Train traffic between Tehran and Mashhad is at a standstill after American attacks on the railway line, reports the state-run Iranian Fars news agency.
It comes just hours before the former supreme leader is to be buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad in northeastern Iran. The Revolutionary Guards accuse the US 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 have been going on since Saturday, first in Tehran and Qom and then in the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. Already, several million people are reported to have said goodbye to the leader, and if the regime's forecast of up to 15 million mourners over six days is correct, it will be one of the largest funerals in world history.
However, the regime is exerting heavy pressure on government employees, shopkeepers and students, among others, to maximize crowds.
Khamenei's successor, his son Mojtaba Khamenei, has so far been conspicuous by his absence. 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, communicating only in writing.
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.
