TEHRAN: Funeral proceedings for the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei concluded in the country’s holy city of Qom on Tuesday, local media said, and will continue in neighbouring Iraq.
In an event the Islamic republic hopes to be a show of strength and unity six months after a crackdown on anti-government protests, thousands of people paid their respects to the former leader in Qom on Tuesday, after a massive procession in Tehran the day before.
Crowds carried red flags and placards wishing death upon US President Donald Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
The remains of Khamenei and four of his relatives, killed in US-Israeli strikes in late February at the start of the Middle East War, are expected to arrive in Iraq on Tuesday evening.
Processions will carry the coffins through Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday.
Khamenei’s remains will be taken to the shrine of Imam Ali, the first Shia Imam, in Najaf, one of the most prestigious centres of Shia scholarship in the world.
He will later be transported to the shrines of Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam, and his brother Abbas in Karbala.
Hussein’s death in the seventh century remains the central event in Shia history and tradition.
General Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, praised Baghdad’s “extensive planning of this historic event,” which he said revealed “the depth” of the spiritual connection between the two countries.
Iraqi authorities have announced a major security deployment during the funeral.
The final burial of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for over three decades until his death at the age of 86, will take place on Thursday in his hometown of Mashhad, an Iranian holy city in the northeast of the country.
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