parents," Hoda, a 35-year-old housewife, told AFP news agency. "Only the death of Trump and Netanyahu will soothe our pain."
Banners bearing official slogans such as "We must rise" hung above the boulevard. Eventually, a lorry carried Khamenei's coffin slowly through the gathering crowds toward the shrine complex as evening approached.
A Legacy of Firm Leadership
Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city situated in the northeastern region. He studied at local seminaries before relocating to Qom, which serves as the hub of Iran's Shia clerical establishment. Following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's founding father, Khamenei assumed the role of supreme leader in 1989.
Over his 37 years in power, he maintained tight control over Iran's political landscape and military forces while suppressing domestic opposition, sometimes through violent means. His approach to foreign affairs remained consistently hard-line, particularly regarding confrontations with American and Israeli interests.
Iran's leadership sought to use the choreographed funeral ceremonies to demonstrate national unity and strength following a war that killed thousands of people. This came after mass protests in January, when security force crackdowns resulted in additional thousands of deaths. However, public mourning has been complicated by renewed hostilities with the United States.
Trump cautioned that American attacks might intensify further after a second consecutive night of strikes on Thursday. The US military stated these operations aimed to reduce Iran's capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. In response, the Revolutionary Guards announced that Iranian forces had targeted American military installations and infrastructure across Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.
Three weeks earlier, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding calling for an end to hostilities on all fronts and the reopening of the strategic waterway. This agreement also provided both nations two months to negotiate a comprehensive final deal addressing Iran's nuclear program and American sanctions.