Iran Prepared for Khamenei’s Burial as U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate

Iran’s holy city of Mashhad prepares for Khamenei’s burial.

Efforts to organize Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s burial were underway in Mashhad, his birthplace and a cornerstone of Shiite Islamic tradition, despite renewed military clashes between Iran and the United States. Hours earlier, the U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil and launched missile strikes in response to alleged Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

As a Times team prepared to depart Tehran for Mashhad, Iran reported targeting 85 U.S. military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, further straining the shaky cease-fire.

In Mashhad, however, public attention centered on reverence. At the airport’s arrivals terminal, Khamenei’s image adorned posters and banners, some marked with the rallying cry, “We Must Rise.” A digital animation depicted the deceased leader walking, projected on jumbo screens.

Volunteers welcomed passengers with walnut cakes ahead of Thursday’s burial, which would conclude a week-long series of ceremonies drawing millions. Nearby, a tribute to victims of the Minab school attack—a strike that killed at least 175, mostly children—displayed pink and blue backpacks paired with roses and children’s shoes. Behind them, a screen cycled through images of destruction in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza.

The memorials underscored Iran’s mastery of symbolic messaging, blending ceremony and architecture to project unity amid crisis. This emphasis grew critical after Khamenei’s Feb. 20 death in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Nationwide, funeral rites unfolded: prayers at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, a procession through Azadi Square, and gatherings in Qom—the epicenter of Shiite scholarship. On Wednesday, similar observances occurred in Iraq before Khamenei’s remains were flown to Mashhad for interment at Imam Reza’s shrine.

By midmorning, Iranians had lined Imam Reza Boulevard with flags and pro-Khamenei imagery. Red banners demanding vengeance for his death flanked the route, while security forces patrolled the path from the airport to the city.

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