Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in airstrikes by the US and Israel on February 28, 2026, was honored with a six-day public funeral starting July 4 in Iran, including massive gatherings in Tehran and Qom [1, 2, 3]. The July 6 funeral in Tehran drew an estimated 15 million mourners, marking the largest event in the ceremonies [2].
On July 7, Khamenei's coffin was flown to Iraq's holy city of Najaf, where thousands to over a million mourners participated in funeral processions and chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans such as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" [4, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Iraqi and Iranian flags, along with banners of Iran-backed Iraqi militias, were displayed prominently [4, 5, 7, 8]. Al Jazeera's Jack Hewson described Najaf as "the third holiest site in Shia Islam after Mecca and Medina" and noted the crowd as numbering in the hundreds of thousands [1].
Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, IRGC commanders, and Khamenei's eldest son Mostafa Hosseini Khamenei, attended the processions alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and senior officials [4, 1, 5, 7, 8, 3]. After Najaf, the coffin was taken approximately 60 kilometers to the nearby Shia holy city of Karbala for another procession before returning to Iran [4, 1, 5, 7, 8, 3].
Khamenei was buried in his hometown Mashhad on July 9, 2026, in a ceremony attended by many supporters [1, 2, 9, 10]. Due to damage from previous conflicts, the IRGC escorted the coffin to Mashhad using F-5E fighter jets [10]. A shooting incident near the burial site that evening resulted in two deaths; authorities are investigating [9].
Approximately 400 foreign social media influencers, including some from the US, took part in the funeral ceremonies and were noted chanting anti-US and anti-Zionist slogans, stirring controversy [11]. Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Supreme Leader, has remained absent from public events and is presumed wounded in the February airstrikes [1, 10].
The cross-border funeral processions underscored Iran's regional alliances and Shia unity after Khamenei's death [2]. US President Donald Trump reacted by stating he believed he was targeted too, saying, "They want to take out the leader of the United States – that’s me ... I’m on all the lists" [10].
