Huge crowds fill Tehran streets for Khamenei’s funeral procession

The funerals come less than three weeks after Iran and the United States signed a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of global oil and gas shipments pass.

The two countries also gave themselves two months to reach a final agreement covering Iran’s nuclear program, US sanctions and a permanent ceasefire.

Mediator Qatar said Iranian and US negotiators had made “positive progress” in indirect talks after four days of mutual attacks in Doha last week, and that the next meeting would be scheduled after the events involving Khamenei end.

A funeral and prayers will be held on Tuesday in the central city of Qom, the headquarters of Iran’s Shiite Muslim religious establishment.

The ceremonies will then move to Iraq’s holy cities of Karbala and Najaf on Wednesday.

It will end on Thursday with Khamenei’s burial at the Imam Reza shrine in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.