-1780465923790-d5a14b92b014f.jpg)
On Tuesday evening, June 2, Iranian authorities announced plans for the funeral of former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, three months after he was assassinated in US and Israeli raids.
Tasnim news agency quoted Mohammad Amin Tavakkolzadeh, deputy for cultural and social affairs of the Tehran municipality, as saying that Iran is planning to organize a three-day farewell ceremony for Khamenei and 24 hours for his funeral.
Zadeh added that the plans for the farewell ceremonies, funerals and burials are nearing completion, noting that "three days have been planned for the farewell ceremony and 24 hours for the funeral in Tehran, and that the venue of this ceremony is currently being determined, and a choice will be made between the Tehran Prayer Hall" and the "Immaculate Shrine of Imam Khomeini."
Tehran: 24 hours for funeral
"The funeral ceremony in Tehran is expected to last at least 24 hours, after which the body will be transferred to the city of Qom and then to the holy city of Mashhad to hold a similar ceremony," the official noted.
"According to the recommendations, the immaculate shrine of Imam Ali bin Musa al-Rida will be the final resting place of the martyred Imam," he said.
Due to Mashhad's geographical location, the city is expected to host large crowds of foreign visitors, especially from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh and the Kashmir region," Tawakkolzada said.
"The cities around Tehran will have a prominent role in crowd management. As visitors flock from all over the country to Tehran, cities such as Qom, Karaj, Caspian and Saveh in the west and south, as well as Semnan, Gharsarsar and Varamin in the east of Tehran, will be tasked with hosting visitors for one night on their way to the capital, to ensure that the funeral ceremonies go smoothly and with the utmost order."
Reasons for Delayed Burial
The ceremony was delayed by more than 90 days due to severe security concerns and the military conditions associated with the war, as well as the transitional arrangements that resulted in the inauguration of his son Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's new Supreme Leader.
Khamenei was killed on February 28, 2026, following a US-Israeli airstrike that targeted his headquarters in the capital Tehran during a major military escalation in the region, ending a political and religious career in which he led the country's highest authority for more than three decades (1989-2026), where the Assembly of Experts chose his son Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed him as Supreme Leader.
Khamenei's long reign was marked by absolute hostility to the United States and Israel, and regional expansion by supporting allied factions and militias in the Middle East within the Tehran-led axis, based on his constitutional powers that gave him the final say in all internal and foreign affairs and military policies since the Assembly of Experts selected him in 1989 to succeed the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Khamenei has roots in a religious family in the city of Mashhad (northeastern Iran), where he was born in 1939 and before the 1979 revolution, he was a prominent opponent of the Shah's regime Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was arrested and exiled several times, and after the victory of the revolution, he assumed senior leadership positions and was elected president of Iran for two consecutive terms between 1981 and 1989, during which he survived an assassination attempt with explosives in June 1981 that left his right hand permanently paralyzed.