Funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf with thousands of mourners present.
The Islamic Republic’s dayslong funeral for Khamenei began Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of the man who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West. His body will later be taken from Najaf to the city of Karbala before returning to Iran.
Khamenei was killed in late February in wide-scale US and Israeli strikes on Iran. He was among several senior Iranian leaders killed in strikes during the war. He was 86.
Talks between the United States and Iran appear to be on hold until after the burial. However, strikes from both sides in the Gulf Tuesday and into Wednesday raised risks that the interim agreement to end the monthslong war that engulfed the Mideast could break down. The US military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, before Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain.
Khamenei’s body arrived Tuesday in Najaf, considered one of the holiest of cities for millions of Shi’ite Muslims worldwide. Mourners holding portraits of the late supreme leader welcomed the body and senior officials escorting it, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Some supporters performed self-flagellation on the streets, while others waved Iranian as well as red and black flags symbolising mourning and revenge.
Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim, a senior scholar at the Najaf seminary, led the funeral prayers at the Shrine of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.
As the coffin was carried into the shrine, large crowds of mourners pushed and shoved their way to get close to it. Some threw themselves onto the casket, as the al-Hakim struggled to control the crowd, urging the pallbearers to carry it closer to the ground for fear it might fall.
“We, the people of Iraq, will remain a thorn in the eyes of the enemies,” said Jaafar Jawad, a funeral attendee. “(His body arriving here) is the greatest possible honor, and God willing, we will be loyal and repay a little of his debt in the holy city of Najaf.”
The body is expected to arrive later Wednesday in Karbala, a holy city for Shi’ite Muslims where the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet, was killed in 680 AD. Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a representative of Iraq’s top Shi’ite religious authority, will lead the prayers at the Imam Hussein Shrine.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
