The funeral of Iran’s late supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been completed. After six days of state mourning, he was laid to rest at the Imam Reza Shrine in his hometown and one of the holiest cities for the Shiite community, Mashhad, on Thursday (July 9). Earlier, his body was brought to Mashhad by plane from Iraq.

According to a report by Reuters, all the main roads and alleys of Mashhad city were filled with the presence of ordinary people since noon. The coffin of the late supreme leader was slowly taken to the holy Imam Reza Shrine in a well-decorated truck through the crowded streets.

Today, despite the intense heat, the sky and air of Mashhad became filled with slogans of revenge. Millions of people gathered in the city of Mashhad, the birthplace of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to complete his funeral.

The faces of the millions of mourners standing on both sides of the street were filled with deep sorrow. The crowd, dressed in black, was displaying the Iranian national flag, the late leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s picture, and red placards and banners with various slogans.

According to Shiite religious tradition, these red placards and flags were carried as a pledge to avenge Khamenei’s assassination.

In accordance with Khamenei’s last wishes, all the formalities of his funeral and burial were completed at the Imam Reza shrine.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28, the first day of the joint US-Israeli aggression. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was then elected the country’s next supreme leader. He was also seriously injured in the same attack. He has not been seen in public since. He did not even attend the funerals of his father and wife.

Meanwhile, on this historic day of Khamenei’s burial, there have been widespread missile and counter-missile attacks between the US and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf and on the Iranian coast, which has further heated up the situation in the entire Middle East.

The US carried out airstrikes on various targets in Iran on Wednesday night (July 8). According to the US military, the operation was carried out in response to the attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting Iranian military infrastructure, coastal defense systems, missile positions and military logistics facilities.

Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that the US forces fired seven missiles at the Ak Tekeh Khan bridge located outside the city of Akkala in Golestan province. The attack caused at least two explosions on a railway track near the bridge. However, full information on casualties or damage to infrastructure was not immediately available.

Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to US airstrikes. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the attacks on Thursday morning (July 9).