Funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: King Salman and MBS Offer Condolences

King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia have conveyed their condolences to the Iranian president as Tehran holds a state funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The message of condolence was delivered to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji, who attended the ceremony on Saturday morning, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry. The funeral for Khamenei, who was killed by Israel on 28 February, is expected to last several days. Khamenei’s flag-draped coffin was placed in Tehran’s Grand Mosalla alongside the coffins of other family members also killed in the attack. State television showed people gathering at night in various Iranian cities, chanting slogans in support of the country’s theocracy and against America and Israel. The government estimates millions will flood the streets of the capital starting Saturday, in scenes reminiscent of the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. The religious leader’s coffin lay in state at the Grand Mosalla Mosque on Saturday. The ceremony is scheduled to take place over three days in Tehran before Khamenei’s body is taken to the pilgrimage city of Qom and to Iraq. Ayatollah Khamenei will then be buried in his hometown of Mashhad next Thursday. Khamenei died at the age of 86 in a targeted airstrike on his official residence in Tehran on 28 February 2026. His death was followed by more than five weeks of fighting between Iran, Israel, and the US, involving Iran-backed groups including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. US and Iranian representatives agreed to a ceasefire in early April 2026.