Millions of mourners gathered in Tehran from 3 July onward as funeral ceremonies for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei unfolded. The week-long processions culminated on Thursday, 9 July, when he was laid to rest at the Imam Reza shrine in Marshad. The funeral came less than two weeks after renewed hostilities between Tehran and Washington pushed the Middle East into one of its most volatile periods in recent years.
Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, led the Islamic Republic for nearly 37 years. His death marked the close of one of the most consequential chapters in Iran's modern history.
