Iran latest: Late supreme leader's days-long funeral begins in Tehran

Months after the killing of Iran's supreme leader, a days-long funeral and burial is set to begin on Saturday for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before being killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. That is particularly important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again.

Khamenei’s body will be on display at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on Saturday and Sunday. 

On Monday, it will be paraded through the streets of Tehran before being taken to the Shiite seminary city of Qom. On Tuesday, Khamenei will also be honored there.

On Wednesday, Khamenei’s body will be taken to Karbala, Iraq.

Khamenei will finally be brought to Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. 

Authorities say Khamenei will be buried in Mashhad at the Imam Reza shrine.