Crowds of mourners surround the convoy carrying the coffin of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei during a funeral procession in Najaf on July 8, 2026. Photo: Murtaja Lateef/AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Over 2.3 million people attended the funeral procession for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf.
The major ceremony is part of a multi-day funeral lasting for a week to commemorate Khamenei's death following coordinated air assaults by the US and Israel targeting Tehran in late February.
The significant scale of the ceremonies and the truce that lasted several weeks postponed the funeral of this prominent Iranian figure until July.
The 6-kilometer procession began at 6:00 a.m. local time and passed across Kufa Bridge and al-Sadreen Square before arriving at the holy shrine of Imam Ali for funeral prayers.
To enable the massive crowds, the Iraqi government designated July 8 a national holiday.
Large groups from several Iraqi provinces rushed into the city, carrying Iranian, Iraqi, and Hezbollah flags with black banners calling for retaliation.
After the rites in Najaf, the funeral will proceed to Karbala for a second Iraqi farewell at the Imam Hussein Shrine.
Local officials in Karbala predict that up to seven million people have come to attend the ceremony.
Senior Iranian and Iraqi leaders joined the parade, including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
The final funeral ceremony and a formal burial are expected to take place in the renowned Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran’s second-most populated city, on July 9.