US Airstrikes Kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran Prepares Burial in Mashhad

Iran prepared to bury slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran as Iranians on Thursday prepared for the funeral.

“Tehran – As the body of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is laid to rest today, Thursday, Iran seems to be closing one of its longest political eras, while at the same time opening a more delicate page with the transfer of leadership to his son Mojtaba Khamenei”

Al-Jazeera Net

AOL said the burial follows a week of elaborate events across Iran and Iraq to mourn Khamenei’s death, with Ali Khamenei being buried in Mashhad “against a backdrop of waves of US airstrikes on Iran”.

Al-Jazeera Net

AOL added that Trump declared the fragile truce “over”, with 170 targets claimed to have been hit during the past two nights.

DW reported that Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still remains hidden from public view after being disfigured in the US air strike that killed his father when the Iran war began on February 28.

DW also said the younger Khamenei was conspicuously absent from even the official mourning ceremonies for his father, as the Islamic Republic entered a new political era.

DW quoted political analyst Reza Talebi saying Ali Khamenei began “systematically restructuring that system,” and said the influence of senior clerics and Shiite semnaries over key political decisions has steadily diminished.

DW reported that during the six-day state mourning ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, none of the Islamic Republic's three former living presidents—Hassan Rouhani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Mohammad Khatami—appeared alongside other leading figures.

AOL

DW said official images focused on representatives of the security apparatus, particularly commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as incumbent President Masoud Pezeshkian.

AOL described one refrain heard in Tehran during the funeral week, quoting a view that “Many people were only there because of how America attacked Iran.”

AOL also framed the transition as a test of whether Khamenei’s killing would be a catalyst for change, saying “the killing of Khamenei also proved not to be the catalyst for change Iran’s enemies desired.”

DW said the war that began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran ended nearly six weeks later in a fragile ceasefire, and that a diplomatic process gave way to negotiations that Mojtaba Khamenei eventually approved.

“Mashhad, the holy city in Iran, is preparing for the burial of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”

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DW reported that on June 14, 2026, the United States and Iran agreed on a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) designed to serve as the basis for negotiations on a broader agreement, while US President Donald Trump cast doubt on the future of the talks after the latest escalation in the Strait of Hormuz.

DW quoted political scientist Hamidreza Azizi on X, writing that Iran interprets Article 5 of the MoU to mean that “gives Iran the sole authority to establish the necessary conditions for reopening the passage [Strait of Hormuz].”

Al Jazeera Net said the Secretariat of Iran’s Assembly of Experts for Leadership announced on March 9 the selection of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as the “third Leader of the Islamic Revolution,” and described it as a “constitutional transition with pronounced hereditary overtones.”

Al Jazeera Net added that professor Elm Saleh estimated Mojtaba Khamenei’s leadership appears to rest on a close relationship with the security establishment, saying these institutions “may become essential pillars of governance” in the next phase.