Iran Buries Slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Mashhad as US Attacks Resume

Iran buried its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday in Mashhad, with the coffin carried into the shrine in his home city as Tehran reported new American attacks and Iranian hits on US allies raised fears of a return to all-out war.

The burial came on the second day of attacks between the decades-old foes, with Iranian officials reporting that US strikes killed 17 people and state media saying one targeted a railway line between Tehran and Mashhad, where Khamenei’s burial was being held.

Al Jazeera

The Islamic republic said it had resumed its attacks targeting US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, while sirens blared in Jordan where the military said it had intercepted eight missiles launched from Iran.

Firepower also reached Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, with American strikes hitting the perimeter of an Iranian nuclear power plant, officials said, as the US defence official said the US military was not currently carrying out any strikes on Iran.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz warned at a military ceremony on Thursday that Israel was prepared to attack Iran for a "third time" if needed, vowing to do so "with even greater force".

Huge crowds gathered in Mashhad for Khamenei’s burial after a week of mass funeral processions and rallies, and the ceremony was held at the shrine of Imam Reza as mourners waved Iranian flags and held photographs and red placards with revolutionary slogans.

The incumbent supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei remained notably absent from the processions, with the BBC saying there has been no indication that he will attend the burial and that he has not been seen in public since he was reportedly seriously wounded in the same attack.

Al Jazeera

In Mashhad, crowds chanted vengeance slogans against US President Donald Trump, including the line "I swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you," with women holding up placards reading "Kill Trump."

The BBC also reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused the US of bombing two bridges on the railway line from Tehran to Mashhad overnight "in an effort to overshadow" the funeral.

As the burial unfolded, the Reuters-linked reporting described Khamenei’s coffin being carried by truck slowly through the crammed streets of Mashhad toward the gilt dome and minarets of the Shrine of Imam Reza.

The burial took place as the ceasefire Iran and the United States had been trying to sustain continued to erode, with Japan Today saying the Iranian armed forces launched attacks on U.S. military infrastructure in Gulf states on Thursday following U.S. strikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces.

“Body of slain Iranian supreme leader arrives at Shi'ite shrine for burial By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall DUBAI, July 9 (Reuters) - The funeral procession of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reached the country's holiest shrine for his burial on Thursday with a huge crowd packing the courtyard, some bearing banners reading "We Will Kill Trump"”

Al-Monitor

Japan Today reported that the U.S. President Donald Trump declared the truce "over" after attacks on Qatari and Saudi shipping vessels upended the ceasefire, while the U.S. military said its strikes were aimed at keeping the strait open after it said Iranian forces had struck three tankers in the area.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said the U.S. attacks and intervention in redirecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupting the waterway’s slow reopening, and it said the number of vessels transiting the strait under Iranian supervision had recovered to about 50% of pre-war levels over the past two weeks.

On the eve of the funeral, Iran warned the United States and Israel not to launch any attack, with Commander Ali Abdollahi stating, "We warn Iran's enemies, especially the United States and the Zionist entity (Israel), of any miscalculation".

The same source said the funeral ceremonies would begin on July 4 in Tehran and conclude on July 9 with Khamenei's burial in Mashhad, with additional ceremonies planned in Qom and in Iraq during the same period.