The 6 day funeral events for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by a US-Israeli air strike at the start of the war on February 28 begin in Tehran. Khamenei’s body will lie in state at the Grand Mosalla prayer complex for public viewing. On Monday, a major funeral procession will take place through the streets of the capital city.
Mourners have started to gather to pay their respects at the coffin of Iran’s slain former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ahead of his funeral on Saturday. A red flag from the Imam Reza Shrine in Iran’s Mashhad city has been placed over the coffin of the supreme leader. The flag that draped Khamenei’s casket had writings in white calligraphy reading “Ya Hussein,” a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.
Iranian officials expect between 15 and 20 million mourners to participate over the six days, prompting police to announce a high alert. Globally, leaders and representatives from more than 30 countries – including Pakistan, Russia, and China – and religious figures from 90 nations are scheduled to attend the state funeral. According to reports, ongoing indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran, brokered by Qatar and Pakistan in Doha, have been officially paused so diplomats and negotiators can observe the funeral commemorations.
A video published by Iranian state media showed the mourning ceremony for Khamenei near the husseiniyah at his compound in Tehran. The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran.
Meanwhile, a powerful general who leads IRGC made his first public appearance in months at a ceremony for Khamenei on Thursday evening in Tehran.
Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting about the funeral of Khamenei, 86, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran’s theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night near the supreme leader’s former home in downtown Tehran.