Tehran mourns slain leader Khamenei as public funeral rites begin

Public mourning ceremonies have begun in the Iranian capital Tehran for the late Iranian supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, with crowds streaming to the venue since dawn.

State television footage showed the religious leader's coffin lying in state at the Grand Mosalla Mosque on Saturday, with large numbers of supporters arriving at the site from daybreak.

Ceremonies are scheduled to take place over three days in the Iranian capital, Tehran, before Khamenei's body is taken to the pilgrimage city of Qom and to Iraq. The former supreme leader is then to be buried in his home city of Mashhad next Thursday.

Khamenei was killed at the age of 86 in a targeted airstrike on his official residence in Tehran on February 28. His death was followed by more than five weeks of fighting between Iran, Israel and the United States, drawing in Iranian-backed groups including the Lebanese Hezbollah, before US and Iranian representatives agreed to a ceasefire in early April.

As supreme leader, Khamenei was Iran's highest political and religious authority, with the final say on all strategic matters. He ruled the Islamic Republic with absolute severity until his death.

Observers will be watching for an appearance at the ceremonies by Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was appointed Iran's new supreme leader a week after his father's death. Mojtaba Khamenei was seriously injured in the attack that killed his father and has not appeared in public since his appointment, sparking speculation about his health.