Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The funeral ceremonies for Khamenei will start on July 4 and end on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad, a sacred city in the northeast. On February 28, the first day of US and Israeli bombings on Tehran, the 86-year-old was killed. For thirty-six years, he was the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
According to official media, the former Supreme Leader’s funeral will take place on July 7 at Qom, another sacred city located south of Tehran.
Islamic law mandates that the deceased be buried as soon as possible, ideally within a day of death, but there are some exceptions, especially during times of conflict.
Nearly 20 million people are anticipated to attend the burial in Tehran, Mashad, and Qom. Pakistani authorities, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, will also be there. If the figures are correct, they could surpass the 10-million mark set by the funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in 1989.
Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, 56, the son of Ali Khamenei, has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since March 8. Nonetheless, concerns regarding his well-being and location have continued, with a number of high-ranking US officials, such as Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, saying that he is in a coma.
