Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed on Thursday late into the night for the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad.
An Israeli strike killed Khamenei in late February on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran, bringing an end to his more than three and a half decades in power.
Beating their chests and weeping, mourners lined the route as they waited for Khamenei’s coffin to arrive at the eastern city’s shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will.
The area around the shrine of Imam Reza was still bustling with a huge crowd in the evening, to the sound of religious chants, while worshippers lit candles.
A helicopter transported the body across the final stretch to the shrine because the main avenue was expected to be crammed with people.
With new hostilities breaking out with the US even after an accord last month to end the war, at least one fighter jet escorted the plane carrying the late Iranian leader’s coffin to Mashhad.
