Published 08.36
Today, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad – more than four months after the attack that took his life. At the same time, new attacks are raging between the US and Iran.
Train traffic between Tehran and Mashhad is at a standstill after US attacks on the railway line, Iranian state-run Fars reports.
It happens just hours before the former supreme leader is buried in the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. The Revolutionary Guard accuses the United States of trying to “overshadow” the funeral of Khamenei, the man who ruled the Islamic Republic with an iron fist for more than 35 years.
The processions and memorial ceremonies for the ayatollah have been going on since Saturday, first in Tehran and Qom and then in the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. Several million people are already said to have said goodbye to the leader, and if the regime’s forecast of up to 15 million mourners over six days is correct, it will be one of the largest funerals in world history.
However, the regime exerts strong pressure on, among others, government employees, shopkeepers and students to maximize the crowds.
Khamenei’s successor, son Mojtaba Khamenei, has so far been conspicuous by his absence. Since the attack that killed the father and several family members on February 28 – the first day of the war – he has not been seen in public, only communicating in writing.
Under Khamenei, as under his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini, dissidents were killed, imprisoned and repressed. Several large-scale Iranian uprisings were put down with brutal and deadly violence.
