ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – More than two million Iraqi people attended the funeral processions of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose body was taken to Iraq late Tuesday, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said. 

The body of Khamenei touched down in Najaf on Tuesday night, received by several high-profile Iraqi political figures, ahead of large-scale funeral processions in the country’s holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala.

“Initial reports indicate that the number of mourners in the funeral procession … has exceeded 2,300,000 so far, with more crowds expected to arrive,” the PMF said in a statement.

The PMF - officially part of the Iraqi state - is an umbrella group of several armed groups that have been integrated into the Iraqi state apparatus. Many of these groups, however, reportedly maintain strong ties to Iran.

Among the officials attending the reception ceremony at Najaf International Airport were Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunni strongman and former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, Asaib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali, and National Wisdom Movement chief Ammar al-Hakim.

A high-level Iranian delegation headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian was accompanying the body of the Iranian leader, although several outlets have reported that he had to cut the trip short due to renewed strikes from the US.

After Najaf,  Khamenei’s body will be taken to Karbala, an official from the committee overseeing Khamenei’s funeral told Iraqi state media a day earlier.

He is set to be taken to his hometown of Mashhad late Wednesday, with the burial ceremony scheduled to begin early Thursday.

On February 28, Khamenei, 86, from Mashhad, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his compound in Tehran. He served as Iran’s highest political and religious authority for nearly 37 years, making him the country’s longest-serving leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Khamenei was a leading opponent of the US and Israel, advancing the Islamic Republic’s ideology by supporting regional proxies against both countries and calling for their elimination.

Iran began the funeral processions for Khamenei on Friday, with regional and international leaders, diplomats, and official delegations arriving in Tehran to attend the ceremonies. The ceremony was held more than four months after his death.