The burial of Khamenei's body in the holy city of Mashhad

Iranian and international media, quoting the Fars news agency, have reported that the body of the assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is to be interred in the holy city of Mashhad.

The city of Mashhad, where he was born in 1939, is the second largest city in Iran and is also considered a highly sacred place for Shia Islam devotees. It is expected that Khamenei's body will be interred within or near the Imam Reza Shrine Complex, where the body of his father, Ayatollah Sayyid Javad Khamenei, is also interred.

Prior to the burial, a massive public farewell ceremony is planned to be held in the capital, Tehran, with authorities expecting a large number of mourners to attend. Following these commemorative activities, the body will be taken to Mashhad, where the final burial rites are scheduled to take place, centered around the Imam Reza Shrine.

Iranian authorities have currently declared a 40-day official mourning period, but a specific date for the burial has not yet been revealed. The selection of Mashhad, his birthplace and one of the world's most revered Shia pilgrimage centers, as his final resting place carries significant symbolic importance, intertwining his legacy with that land.