More than four months after he was killed in US and Israeli strikes, Iran has begun days of public mourning for its former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His body lies in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, as authorities prepare for what they call the “funeral of the century”, with 12 to 20 million people expected to attend the ceremonies.
The funeral comes against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States, after a preliminary deal to halt their conflict was signed in June. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian was among the first to pay his respects at the vast religious complex, where the coffin – bearing the colours of the Islamic Republic – was carried aloft on Friday.
“Iran begins public mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei four months after he was killed in US-Israeli strikes.”
A number of foreign dignitaries also attended, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country mediated peace talks between the US and Iran, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, and the Afghan Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Iranian authorities have ordered public and private offices in Tehran to close from Saturday through Monday, while traffic restrictions will shut down most of the city centre to private vehicles, AFP reported. The airspace over Tehran was partially closed on Friday and will be fully closed on Monday. Security has been heightened on the streets, according to Channel 4 News, and airspace has been closed over the country ahead of the funeral processions set to begin tomorrow.
The Tehran-based Mohammad Rasulullah Corps is leading the official funeral ceremony in Tehran on Saturday. Its commander, Hassan Hassanzadeh, said Khamenei’s coffin would be displayed on an elevated platform, with crowd flows designed to allow visitors to enter and leave within 15 to 20 minutes.
Khamenei’s body will remain in the Grand Mosalla for three days, alongside the remains of family members who were also killed in the February strikes, including his one-year-old granddaughter, Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani.
On Tuesday, events will move to Qom, just south of Tehran, where a senior Shia cleric will lead funeral prayers at Jamkaran – one of Iran’s most prominent and symbolic religious sites. Khamenei’s body will then travel to Najaf in Iraq on Wednesday for a procession at the shrine of Imam Ali.
While political and religious leaders have been paying tribute, Channel 4 News reports that Iranians remain divided as the funeral proceedings begin.