Iran begins week of funeral ceremonies for slain Supreme Leader Khamenei
Iran has begun a week of funeral ceremonies in Tehran for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose body lay in state at the Grand Mosalla religious complex on Friday. Black-clad mourners carried his coffin through the capital as top Iranian officials and foreign dignitaries gathered to pay their respects. The ceremonies mark the start of public mourning for a leader who headed the Islamic Republic for more than three decades.
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State television showed President Masoud Pezeshkian at the coffin, alongside parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Ahmad Vahidi, described as head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also appeared publicly for the first time since the war began. Officials expect the mourning events and processions to draw large crowds before burial next week.
Khamenei was killed on February 28 in a joint United States-Israeli strike at the start of the war on Iran, according to the supplied report. The funeral had originally been scheduled for March but was delayed because of the conflict. Alongside his coffin were the bodies of his three-year-old granddaughter, eldest daughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law, who were also killed in the strike.
The ceremonies come at a sensitive moment for Iran, where the death of the supreme leader creates both a state mourning event and a major political transition. Khamenei was the central figure in the country's political and religious system, and his death has immediate implications for the balance of power among state institutions. The presence of senior officials and foreign delegations also underlines the diplomatic significance of the event.
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According to the report, more than 50 delegations have already paid their respects, with attendees including the presidents of Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Georgia, as well as Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government has not invited several European countries, and the attendees are said to be mostly from neutral or friendly states. A public ceremony is scheduled for Saturday in Tehran, followed by a procession through holy cities in Iran and neighbouring Iraq.
What remains unclear is how large the public turnout will be and how the succession process will unfold after the burial. The report says the mourning period will continue for six days, with next week's burial expected to be the final stage. The coming ceremonies are likely to be watched closely for signs of political alignment inside Iran and for the extent of international participation.
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