Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been laid to rest in the holy city of Mashhad, after several funeral ceremonies across Iran and Iraq that lasted for six days.
As per Al Jazeera, at least 41 to 43 million people participated in the six-day funeral ceremony for Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iranian media reported that between 41 and 43 million people participated in the ceremony, with Iran’s Press TV calling it “the largest procession the world has ever witnessed.”
Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral rites
On Saturday, State funeral proceedings kicked off across different cities in Iran, with tens of thousands of mourners gathered at the Grand Mosalla religious complex in Tehran to pay their last respects to their leader.
Ceremonies took place across five cities in Iraq and Iran, including Tehran, Qom, Najaf, Karbala and Mashhad - where he was buried in the country’s holiest Shia shrine.
A glimpse into Khamenei’s leadership
Ali Khamenei took over the role as the country’s political and religious figurehead in 1989 from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, after serving as Iran’s president during the Iran-Iraq war.
He served as Iran’s supreme leader for almost four decades before his killing.
He embraced martyrdom on February 28, which marked the first day of US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, which remains continued until yet.
Following his martyrdom, his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, assumed his role by becoming Iran's new supreme leader, but he has remained out of public view since he came to power, but three of Khamenei’s sons, who had not been seen since the start of the war, attended the funeral.
Notably, delegations from several countries were in attendance, including senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, China and Turkey.
