Iranians mourn along procession route before burial in Mashhad during weeklong ceremonies.
Iranians mourn along procession route before burial in Mashhad during weeklong ceremonies.
By AFP
and
Published On 6 Jul 2026
The funeral procession for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has begun in Tehran as authorities prepare for crowds that could rival those that turned out for his predecessor nearly four decades ago.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran, began its journey on Monday through the capital, accompanied by large crowds of mourners, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s funeral killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
Thousands filled the Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects to Khamenei and his four family members who were killed with him on February 28 in air strikes on his office in Tehran.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
Since arriving, the delegation has worked alongside local forces on the ground to locate and rescue survivors and provide humanitarian aid where possible.
Fire and Rescue forces used specialized tools to extract the driver, following which he was flown by helicopter to a hospital for treatment.
Security officials also told Walla that they view parts of the ceremony as an effort to normalize and validate the status of Mojtaba Khamenei.
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