Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid to rest with grand ceremony in his hometown of Mashhad, concluding a solemn six-day funeral procession that traversed Iran and Iraq before ending Thursday evening. Iranian Air Force fighter jets provided aerial escort for the aircraft carrying Khamenei’s coffin as it arrived in Mashhad, with footage released by the Supreme Leader’s official website showing the historic procession unfolding under the shadow of warplanes, reflecting the charged state of West Asian politics.
Khamenei died in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28. As part of the procession that began on July 4, his body was carried through Tehran, the religious center of Qom, and the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. The coffins of his daughter, son-in-law, infant granddaughter, and his son Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife Zahra Haddad Adel — all killed in the same strikes — were placed alongside his own and carried together throughout the journey, as millions of mourners paid tearful tribute.
The final rites were held at the world-renowned Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad. Notably, Imam Reza is the only one of the twelve Imams revered in Shia belief to be buried on Iranian soil. The site is also home to the graves of former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, and past Iranian monarchs (Shahs). Iranian state television confirmed Khamenei was buried in his hometown per his final wish, with the 101-year-old senior cleric Ayatollah Hussein Noori Hamedani leading the final prayers.
Even as the six-day funeral unfolded, tensions between the US and Iran reached a boiling point elsewhere in West Asia, with both nations exchanging missile strikes. Global alarm grew after Iran announced it had intensified retaliatory strikes targeting US military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.
With these military clashes unfolding in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global energy transport, international oil supplies face serious disruption risks. As Iran bids farewell to its Supreme Leader while simultaneously massing missiles along its borders to confront the US-Israel alliance, fears of a full-scale war in West Asia have intensified.