Iran Buries Slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

 at Holy Shrine in Mashhad

Report By Y-Trendz

Mashhad, Iran, July 9, 2026 — Iran laid its longtime Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to rest on Thursday at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, bringing to a close a six-day state funeral that

drew millions of mourners across Iran and Iraq and marked the end of his 37-year rule over the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei, 87, was killed on February 28, 2026, in a joint United States-Israeli airstrike on the Office of the Supreme Leader in Tehran, an attack that opened the current war between Iran and the two countries. Four members of his family — his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and an infant granddaughter — were killed alongside him. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB confirmed his death roughly 21 hours after the strike.

A Week of Mourning Across Two Countries

The funeral proceedings began on July 3 and unfolded over six days, taking Khamenei's coffin through Tehran, the clerical center of Qom, and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala before its final journey to Mashhad, the northeastern Iranian city where he was born. Fighter jets escorted the aircraft carrying his coffin and those of his relatives as it landed at Shahid Hasheminejad Airport ahead of Thursday's burial.

Iranian authorities mounted what state media described as the largest funeral in the country's history, surpassing the scale of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1989 funeral. Officials in Mashhad said they expected as many as 15 million people to attend the final ceremony, and estimates put total attendance across all six days of processions at up to 30 million. The government declared a 40-day mourning period and a week-long public holiday, and provided transportation, food and lodging to facilitate turnout.

Mourners dressed in black packed the streets leading to the golden-domed Shrine of Imam Reza, waving Iranian flags and portraits of Khamenei and carrying placards bearing revolutionary slogans, including "We must rise" and a red clenched fist symbolizing resistance. Many chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," while some directed their anger specifically at US President Donald Trump, with crowds shouting threats against him and women holding signs reading "Kill Trump." State media also reported plans in Mashhad's Ahmadabad Square for a symbolic mock execution and burning of a Trump-like effigy.

Khamenei was buried alongside the four relatives killed in the same February strike: his son-in-law Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri-Kani, his daughter Seyyedeh Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, his daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad Adel, and his infant granddaughter Zahra Mohammad Golpayegani. The funeral prayer was led by Hossein Noori Hamedani, a 101-year-old conservative ayatollah.

Successor's Absence Raises Questions

Much of the coverage surrounding the funeral has focused on the continued public absence of Khamenei's son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was proclaimed the new Supreme Leader by a clerical assembly about a week after his father's death. Mojtaba has not appeared in public, issued any video or audio statement, or been photographed since the war began. Iranian officials have said he was badly wounded and disfigured in the same strike that killed his father, and that he remains in recovery, with state security services reportedly limiting his exposure amid fears of further attacks. His prolonged absence has fueled uncertainty in Iran over who is effectively directing the state during a period of active conflict.

Khamenei's three other sons — Mostafa, Meysam and Masoud — did attend the funeral processions, with Mostafa leading prayers over his father's body before the burial. IRGC chief General Ahmad Vahidi also appeared publicly for the first time since the war began, and IRGC-affiliated media circulated images said to show Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani at the ceremonies in Iraq.

Funeral Held Amid Active Conflict

The burial took place against the backdrop of renewed hostilities. Despite an earlier pause in US strikes, Iran and the United States traded attacks for a second consecutive day as the funeral concluded, and overnight strikes reportedly knocked out the Tehran-Mashhad railway line, though officials said this did not delay the burial ceremony. Coverage of the conflict noted that fighting had increasingly centered on the Strait of Hormuz as a military and economic flashpoint, extending beyond the dispute over Iran's nuclear program that originally triggered the war.

Iran also used the funeral's Iraqi leg — processions through Najaf and Karbala — to project regional solidarity, framing the events through the religious symbolism of Shiite martyrdom and suggesting Khamenei's authority and legacy extended beyond Iran's borders even as Tehran's allied regional network faces pressure.

The funeral came just months after a wave of mass anti-government protests inside Iran, driven by anger over a sanctions-battered economy, which security forces suppressed in a violent crackdown that killed thousands of demonstrators. That unrest, combined with the extended war and uncertainty over Mojtaba Khamenei's health and authority, leaves the Islamic Republic facing significant internal and external challenges as it enters a new chapter without the man who led it for nearly four decades.