Iran laid Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest in the eastern holy city of Mashhad on Thursday, closing out a week of mass funeral processions for the assassinated Supreme Leader even as fighting with the United States and Israel continued.
Huge crowds gathered in Mashhad as Iran prepared to bury Khamenei, with the burial in his hometown following a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies across the country, including a day dedicated to neighboring Iraq.
The ceremonies were intended to project strength and unity amid the US-Israel war on Iran, which began when strikes on Tehran killed Khamenei and several relatives on February 28.
Despite a promised pause in US attacks, the burial ceremony went ahead after the US and Iran traded attacks for a second consecutive day.
Following massive processions in the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, Khamenei’s remains arrived Thursday at Mashhad’s international airport, according to footage from the official IRNA news agency.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said more than 2.3 million people had joined the funeral procession in Najaf alone.
Read More: More Than a Funeral: Is Khamenei’s Final Journey Also Iran’s Biggest Political Performance?
The remains of Khamenei and four family members killed alongside him were also paraded through Tehran and the clerical center of Qom, with Iranian officials describing the Tehran gathering as the largest public gathering in the country’s modern history.
Crowds marching through Mashhad on Thursday morning waved Iranian flags and photos of Khamenei alongside revolutionary slogans, and mourners chanted for vengeance against US President Donald Trump over his role in the assassination, with some women holding signs reading “Kill Trump.”
Notably missing from the mourning has been Khamenei’s son and successor. Mojtaba Khamenei, the incumbent Supreme Leader, has not appeared publicly since taking over days after his father’s assassination, and officials have said he was wounded in the strikes though the severity remains unclear.
Iranian state television said the burial ceremony in Mashhad was scheduled for 2:30pm local time (11:00 GMT), after larger-than-expected crowds delayed the processions in Iraq.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas, reporting from Tehran, said officials confirmed that overnight US strikes knocking out the Tehran-Mashhad railway line had not delayed the ceremony.
Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, head of the late leader’s office, said Khamenei had asked to be buried in Mashhad near the shrine of Imam Reza, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
