The remains of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrived this Monday afternoon in the holy city of Qom, after concluding three days of ceremonies in memory of the deceased Iranian supreme leader held in Tehran. After remaining one day in Qom, Khamenei's coffin will be transferred to Iraq and, subsequently, will return to Iran, specifically to Mashhad, where he will finally be buried.
"The body of the martyred leader has arrived in Qom," reported Iranian state television, IRIB, which broadcast images of the helicopter that transported the coffin to this city.
The funeral organizing committee has detailed that on Wednesday the coffin will be taken to Iraq, to the cities of Najaf and Karbala, in the south of the Shiite-majority country. In Najaf, the procession will travel 6 kilometers and in Karbala 5.8 kilometers, always under strict security measures. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will travel to Iraq.
The final acts of the funeral, which began last Friday, will take place on Thursday in Mashhad, where the leader will be interred in the sanctuary of Imam Reza, eighth imam of Shiism, in fulfillment of his last will. Khamenei died on February 28 in an Israeli attack during the first day of the latest US-Israeli offensive against Iran.
Scenes of followers beating their chests in mourning and the human tide gathered in the square surrounding the emblematic Azadi tower marked this Monday's day in the funeral procession in the Iranian capital. Among the crowd, chants calling for revenge for Khamenei's blood and calls for resistance were heard, while Iranian flags waved and portraits of the deceased leader were raised.
Khamenei's coffin remains at all times escorted by the coffins of his relatives who lost their lives in the same attack: "Sayede Boshra Hoseini Khamenei, Mesba al Hoda Baqeri, Zahra Hadad Adel and Zahra Mohamadi Golpayegani."