Iran buries Khamenei as U.S. and Iran exchange strikes

Ali Khamenei was buried in Mashhad as U.S. and Iranian attacks widened across the Gulf. The ceremony followed a week of funeral processions and rallies that began in Tehran and moved through Qom and Iraq, while airspace restrictions and heightened security were put in place over Tehran, Mashhad and other cities.

Khamenei was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes at the start of the war. Iranian officials said U.S. attacks on July 8 and July 9 killed 14 people and injured 78 across five provinces.

Explosions hit Bushehr, Chabahar, Bandar Abbas and Sirik, and a U.S. strike also hit a rail bridge used for trade with Russia and China. In Bushehr province, home to a Russian-built nuclear power plant, residents heard blasts.

The United States said its latest strikes were meant to keep the Strait of Hormuz open after Iran targeted three tankers there. President Donald Trump said the interim ceasefire with Iran was over. Iran said it had struck U.S. military infrastructure in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, including Patriot systems in Kuwait, an early-warning site in Qatar and fuel storage for the U.S. Army in Bahrain. Kuwaiti armed forces said they engaged a cruise missile, three ballistic missiles and 10 drones in their airspace, and one person was injured by shrapnel. Qatar called for a return to diplomacy, and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian commander Ali Abdollahi warned the United States and Israel on July 2 against any attack as the funeral rites began, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi threatened an immediate and powerful response after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Mojtaba Khamenei was “marked for death.”