Preparations for the burial of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were transforming the Iranian city of Mashhad, his birthplace and one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities, even as the military confrontation between the United States and Iran escalated once again on Wednesday.
Hours after the United States announced that it had reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil, it carried out strikes in Iran in response to what it said were Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for the transport of oil and gas.
As a team from The New York Times prepared to board a flight from the capital, Tehran, to Mashhad, Iran announced that its armed forces had targeted 85 American military sites in the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain and Kuwait, further imperiling the U.S.-Iran cease-fire.
In Mashhad, however, the focus was elsewhere.
At the arrivals terminal of the city’s airport, posters and banners bearing Ayatollah Khamenei’s image lined the entrance, some emblazoned with the slogan, “We Must Rise.” Two large screens displayed an A.I.-generated animation of the former supreme leader walking.
Volunteers greeted arriving passengers with walnut cakes, welcoming the crowds ahead of Thursday’s burial, the final moment after a week of elaborate funeral ceremonies attended by millions of people.
Nearby, another display drew the attention of passengers. Dozens of mostly pink and blue backpacks had been arranged in memory of children killed when an elementary school in the southern town of Minab was struck early in the war. At least 175 people, most of them children, were killed, according to Iranian officials.
Privately, U.S. military officials have acknowledged American forces carried out the strikes that hit the school and cast them as an intelligence failure.
In the terminal, each backpack was paired with a rose and a pair of children’s shoes. Behind them, a screen cycled through images of destruction in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. Visitors stopped to photograph the memorial, while others collected pins commemorating those killed in the attack.
Together, the displays illustrated Iran’s command of political symbolism, using imagery, ceremony and carefully choreographed public spaces to project resilience and authority. That message has taken on added importance for both foreign and domestic audiences after Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in late February in the opening attacks of the U.S.-Israeli war.
Across Iran, funeral ceremonies have unfolded over several days, including funeral prayers at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, a procession through Azadi Square and prayers at Qom, the center of Shiite religious education in Iran. On Wednesday, prayers were also being held in neighboring Iraq before Ayatollah Khamenei’s body was to be flown to Mashhad for burial at the shrine of Imam Reza.
By midmorning on Wednesday, crowds carrying Iranian flags had already begun gathering along Imam Reza Boulevard leading to the shrine. The thoroughfare was decked with banners and posters bearing Ayatollah Khamenei’s face, along with red flags calling for his death to be avenged. Security forces lined the streets from the airport into the city.
