The coffin of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is carried into a shrine during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. The procession is a mass outpouring of grief for another nation’s ruler — one who, as a pre-eminent Shiite Muslim cleric and political strategist, spent decades extending Iran’s influence deep into Iraq, and across the Middle East. (Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times) By ABDI LATIF DAHIR and LEO SANDS The final stage of the funeral procession for Ayatollah…
