U.S.-Israeli Airstrike Kills Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Tehran Funeral Begins

A funeral ceremony for martyr Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei officially began at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla mosque, with foreign heads of state and senior Iranian officials attending the rites.

“Official delegations from several countries arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Friday to attend funeral ceremonies for former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as Iranian state television IRIB aired live footage showing funeral ceremonies getting underway”

Anadolu Ajansı

The Tehran Times said the martyred Leader and several of his family members were killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike targeting his office and residence on the first day of the war against Iran on Feb. 28.

Anadolu Ajansı

The Tehran Times reported that leaders of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, and Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the Turkish Vice President and Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, attended the ceremony.

It also said Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, was expected to participate, while Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had already arrived in Tehran for the funeral.

Foreign delegations arrived in Tehran as the funeral began, with Iranian state television IRIB airing live footage showing funeral ceremonies getting underway.

Anadolu Ajansı listed Iraqi President Nizar Amidi, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, and Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz among senior officials arriving in the Iranian capital.

Bernama

The Anadolu Ajansı report also said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Tehran to attend the funeral at the head of an official delegation, and it described additional memorial events continuing in the coming days.

It further laid out a funeral schedule in which farewell ceremonies would continue in Tehran on July 4 and July 5, followed by the main funeral procession in the capital on July 6, before rites moved to Qom on July 7 and ceremonies in Iraq on July 8.

The Anadolu Ajansı account said the final funeral and burial ceremony was scheduled for July 9 at the Imam Ali Reza Shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

As preparations continued at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, Dawn reported that security was on high alert and that passengers must present a special permit to enter the premises.

“At the entrance to the vast religious complex where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body is set to lie in state from Saturday, dozens were hard at work under an intense heatwave to prepare for the assassinated supreme leader’s grand funeral”

Dawn

Dawn said trucks were transporting hundreds of boxes of drinking water in anticipation of the mercury surpassing 35º Celsius on Saturday, the first of six days of national mourning.

Dawn quoted Hossein Moghadassi saying, “We are planting flowers and watering the shrubs for the farewell ceremony of our martyred guide.”

Dawn also reported that Iran’s top negotiator in talks with the US, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called for a massive turnout as a way to avenge Khamenei’s death, adding, “I invite all the Iranian people… to write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran through your presence.”

The Dawn report said authorities expected between 15 and 20 million people to participate in the funeral in Tehran alone, with gates to the Grand Mosalla set to open at 6am (0230 GMT) on Saturday.