Funeral prayers in Iraq for Iranian supreme leader commences, after body arrives in holy city

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf with thousands of mourners present.

The Islamic Republic’s dayslong funeral for Khamenei began Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of the man who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West. His body will later be taken from Najaf to the city of Karbala before returned to Iran.

Talks between the United States and Iran appear to be on hold until after the burial. However, strikes from both sides in the Persian Gulf Tuesday and into Wednesday raised risks that the interim agreement to end the monthslong war that engulfed the Mideast could break down. The U.S. military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, before Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain.

The body of Khamenei arrived in the Iraqi city considered among the holiest for millions of Shiite Muslims around the world on Tuesday, alongside Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and other senior officials. They were welcomed by mourners and supporters holding portraits of the late supreme leader, and others performing self-flagellation on the streets.

Khamenei’s body was in a casket draped in the Islamic Republic’s flag, encased in glass. Mourners waved flags of Iran as well as red and black flags symbolizing mourning and revenge.

“We the people of Iraq will remain a thorn in the eyes of the enemies,” said Jaafar Jawad, who is participating in the funeral. “His arrival to us is the greatest possible honor, and God willing we will be loyal, and repay a little of his due in the holy city of Najaf.”

The funeral prayers in Najaf will take place at the Shrine of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and will be led by Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim, a senior scholar at the Najaf seminary.

In Karbala, also a holy city for Shiite Muslims where the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet, was killed in 680 AD, Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a representative of Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority will lead the prayers at the Imam Hussein Shrine.

Khamenei was killed in late February in wide-scale U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. He was among several senior Iranian leaders killed in strikes during the war. He was 86.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.