The body of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has arrived in the holy city of Qom ahead of a planned procession on Tuesday, state television reported.
Footage showed a helicopter carrying Khamenei’s body landing in the city south of Tehran. Vast crowds filled the capital’s streets for a third consecutive day of funeral processions, reports Al Jazeera.
A truck bearing the coffins of Khamenei and four relatives killed in the 28 February US‑Israeli strike moved slowly toward Azadi Square in western Tehran.
State TV said millions turned out, comparing the turnout to the 1989 funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Mourners dressed in black showered petals on the coffins, including the small casket of Khamenei’s 14‑month‑old granddaughter.
“The US and Israel aimed to divide Iran. But our leader prevented that division,” a man named Hamid told Al Jazeera. Another mourner, Marzieh, said she came to honour Khamenei’s four‑decade rule: “We came here to renew our allegiance to him.”
Absent from the ceremonies was his son and successor, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since his appointment a week after his father’s death.
Tehran University researcher Mohammad Eslami said Mojtaba could not attend due to the fragile ceasefire with the US and Israel: “With their security arrangements, there’s not really a chance for him to appear in public.”
The ceremonies will culminate Thursday with Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad. Emergency services chief Jafar Miadfar told IRNA that more than 34,000 participants had received medical treatment, with no fatalities reported.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, among the mourners, wrote on X that Iran would continue “the path of honour, progress and glory.”
Other senior officials present included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, and national security council head Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, making his first public appearance since Ali Larijani’s death in a March air strike.
“The presence of millions with red flags and slogans demanding bloodshed is a clear message to Iran’s enemies,” Zolghadr was quoted as saying. Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended, his first public appearance since the war began.
