Massive crowds move through Iran and Iraq for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 6-day funeral procession

Huge crowds of mourners have marched through Iran and Iraq over the past several days, following the coffin of slain Iranian ‌leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as his six-day funeral procession continues.

Khamenei and members of his family were killed Feb. 28 during U.S.-Israeli strikes at the beginning of the war, bringing an end to his 36-year rule over Iran.

Below, a woman weeps as people gather at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla for a farewell ceremony in Tehran when the multi-city state funeral began on July 4.

(Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

People carrying ​large portraits of the late leader gathered along the route and chanted “Death ​to America” and “Death to Israel” as Khamenei’s ⁠coffin was ⁠driven on a ‌large truck through the streets.

Here, a person kicks a large banner depicting U.S. President Donald Trump with a target on his head during funeral ceremonies in Iran on July 5.

(Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Mourners flood into Iran’s capital for the procession. Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television show a massive crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi, or Freedom, Square for kilometres down a multilane street of the same name. The crowd appeared larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani, which drew over a million people.

(Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/Reuters)

On July 7, the procession moved on to Qom, considered one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam. Here, a truck carrying the coffin moves through the crowd of mourners.

(Mohammad Asadi/ISNA/The Associated Press)

On Wednesday, the procession moved to Najaf in neighbouring Iraq. Here, clerics wait to hold prayers over Khamenei’s body before it is carried on to the Iraqi holy city of Karbala.

(Hussein Faleh/AFP/Getty Images)

Najaf holds special significance for Shia Muslims worldwide as the burial place ‌of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Below, crowds in Najaf gather around the convoy.

(Murtaja Lateef/AFP/Getty Images)

Mourner’s carry Khamenei’s coffin to the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf. As the coffin was carried into the shrine, large crowds of mourners pushed and shoved their way to get close to it. Some threw themselves onto the casket, and an official urged the pallbearers to carry it closer to the ground for fear it might fall.

(Anmar Khalil/The Associated Press)

A mourner draped in an Iranian flag reacts during funeral prayers in Najaf.

(Hadi Mizban/The Associated Press)

The coffin is expected to end its journey Thursday in Mashhad, Iran, the country’s holiest city and Khamenei’s birthplace, where his body will be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza.