Ali Khamenei burial set for Mashhad as US strikes Iran

Iran prepared on July 9 to bury slain leader Ali Khamenei in the northeastern city of Mashhad as US Central Command said it had carried out new strikes on Iran's coast.

The burial was due to follow several days of funeral ceremonies that drew mourners across Iran and Iraq. Iran's official IRNA news agency said Khamenei was to be buried on Thursday evening in the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship.

Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini told state television that he expected 15 million people to attend. Local media cited organisers as saying the funeral start time had been moved to 2:00 pm because ceremonies in Iraq had run late.

Khamenei was killed on February 28, the first day of US-Israeli strikes that started the war. His remains were taken through Tehran, Qom and the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala before the planned burial in Mashhad.

US Central Command said its latest strikes were intended to degrade Iranian forces' ability “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes followed Iranian attacks on three ships in the waterway, while Tehran earlier said it had struck US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.

US President Donald Trump, who had earlier said the US ceasefire with Iran was over, warned of “much worse” if Iran continued to strike vessels in the strait.