The week of mourning in Iran concluded in Mashhad, about 750 km east of Tehran, with the burial of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family who were killed with him by US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.
The funeral procession began at 3 p.m. local time and didn’t end until about 10 p.m., with “a crowd numbering in the millions gathered at the holy Razavi Shrine and the surrounding streets to perform funeral prayers for the martyred leader, led by his eldest son, Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Mostafa Hosseini Khamenei,” reported IRNA.
IRNA noted that vast crowds surrounded the vehicle carrying his remains and his family members, while chants of “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Death to the opponents of Velayat-e Faqih” (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) echoed along the route.
Red flags symbolizing vengeance and the call for avenging the blood of Imam Hussein (Ya La-Tharat al-Hussein), alongside the flag of the Islamic Republic, were waving all along the streets of the procession route.
Iranian authorities put the total attendance over the six days of public ceremonies and processions at 41-43 million people, “the largest funeral event in world history,” reported WANA.
