In brief
Iran has opened an extended period of public mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in February strikes by U.S. and Israel. The Iraqi target’s body lies in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, where up to 20 million mourners are expected. Authorities have shut offices and restricted traffic, and the funeral will travel from Tehran to Qom and Najaf before returning to Mashhad for burial. The ceremony is expected to fuse civic, religious and political rituals, while questions linger over the attendance of his son, Mohamud Mojtaba, as a new supreme leader.
Iran has begun an extended period of public mourning for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in February by U.S. and Israeli air strikes.
Khamenei’s body will lie in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla from Friday, where crowds estimated at 12–20 million are expected to pay their respects. The authorities are closing all public and private offices and restricting vehicular traffic in the city centre, while the airspace over Tehran will be partially and then fully closed.
The official funeral procession will begin on Saturday with the body displayed on an elevated platform. Authorities have designed the flow so that mourners can enter and leave the centre within 15–20 minutes. The funeral will continue in Qom, where a senior Shia cleric will deliver prayers at the Jamkaran Mosque, then travel to Najaf, Iraq, for a procession at the Imam Ali shrine before returning to Iraq and ultimately to Iran.
On Thursday, Khamenei will be buried in his birthplace of Mashhad at the Imam Reza shrine, the most important pilgrimage site in Iran. The ceremony will be attended by representatives from several countries, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and will run for 40 days with commemorative events planned until the first anniversary of his burial.
Key questions remain over whether his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since assuming the role of Supreme Leader, will attend the funeral, and who will lead the final prayers, a decision that carries both religious and political significance.
