Iran Buries Supreme Leader Khamenei in Mashhad After Funeral

Iran buried Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad on July 9, closing a multi-day state funeral that had begun in Tehran on July 4.

Days of mourning

The commemoration opened in Tehran on July 4. The main procession through the capital took place on July 6, followed by prayers at the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom on July 7. Khamenei was then laid to rest at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad on July 9. Representatives from more than 100 countries were reported as expected to attend the ceremonies, which unfolded across several Iranian cities over the course of the mourning period.

How Khamenei died

Khamenei, 86, had been killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28, the first day of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, according to source accounts. His death removed Iran's supreme leader and set in motion the extended state funeral that concluded in July. The strike had come at the very start of that conflict, on its opening day, according to those accounts, and the funeral followed months later.

A multi-city farewell

The funeral drew attention across the region, with mourning stretching from Tehran and Qom to Mashhad. The scale of the commemoration, spanning several cities and days, underscored Khamenei's standing at the head of Iran's political and religious system. The burial at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad marked the final stage of the days-long farewell, which had opened in Tehran five days earlier and moved through Qom before reaching Mashhad.