Iran was burying its slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country’s holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being disfigured in the strike that killed his father.

The burial in Mashhad in northeast Iran follows a week of mass funeral processions, rallies and mourning ceremonies that have coincided with a renewed burst of conflict with the United States following weeks of truce.

Khamenei’s body was carried by truck slowly through the crammed Mashhad streets towards the gilt dome and minarets of the Shrine of Imam Reza on Thursday, flanked by white-turbaned clerics walking on either side. Black-clad mourners pressed in close behind, waving Iranian flags, photographs of the late Khamenei and red placards with revolutionary slogans.

At least one fighter jet accompanied Khamenei’s coffin on its journey to Mashhad, a reflection of the heightened state of security amid the renewed hostilities.

The burial on Thursday is the culmination of a week of funeral events in both Iran and Iraq that the Islamic Republic’s clerical leaders have been encouraging huge crowds to attend in an effort to vaunt the might and ideological fire of their theocratic state.

It has not been without controversy, however, as the whereabouts of  Mojtaba Khamenei, proclaimed supreme leader by a clerical assembly a week after his father’s death, have remained a mystery to Iranians.

He has not appeared in public since the war began with the February 28 strike that killed Ali Khamenei and, while he has issued written statements, no image, video, or voice recording of him has been issued.

He suffered debilitating injuries in that same strike, his face disfigured and limbs badly wounded.

Senior sources in Tehran have said he is recovering but that he has not yet been well enough to manage public appearances and state security services are also trying to limit his exposure in case of more US attacks.

همه ناراحتی نفوذی های دشمن که دنبال تفرقه و فحش دادن هستند از نیامدن روحانی و خاتمی و ظریف این بود که نتوانستند درست و حسابی فحش دهند و یک مراسم ملی را خراب کنند.کاری که با رییس جمهور و عراقچی کردند. آنها عاشق فحش و تفرقه هستند و نانشان در این کارهاست. pic.twitter.com/CiP1CiChbB — hadi mohammadi (@m_h_mohammadi) July 6, 2026

همه ناراحتی نفوذی های دشمن که دنبال تفرقه و فحش دادن هستند از نیامدن روحانی و خاتمی و ظریف این بود که نتوانستند درست و حسابی فحش دهند و یک مراسم ملی را خراب کنند.کاری که با رییس جمهور و عراقچی........

© The Times of Israel