Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic gathered late Thursday night for the funeral of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad, as the country faced more attacks by the United States.
An Israeli strike killed Khamenei in late February on the first day of the US-Israel war against Iran, ending his more than three-and-a-half-decade rule.
Beating their chests and crying, mourners lined the road as they waited for Khamenei’s casket to arrive at the Imam Reza shrine in the eastern city, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will.
The area near Imam Reza’s tomb was still filled with a large crowd of people in the evening, to the sound of religious songs, while believers lit candles.
A helicopter transported the body of the deceased to the shrine because the main route was expected to be crowded.
With new hostilities erupting with the United States even after the agreement to end the war last month, at least one warplane escorted the plane carrying the coffin of the late Iranian leader to Mashhad.
