In brief
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s coffin was carried through Iraq’s holiest Shia shrines, first at the Imam Ali mausoleum in Najaf where mourners jostled for a touch, then to the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. The pageant drew tens of thousands, chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” echoing the political fallout from the war between Iran and the United States. While the coffin rammed past holy relics in Najaf, it later was hauls on lorry to Karbala, where prayers lit the mausoleum’s halls. In Tehran, crowds will echo the mourners’ fervour. Khamenei will finally be buried in Mashhad on Thursday after a final mourning day.
Beyond the witnessing of a decade‑long war, the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has taken a cavernous form across Iraq’s religious heartland. The coffin, escorted beside lorries, made its way into the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, where thousands of Shia mourners pressed against its side in a flurry of reverence, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” The procession culminated with prayers conducted by a senior cleric from the nearby seminary, while fellow mourners fought for a glimpse of the casket inside the hallowed halls.
On the same day, the coffin was flown to Karbala – a city 60 kilometres north of Najaf – to end at the shrine of Imam Hussein. The grounds were again full, chants echoing the Iran‑US hostility that ignites intense political symbolism for Shia communities worldwide. The funerary rites are expected to last until Thursday, when Khamenei’s final burial will be held in Mashhad in the north‑east of Iran.
Meanwhile, senior Iranian officials attended the ceremonies, with President Masoud Pezeshkian and others flying to Iraq. The delegation was welcomed by Iraqi Prime Minister al‑Zaidi, and Wednesday was declared a public holiday. Although the newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not been seen publicly since a severe strike in Tehran on 28 February, the funeral procession serves as a unifying show of faith and defiance within Iran’s political landscape.
