Iran will begin funeral ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the 4th, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States (local time). It comes 126 days after his death in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike. The ceremonies will be held over a week in the capital Tehran and in Mashhad, a Shiite holy city.
Ayatollah Khamenei's body was transported the previous day to Imam Khomeini Mosalla, a large prayer venue in central Tehran.
From the 4th for two days, members of the public will pay their respects by passing before his casket laid in state at Tehran's Mosalla. The mourning will then move on the 6th to Qom, the central religious city of Iran, and on the 7th, funeral rites will be solemnly observed in Karbala, a Shiite holy site in Iraq, as well as in Baghdad and Najaf. The schedule will conclude with a burial ceremony on the 9th at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, a Shiite holy site in northeastern Iran and Ayatollah Khamenei's hometown.
The Iranian government predicted that more than 20% of Iran's population, up to 20 million people, will gather in Tehran for the mourning events on the 4th–5th. In June 1989, 10.2 million people gathered in Tehran for the funeral of the first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Tehran city prepared 50 million pieces of bread for mourners and opened more than 5,000 mosques and 700 schools in the metropolitan area as accommodations. During this period, shops in Tehran will be forcibly closed.
To attend the funeral, 200 high-level delegations from about 100 countries will visit Iran. From Pakistan, which is mediating end-of-war talks between Iran and the United States, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the head of state, will pay respects in person. China will send He Wei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, to attend the funeral. The Iranian government also invited about 600 foreign journalists.
Iranian authorities set the funeral slogan as "We shall surely rise." They aim to make the funeral an occasion to vow revenge against the United States and Israel. Across Tehran, banners bearing this slogan alongside images of Ayatollah Khamenei in his lifetime have been hung.
Given the Islamic custom of burial no later than 48 hours after death, Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral schedule has been considerably delayed. It appears to reflect concerns about possible U.S.-Israeli attacks targeting the ceremonies.
Although a truce is in place, Iranian authorities, seeing the possibility that Israel could launch a surprise move targeting the funeral where Iran's leadership will be heavily assembled, have effectively sealed off the area around the Mosalla. They have also deployed military units and snipers in various locations to prepare for contingencies.
Some interpret the decision to hold an ultra-large state funeral on the U.S. Independence 250th anniversary holiday as a schedule carrying a political message aimed at the United States.