Train traffic between Tehran and Mashhad was halted after US attacks on the railway line, reports the state-run Iranian Fars. For security reasons, the plane carrying the ayatollah's body was also escorted by a military plane during the journey to Mashhad, AFP reports.
Meanwhile, large crowds gathered in Mashhad, where the former supreme leader was buried in the Imam Reza shrine. The Revolutionary Guard has accused the United States of trying to “overshadow” the funeral of Khamenei, the man who ruled the Islamic Republic with an iron fist for over 35 years.
The processions and memorial ceremonies for the ayatollah began on Saturday, first in Tehran and Qom and then in the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. Several million people are said to have bid farewell to the leader.
Riots erupted as mourners tried to touch the coffin as it was carried into the shrine in his hometown. His son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei was not in sight.
Since the attack that killed his father and several family members on February 28 – the first day of the war – he has not been seen in public, but has only communicated in writing.
However, his eldest son Mostafa Khamenei, the chief negotiator in the negotiations with the US Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and other officials who were seen crying over Khamenei's coffin were present, images from state television show, AFP writes.
Under Khamenei, as under his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini, dissidents were killed, imprisoned and repressed. Several large-scale Iranian uprisings were crushed with brutal and deadly force.
