Iran is preparing to bury its late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali\nKhamenei, in his home city of Mashhad in the country\u2019s north-east on\nThursday evening (9 July) local time.<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s funeral, as reported by AFP on Thursday (9 July 2026),\nbrings to an end a series of massive ceremonies held over recent days in\nTehran and other Iranian cities, as well as in Shia holy cities in Iraq.\nMillions of mourners attended the funeral ceremonies, which were also\nattended by foreign delegations from dozens of countries.<\/p>\n
Just as the series of ceremonies entered its final day on Thursday (9\nJuly), Iran once again became embroiled in exchanges of attacks with the\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
Khamenei\u2019s funeral, held four months after his death, is taking place\nas the United States intensifies its strikes on Iranian targets\nfollowing the collapse of an already fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump, who has announced that the US-Iran\nceasefire has ended, warned of \u201cfar worse\u201d attacks if Iran continues to\nstrike ships in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Khamenei died on 28 February, the first day of the joint US and\nIsraeli attacks that marked the start of the war.<\/p>\n
Khamenei to Be Buried in His Birthplace<\/p>\n
After a long procession through the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala\nin neighbouring Iraq on Wednesday (8 July), Khamenei\u2019s body was\nscheduled to arrive at its final resting place in the holy city of\nMashhad.<\/p>\n
Observers are closely watching for signs of Khamenei\u2019s son and\nsuccessor, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public at all since\nbeing chosen to lead Iran. Mojtaba is reported to have been wounded in\nthe same attack that killed his father.<\/p>\n
The Governor of Mashhad, Hassan Hosseini, quoted by Iranian state\ntelevision, estimated that \u201c15 million people\u201d would attend Khamenei\u2019s\nfuneral procession.<\/p>\n
The funeral procession was originally scheduled to begin on Thursday\nmorning (9 July) at 06:00 local time. However, local media, citing a\nstatement from Khamenei\u2019s funeral committee, reported that the\nprocession would begin at 14:00 local time due to delays in the\nceremonial proceedings in Iraq.<\/p>\n
According to the official news agency IRNA, Khamenei will be buried\non Thursday evening (9 July) in the Imam Reza Shrine complex, the most\nrevered place of worship in Iran. Imam Reza is the only one of the\ntwelve Shia imams buried in Iran.<\/p>\n
The series of funeral ceremonies encompasses several locations\nreflecting the religious, political and ideological pillars of the\nIslamic Republic of Iran.<\/p>\n
His chief of staff, Mohammad Mohammadi-Golypayegani, previously said\non Iranian state television that Khamenei himself had stipulated in his\nwill that he wished to be buried in Mashhad.<\/p>\n
Over the centuries, a number of prominent figures have been buried in\nthe Imam Reza Shrine complex, including several former Shahs of Iran as\nwell as former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.<\/p>\n
Khamenei will be buried alongside his infant granddaughter, his\nson-in-law, his daughter, and Mojtaba\u2019s wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, all of\nwhom were killed in the US-Israeli attack on 28 February.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/iran-to-bury-ali-khamenei-as-us-intensifies-attacks-1783583605", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }