More than four months after he was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lie in state in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla from Friday, beginning a six-day funeral that officials say could draw up to 20 million mourners. The procession, which will pass through three Iranian cities and two holy sites in Iraq before his burial in Mashhad next Thursday, is also timed to coincide with celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of US Independence Day – a layer of political symbolism that underscores the event’s intended message of defiance.
Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 years, was killed on 28 February in strikes that also killed his daughter, her husband, his successor’s wife and his 14‑month‑old granddaughter. The ensuing war delayed the funeral; it now serves as a test of the theocracy’s ability to mobilise support six months after security forces brutally suppressed nationwide protests.
“Iran begins six-day funeral for Ali Khamenei, killed in February, with up to 20 million mourners expected.”
Preparations have been under way in temperatures expected to reach 40C. Cooling systems are being installed in the Grand Mosalla courtyard, while roadblocks, army vans and posters bearing the funeral’s symbol – a red fist alongside the slogan “We must rise” – line the capital’s streets. Iran’s first vice‑president, Mohammad Reza Aref, who is organising the event, called it “the most important event of this century” and predicted it would be the most attended since the 1979 revolution.
The former supreme leader’s body will be officially mourned in Tehran on Saturday, then taken to the seminary city of Qom, before heading to the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. The inclusion of Iraq, according to Sina Toossi, a senior non‑resident fellow at the Centre for International Policy, is designed to reinforce Iran’s influence across the wider Shia world. Representatives from multiple countries are expected, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Public and private offices in Tehran will close from Saturday through Monday, and airspace over the capital will be partially closed from Friday and fully shut on Monday. Despite the many posters depicting Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, walking with his father, the new supreme leader is not expected to appear. He was severely injured in the same attack that killed his father and has issued only written statements, distancing himself from ceasefire negotiations while sanctioning their continuance. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, threatened to kill him this week, prompting hardliners to call for a re‑examination of Iran’s fatwa against nuclear weapons.
The funeral carries risks: past high‑profile ceremonies, including that of Ayatollah Khomeini, have been marred by deadly stampedes. Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is leading negotiations with the US, said in a message widely shared by state media: “We must rise and raise the cry for the nation’s blood to the world … so that the world knows that the honourable and noble nation of Iran does not remain silent in the face of oppression … [it is] an epic feat that will show the greatness of a nation’s spirit to the world.”