Despite having survived a months-long blitz by the United States and Israel, Iran faces huge internal challenges, and the legacy of Khamenei\u2019s 37-year rule is bitterly disputed.<\/p>\n
\t \u2018Kill Trump\u2019 placards appear at burial ceremony<\/p>\n The whereabouts of Mojtaba Khamenei, proclaimed supreme leader by a clerical assembly in early March, a week after his father\u2019s death, have remained a mystery to Iranians.<\/p>\n He has not appeared in public since the war began. While he has made written statements, no image, video or voice recording of him has been issued.<\/p>\n He suffered debilitating injuries in the strike that killed his father, his face disfigured and limbs badly wounded.<\/p>\n \t Senior sources in Tehran have said he is recovering but that he is not yet well enough to manage public appearances. State security services are also trying to limit his exposure in case of more US attacks.<\/p>\n As crowds jostled in Mashhad awaiting Khamenei\u2019s funeral cortege, the crowd chanted slogans demanding revenge on US President Donald Trump for his killing.<\/p>\n \u201cI swear by the blood of the supreme leader, Trump, we will kill you!\u201d they shouted, with women holding up placards reading \u201cKill Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n Chants against the United States<\/p>\n The shrine\u2019s courtyard was a mass of mourners as dusk fell, their defiant chants of \u201cDeath to America\u201d ringing out above the lyrical funeral laments and string music broadcast by loudspeakers.<\/p>\n A helicopter lifted Khamenei\u2019s coffin from the truck over the impenetrable crowd for the final short stretch to a blue-tiled arched recess at the shrine.<\/p>\n Khamenei\u2019s oldest son, Mostafa, said the funeral prayer, and a throng of male mourners carried the coffin, painted in the red, white and green of Iran\u2019s flag, inside the shrine.<\/p>\n Many of those gathered inside held candles, stretched their arms toward the coffin and wept, video showed.<\/p>\n The official IRNA news agency reported early on Friday that the burials of Khamenei and four family members killed alongside him were completed.<\/p>\n Imam Reza was one of Shi\u2019ite Islam\u2019s holiest figures and the shrine complex in Mashhad, Khamenei\u2019s hometown, is a center for pilgrimage.<\/p>\n Khamenei\u2019s remains were previously paraded through Tehran, the Shi\u2019ite Muslim clerical center of Qom and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala.<\/p>\n At each event, huge crowds thronged the streets to the mournful accompaniment of sung Shi\u2019ite laments and chanted revolutionary slogans.<\/p>\n Martyrdom holds a central place in Shi\u2019ite theology, and Khamenei\u2019s death at the hands of foreign enemies has played into a religious and political tradition that runs deep through the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n \t Khamenei\u2019s long rule and disputed legacy<\/p>\n The funeral comes at a critical moment for Iran, closing nearly four decades of Khamenei\u2019s rule and months after the latest round of mass nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n Security forces put down that unrest, sparked by anger over the sanctions-throttled economy, by killing thousands of demonstrators in a wave of repression that echoed other bouts of violence over recent years.<\/p>\n Analysts see Iran as having emerged from the war with the US strategically strengthened, with its grip over the vital Strait of Hormuz intact. But it has suffered widespread damage that has added to internal economic woes.<\/p>\n The late Khamenei was appointed supreme leader in 1989, a decade after the Islamic Revolution, and over the decades he consolidated political, economic and military power in his office.<\/p>\n That effort, which increasingly marginalized the elected president and parliament, was conducted in concert with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that grew in influence throughout Khamenei\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n Mojtaba Khamenei was appointed with the backing of the IRGC, which is now seen as the dominant force in Iranian political and strategic thinking.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this,<\/strong> please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community.<\/strong> Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tA large sign saying \u201cWe will kill Trump\u201d is carried by funeral-goers in Mashhad, Iran, where supreme leader Ali Khamenei was being buried on July 9, 2026. (via X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26189437053717-e1783649030305-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA mourner holds a portrait depicting Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, top, and his late father, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a funeral procession for the elder Khamenei inside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, Iraq, July 8, 2026. (AP\/Hadi Mizban)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/52520-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tMourners wave red flags as they line the street in Mashhad, Iran, for the funeral procession of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, on July 9, 2026. (Screenshot via YouTube, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
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\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
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