Final stage of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral begins after delay

The coffin of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is carried into a shrine during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. The procession is a mass outpouring of grief for another nation’s ruler — one who, as a pre-eminent Shiite Muslim cleric and political strategist, spent decades extending Iran’s influence deep into Iraq, and across the Middle East. (Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times)

By ABDI LATIF DAHIR and LEO SANDS

The final stage of the funeral procession for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader of Iran, set off through the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday afternoon, after days of public ceremonies that drew hundreds of thousands of mourners in Iran and Iraq.

The procession in Khamenei’s hometown began hours later than scheduled and unfolded against the backdrop of renewed strikes between the United States and Iran. Iranian officials said U.S. forces had struck railway bridges in the country’s northeast, disrupting passenger services on the route between Tehran, the capital, and Mashhad.

The claim could not be immediately verified, and the U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tens of thousands of mourners gathered to watch the truck carrying Khamenei’s coffin as it traveled through Mashhad to the sprawling Imam Reza Shrine where his body will be buried.

Many of the mourners had been there since before dawn, filling streets, mosques and the gold-domed shrine. Some waved flags bearing the Ayatollah’s portrait and carried huge signs with slogans vowing to avenge his killing. Overhead sprinklers sprayed water into the air to cool the crowd in the scorching heat.

Iran has sought to present the funeral as a show of unity and defiance against the United States.

As the procession passed along the city’s packed boulevard, many mourners wept and moved to the front of the crowd to lay their hands on the side of the truck carrying the coffin.

The start of the procession was postponed by about eight hours, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported, blaming the delay on large crowds Wednesday in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. The explanation, which was attributed to the funeral’s organizing committee, did not specify why the high number of mourners in Iraq would have caused a delay.

The United States and Iran have ratcheted up hostilities this week, trading strikes for a second consecutive night after President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he thought their ceasefire was “over.”

Iranian railway officials said that because of the attack on the railway line, buses would take stranded passengers to Mashhad. Authorities had previously said they expected over 1 million people to attend the final day of the funeral.

On Wednesday, a convoy carried Khamenei’s coffin through the streets in Najaf and Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of mourners prayed and weeped for the Shiite Muslim cleric. Iraq is home to the Middle East’s second-largest Shiite Muslim population after Iran.

Crowds began arriving in Mashhad late Wednesday, streaming into the holy city from across Iran and abroad. Long after midnight, the streets around the shrine were packed with people waving Iranian flags, chanting religious slogans and commemorating the life of Khamenei.

Inside the Imam Reza Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, thousands of worshippers kept vigil through the night.