Burial of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Mashhad

Iran buried its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad on July 10, 2026, following a week-long funeral procession that passed through Tehran, Qom, and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. The burial ceremony, originally scheduled for the morning, was delayed by approximately eight hours and began at 2pm local time.

Khamenei and several family members were killed on February 28 in a strike on his residence in Tehran, on the first day of Iran's war with the US and Israel. Khamenei was buried alongside four family members who died in the same strike — including his infant granddaughter, son-in-law, daughter, and Mojtaba Khamenei's wife Zahra Haddad Adel.

Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Khamenei's son, was proclaimed supreme leader by a clerical assembly approximately one week after his father's death. However, Mojtaba was reportedly seriously wounded in the same February 28 strike and has not appeared in public since, missing all funeral processions including those in Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad.

The Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad is Iran's holiest Shia Muslim site. Imam Reza is the only one of the twelve Shia imams believed to have been buried in Iran, and the shrine's mausoleum dates to the 9th century. Khamenei's chief of staff Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpaygani stated that Khamenei had himself wished to be buried in Mashhad.

BBC News reported that Khamenei was born in Mashhad, studied at seminaries there before moving to Qom, and was appointed supreme leader in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, serving for 37 years. During his tenure, BBC News noted, Khamenei maintained a firm grip on Iran's politics and armed forces, suppressed domestic challenges sometimes violently, and took consistently hard-line stances toward the US and Israel.

Mourners at Khamenei's funeral displayed placards, banners, and chants calling for the deaths of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including slogans such as 'Kill Trump,' 'Death to America,' and 'I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you.' Mourners waved red flags symbolizing the search for vengeance in Shia Islam.

The plane carrying Khamenei's coffin and those of four family members was escorted by Iranian military jets to Mashhad's Shahid Hasheminejad Airport. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and top IRGC commanders traveled to Iraq to participate in the funeral processions.

Left-leaning Middle East Eye reported that more than 2.3 million people attended the funeral procession in Najaf, according to the Iraqi paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi. Center-right Times of Israel reported that Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini stated he expected 15 million people to attend Khamenei's burial in Mashhad. The outlets differed in their reporting of crowd estimates, with other coverage describing 'huge crowds' or 'tens of thousands' without citing these specific figures.

Center-right Times of Israel reported that the prayer at Khamenei's Mashhad burial ceremony was to be led by Hossein Noori Hamedani, a 101-year-old conservative ayatollah. The outlet also reported that on Monday during the Tehran processions, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were heckled, insulted, and physically attacked by members of the public.

The US and Iran resumed air strikes after a short-term truce, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards accusing the US of bombing two railway bridges between Tehran and Mashhad overnight. Iranian officials attributed the burial ceremony delay to ceremonies in Iraq running late and an overwhelming crowd of mourners, while multiple outlets noted the timing coincided with the resumed US strikes that disrupted the Tehran-Mashhad rail link.

Outlets differed in their characterization of who carried out the February 28 strike that killed Khamenei. Center-left BBC News and center-right Times of Israel attributed the killing to an Israeli strike, while left-leaning Middle East Eye described it as a joint US-Israeli military strike.

Center-right Times of Israel, citing senior Tehran sources, reported that Mojtaba Khamenei is recovering but not yet well enough for public appearances, and that state security services are limiting his exposure to prevent further US assassination attempts. The outlet also reported that Mojtaba Khamenei has issued written statements but no image, video, or voice recording of him has been publicly released since he became supreme leader.

Left-leaning Middle East Eye, citing a New York Times report, stated that Mojtaba Khamenei's request to attend his father's funeral was denied due to fears he could be assassinated.