All articles tagged with #mashhad
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was buried at the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad after a week of mourning and days of massive funeral processions that drew millions; his coffin was transported by helicopter to the holy site as streets in his home city filled with mourners, marking the end of a highly orchestrated state funeral.
U.S. forces struck Iranian railway bridges and other infrastructure, including a bridge on the Tehran–Mashhad line, disrupting passenger trains as millions prepared for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s burial in Mashhad. Iran reported no casualties and condemned the strikes amid ongoing tit-for-tat actions, while U.S. Central Command said about 90 military targets were hit to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping, marking a notable escalation during fragile ceasefire discussions.
Iran has hanged three men linked to January anti-regime protests in Mashhad, part of a renewed wave of executions as authorities crack down amid regional tensions; rights groups say the men were political prisoners who endured unfair trials and torture, prompting calls for international accountability.
Eyewitnesses describe a coordinated January crackdown in Mashhad where the lights and mobile networks went out, snipers on rooftops fired into crowds, and security forces moved through tear gas to suppress protesters. The report details mass burials and hundreds of death certificates, with authorities allegedly ordering suppression at any cost. Internet outages and conflicting casualty figures—government figures running in the low thousands versus rights groups and Iran International reporting far higher tolls—highlight a tightly controlled narrative around the crackdown across multiple cities.
Following the Feb. 28 assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran has not chosen a burial site or announced a state funeral, weighing security risks, potential Israeli strikes, and possible nationalist backlash; Mashhad near the Imam Reza shrine is being considered as a safer burial location amid ongoing conflict and political uncertainty.
Water levels in Mashhad's dams have fallen below 3% due to severe drought, prompting calls for reduced water consumption and raising concerns about potential water shortages in Iran's capital, Tehran, amid the country's worst drought in decades.