Mourners gather in the street ahead of the funeral of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026. (Credit: Atta Kenare/AFP)
It took over four months for Ali Khamenei to be laid to rest. Killed in the first U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28, alongside several members of his family, Iran's former supreme leader remained unburied as the Islamic Republic prepared a farewell that was as much about geopolitics as mourning.War, security requirements and political staging delayed what Islamic tradition normally requires to be accomplished quickly. For nearly a week, his coffin followed a carefully chosen route: Tehran, capital of the revolutionary state; Qom, clerical heart of the Islamic Republic; Najaf and Karbala, Iraqi holy cities central to Shiite memory; then Mashhad, the deceased's hometown, where he was buried Thursday near the Imam Reza shrine. Huge crowds, foreign delegations, slogans of vengeance against the United States: the Islamic...
It took over four months for Ali Khamenei to be laid to rest. Killed in the first U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28, alongside several members of his family, Iran's former supreme leader remained unburied as the Islamic Republic prepared a farewell that was as much about geopolitics as mourning.War, security requirements and political staging delayed what Islamic tradition normally requires to be accomplished quickly. For nearly a week, his coffin followed a carefully chosen route: Tehran, capital of the revolutionary state; Qom, clerical heart of the Islamic Republic; Najaf and Karbala, Iraqi holy cities central to Shiite memory; then Mashhad, the deceased's hometown, where he was buried Thursday near the Imam Reza shrine. Huge crowds, foreign delegations, slogans of vengeance against the United States: the Islamic...
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