Iran opens week of funeral rites for slain former leader Ali Khamenei
Foreign delegations and Iranian officials gathered in Tehran as Ali Khamenei’s delayed state funeral began under tight security.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
Iran began a week of state funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose burial rites were delayed for months after he was killed in a US-Israeli strike, Al Jazeera reported. The ceremonies drew officials and delegations from more than 100 countries, according to Al Jazeera, AP and Reuters.
Khamenei’s coffin was placed Friday in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, a large prayer hall built in honor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Al Jazeera reported. Scholars, Iranian officials, foreign dignitaries and mourners came to pay respects after Khamenei’s 37 years in power, the outlet said.
Al Jazeera reported that the coffin was first shown publicly late Thursday before a crowd of grieving supporters. The coffins of relatives killed with Khamenei were also laid in state Friday, according to the report.
Khamenei, 86, was killed on Feb. 28, the first day of what Al Jazeera described as the joint US-Israel war on Iran. The report said several of his relatives died with him, including his daughter, son-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter.
His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, formally became supreme leader weeks later, Al Jazeera reported. Funeral rites had been planned for March, but the conflict that followed delayed the ceremonies until this week, according to the outlet.
Khamenei’s official X account said his coffin was covered with a flag that had flown over the Shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Al Jazeera reported. The Iranian government described the red banner, which bore white script, as a symbol of resistance, sacrifice and devotion, according to a separate social media post cited by Al Jazeera.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian paid respects Friday, state media reported, according to Al Jazeera. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iraqi President Nizar Amidi and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon were among the foreign officials expected to attend, the report said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mahmoud Abdelwahed reported from Tehran that Friday’s ceremony was set aside for invited dignitaries from about 100 countries, including presidents, prime ministers and parliamentary speakers. He said European countries that supported the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran were not invited.
Security in Tehran has been raised to maximum alert, Al Jazeera reported. General Ahmad Vahidi, the recently appointed commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, appeared publicly Friday for the first time since Feb. 8, sitting near Khamenei’s coffin, according to the outlet.
Vahidi took over after his predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, was killed in US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said Vahidi had previously led the elite Quds Force and had not been seen in public for months.
On the sidelines of the funeral events, Major-General Amir Hatami, commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces, vowed retaliation against the United States and Israel, Al Jazeera reported. “With a firmer resolve we declare to the enemies of the Iranian nation – America and the criminal Zionist regime – that we will avenge the blood of the martyred leader,” Hatami said Friday.
Public viewing is due to begin Saturday morning, with officials preparing for large crowds during a regional heatwave, Al Jazeera reported. The procession is scheduled to continue through Tehran and Qom, enter Iraq briefly on July 8 and end with burial ceremonies July 9 at the Imam Ali Reza Shrine in Mashhad, according to the report.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.