Official funeral ceremonies for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei commenced on Saturday, drawing hundreds of thousands of mourners to the capital in a heavily orchestrated event intended to project strength to the Islamic Republic’s foreign adversaries.
​The state-led proceedings come more than four months after Khamenei, 86, was killed alongside several family members in a February 28 joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike during the opening hours of the recent war. The burial had been repeatedly delayed due to the conflict, which concluded following a recent interim peace agreement.
​The opening public rituals took place at the cavernous Grand Mosalla complex in Tehran, where state television broadcasted live footage of weeping crowds packing the prayer halls.
Authorities unveiled Khamenei’s casket enclosed in a glass case, alongside the smaller coffins of his family members who perished in the same strike.
Mourners beat their chests and chanted slogans of retaliation, including “Revenge! Revenge!”, while massive billboards featuring Khamenei and his successor lined the city’s main highways.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) placed downtown Tehran under tight security, deploying additional checkpoints and enforcing lockdowns across key transit corridors.
​Iranian officials have explicitly framed the massive turnout as a show of national resilience. The state funeral is being closely watched by international observers for signs of internal stability following the devastating conflict that reshaped the regime’s leadership ranks.
​Particular scrutiny remains focused on Khamenei’s son and newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. Named as his father’s successor in March, he has yet to make a public appearance amid reports that he sustained severe injuries in the initial strike.
​The official schedule marks the beginning of a highly complex six-day logistical and religious procession. Public lying-in-state and official funeral prayers at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran to take place 4-5 July.
Processions moving to the holy city of Qom before crossing into neighboring Iraq for ceremonies in Najaf and Karbala scheduled for 6–7 July and the 9th for final burial scheduled at the Imam Reza shrine in Khamenei’s hometown of Mashhad.
