Funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei held in Mashhad

The funeral ceremony for Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei is taking place in his hometown of Mashhad.

The funeral procession stretched for several kilometers toward the mausoleum of Imam Reza, a TASS correspondent reports.

Many Iranians who came to the Shiite shrine at night did not leave the central square of Mashhad. Some of them set up places to rest right by the walls of the mausoleum.

The funeral procession with the body of the late supreme leader moved along Mashhad's main street, Imam Reza, toward the burial site. Iranians carry red flags and portraits of Khamenei, chanting slogans: "Death to America, death to Israel!" Pilgrims who came to the ceremony with their entire families, including children, parents, and grandparents, can be seen. Water cannons have been installed along the entire route of the funeral procession to ease the heat.

Hundreds of journalists from around the world, including from Western countries, have arrived to cover the farewell ceremony for Khamenei. Authorities provided them with special platforms on the roofs of some hotels for high-quality photo and video shooting.

The farewell to Ali Khamenei, who died on February 28 as a result of American and Israeli strikes, began in Tehran on July 3, with high-ranking delegations from at least 100 countries taking part in the mourning event. From July 4 to 5, the ayatollah's body was at Tehran Musalla, the largest religious and public complex in the Iranian capital. On July 6, a funeral procession took place in Tehran along the main streets, after which the body was delivered to Iran's main religious center, the city of Qom, where mourning ceremonies were held on July 7. That same evening, Khamenei's body was sent to Iraq, where separate farewell ceremonies were organized for local Shiite Muslims in Najaf and Karbala.