\n
Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city located in the northeast of the country, and studied at seminaries in the city before moving to Qom, the centre of Iran’s Shia clerical establishment.<\/p>\n
He was appointed supreme leader in 1989 after the death of the Islamic Republic’s founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.<\/p>\n
During his 37 years in power, he maintained a firm grip on Iran’s politics and its armed forces, and suppressed domestic challenges, sometimes violently. He also took consistently hard-line stances on external matters, including Iran’s confrontation with the US and Israel.<\/p>\n
Iran’s leadership wanted the choreographed funeral ceremonies for Khamenei to project unity and strength after a war, during which thousands of people have been killed, and the mass protests in January, when a crackdown by security forces left thousands more people dead.<\/p>\n
The public mourning has, however, been marred by the renewed hostilities with the US.<\/p>\n
Trump warned that US attacks could get “much worse” after a second night of strikes on Thursday, which the US military said were intended to degrade Iran’s ability to target commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The Revolutionary Guards said Iranian forces had attacked US military facilities and infrastructure in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in response.<\/p>\n
Three weeks ago, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that called for an end to hostilities on all fronts and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. It also gave them two months to reach a final deal that covers Iran’s nuclear programme, US sanctions and a permanent truce.<\/p>\n
Last week, mediator Qatar said Iranian and US negotiators made progress at indirect talks in Doha following a four-day exchange of strikes, and that their next meeting would take place after the conclusion of the ceremonies for Khamenei.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, Trump told reporters that he believed that the MoU was now “over”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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