Pilgrims from 27 Countries Arrive in Mashhad for Ayatollah Khamenei's Funeral

Pilgrims from 27 countries have arrived in the city of Mashhad to take part in the funeral ceremony of deceased Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian television channel SNN reports.

SNN reported that at least 4,700 foreign nationals will attend the event to pay their last respects.

Earlier, a TASS correspondent reported that, despite the ceremony being postponed from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Iranian residents had been gathering at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad since the night before, waiting for the solemn opportunity to bid farewell to Khamenei.

The farewell for Ali Khamenei, who died on February 28 as a result of US and Israeli strikes, began in Tehran on July 3, with high-ranking delegations from more than 100 countries joining the mourning ceremony. From July 4 to 5, the ayatollah’s body was placed at the Tehran Mosalla, the largest religious and public complex in the Iranian capital. On July 6, a mourning procession passed through Tehran’s main streets. Following that, the body was brought to the country’s main religious center, the city of Qom, where further mourning ceremonies were held on July 7. That same evening, Ali Khamenei's body was brought to Iraq, where separate farewell ceremonies were organized for local Shia Muslims in Najaf and Karbala.

Ali Khamenei’s burial is scheduled to take place in his hometown of Mashhad on July 9, bringing the days of mourning to their final stage.