Iran begins mega-funeral for Ali Khamenei four months after death

The Iranian regime’s forecast is that millions of people will participate in the ceremonies, which will take place until next Thursday (9). It has not yet been announced whether the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali’s son, will attend the funeral.

The choice of dates for the funeral was a provocation by the Islamic regime, as this Saturday (4) the United States will celebrate 250 years of independence.

According to information from the EFE agency, Khamenei’s coffin, covered with the Iranian flag, was taken this Friday to the Mosala mosque, where Iranian authorities and delegations from Russia, China, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco, among others, attended to pay tribute to the one who was the highest political and religious authority of the Islamic regime for more than 36 years.

Among the foreign authorities confirmed to participate in the ceremonies are the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif; Georgian President Mikheil Kavlashvili; Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan; the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, He Wei; in addition to representatives from India, Afghanistan and terrorist groups from the Axis of Resistance alliance, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, among others.

The burials will include several of Khamenei’s family members who died with him on February 28, such as his eldest daughter Boshra Khamenei, his granddaughter Zahra Mohammedi Golpayegani, his son-in-law Mesbaholhoda Bagheri Kani and Zahra Hadad Adel, Mojtaba’s wife.

This Friday’s tribute act was closed to the public. However, Iranians will be able to go to the Mosala mosque to say goodbye to the late supreme leader on Saturday and Sunday (5).

A day later, the funeral procession will travel through Tehran and will later be transferred to the city of Qom, the country’s religious center, for a similar procession.

On Wednesday (8), the funerals will move to Iraq, where ceremonies are planned in the holy Shiite cities of Kerbala and Najaf, and, finally, on Thursday, Khamenei will be buried in his native Iranian city of Mashhad, the holiest in the country as it houses the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth of Shiism, and where his tomb will be.

The funeral ceremonies interrupted for now the negotiations being carried out with the United States to end the current war.

On Wednesday (2), an Iranian military commander warned the United States and Israel not to carry out attacks against Iran during tributes to Ali Khamenei.

“We warn Iran’s enemies, especially the US and the Zionist regime, to avoid any miscalculation and reflect on the harsh retaliation that our armed forces would undertake in the face of any threat or aggression against our country,” said Ali Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, in a statement released by Iranian state media.