Bihar governor Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain and Union minister of state for external affairs Pabitra Margherita will represent India at the funeral ceremony of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
The two leaders will represent India in the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had been invited by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend the funeral. However, the Prime Minister is not available because of his pre-scheduled visit to Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia during the same period.
According to Iranian state media, the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei will begin on July 4 and conclude on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad. His body will lie in state at the Tehran Mosalla on July 4 and 5, followed by a funeral procession in Tehran on July 6. Another ceremony will be held in the holy city of Qom on July 7 before the final funeral procession and burial at the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam in Mashhad on July 9.
The funeral was originally scheduled to take place in March but was postponed due to the conflict involving Iran, which subsided after a ceasefire between the United States and Iran in April.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on February 28 in a strike on a compound in Tehran during the opening phase of the American-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
According to reports, at least seven other senior Iranian leaders were also killed in the same strike.
Following Khamenei’s death, Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the country’s new Supreme Leader. His appointment makes him the third Supreme Leader of Iran and the first to inherit the position from his father.
Reports suggest that Mojtaba Khamenei has remained at a secure location with limited communication after reportedly sustaining injuries during the conflict.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have emerged as the country’s most influential power centre during the ongoing transition.