Funeral events for Iran's late supreme leader started with a tribute ceremony attended by international dignitaries on Friday, 3 July.

A two-day mourning ceremony held in Tehran's Grand Mosalla Mosque followed over the weekend.

The funeral procession began in the Iranian capital this morning.

Authorities have ordered public and private offices in Tehran to close through Monday, with traffic restrictions shutting down most of the city centre to private vehicles, according to AFP. The airspace over Tehran has also been fully closed.

Organisers have selected a route running across Tehran, saying that no single street could accommodate the expected crowds. Authorities say they hope the event will conclude by the evening.

This is the schedule for the days ahead:

• 7 July: Funeral procession in Qom, with the body reaching Iraq in the evening
• 8 July: Processions in Najaf and Karbala - among the holiest cities in Shia Islam after Mecca and Medina - before the body returns to Iran
• 9 July: Burial in the north-eastern city of Mashhad

A vehicle carrying coffins of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family members has been pictured from overhead.

The vehicle has ornamental sides, which are open and allow mourners to see through.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, WANA via Reuters

Iran's new regime is very different to what came beforepublished at 07:42 BST

07:42 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Iran is in the midst of profound change.

The country is saying farewell to its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed more than four months ago in the devastating joint US-Israeli airstrikes which began the war and decapitated much of the regime in Tehran.

It's a big moment: a grand reminder that the old guard has given way to the new. And with the new faces comes a new approach with its own implications.

The new leadership is not made up of the sort of people Washington is used to calling "woolly-brained apocalyptic ideologues", says Vali Nasr, professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.

At 56, the country's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is 30 years younger than his father, Ali Khamenei, who was believed to be in frail physical condition when he was killed at the start of the war.

The president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is older at 71, but the generation that mounted the 1979 revolution are all gone.

Two key figures, the parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Ahmad Vahidi, are both in their 60s.

But having stood up to the combined might of the US and Israel, can Iran's new leadership capitalise on this potentially fleeting opportunity to rebuild the regime's shattered legitimacy?

After six tumultuous months, the region has started to look different. But a lot has to go right for this plastic moment to solidify into something better.

• Read Paul Adams's full take on the change in Iran's leadership, and the uncertain future the country faces

The procession in Tehran is under way with huge crowds gathered to pay their respects.

A number of vehicles - which reportedly contain the coffins of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family - can be seen making their way through the scores of mourners.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

With the war still raging on, Iranian officials planning for a March funeral decided to delay the ceremony entirely.

At the time, an official said there had been many requests from people wanting to attend the three-day event at a Tehran prayer complex and that infrastructure needed to be prepared.

Khamenei was killed at his compound in Tehran in the first wave of US and Israeli strikes, along with his daughter-in-law, one-year-old granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani and several top officials. His wife was also reportedly killed in the attack, though one Iranian outlet has since said she is alive.

The funeral ceremony for the 86-year-old cleric had been due to take place on 4 March, with mourners invited to pay their respects as he lay in state at the capital's Grand Mosalla Mosque.

Seyyed Mohsen Mahmoudi, the head of the Islamic Propaganda Co-ordination Council of Tehran, said the delay was because of "the high volume of requests to attend this ceremony and the need to provide appropriate facilities to host the people".

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on 28 February - the first day of the Iran war.

Satellite images after the strikes showed damage to Khamenei's compound in Tehran.

Reports soon began to circulate that Khamenei had been killed, and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said there were growing signs he was “gone”.

US President Donald Trump later wrote on his Truth Social platform: "Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead."

Having initially denied Khamenei was dead, Iranian state media confirmed the news in an address by a tearful presenter, who said the country would enter 40 days of mourning.

Khamenei has been succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts - the clerical body that chooses the supreme leader.

He has not been seen publicly since the start of the war and was reported to have been injured in the initial strikes.

We're seeing some images from the Iranian capital on Monday morning, as the procession gets under way.

Thousands of people can be seen gathering on the streets. Official media has warned of a risk of crowd crushes and strict security measures have been imposed.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Vast crowds loyal to the Islamic Republic have gathered in Tehran for the funeral ceremony in recent days.

The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet sent this report from the Iranian capital on Sunday.

Lyse Doucet is reporting from Tehran on condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian Service. These restrictions apply to all international media organisations operating in Iran.

Image source, Getty Images

The funeral procession for Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has started its journey through the capital Tehran.

Khamenei ruled Iran for more than 35 years, before he was killed in US-Israeli air strikes in February.

His funeral began on Friday, and will take place across seven days with events in locations within both Iran and Iraq. Iranian authorities have said 12-20 million people are expected to attend the various ceremonies.

Khamenei's successor, son Mojtaba Khamenei, has so far been conspicuously absent from his father's funeral - which has been attended by a number of senior regime figures

Speculation about Mojtaba's condition - fuelled by rumours he was wounded in the same US-Israel air strikes that killed his father - has continued as he has not appeared in public since his appointment in early March.