Hizbullah and Hamas Officials Attend Khamenei's Funeral

Representatives from the Iran-backed militant groups Hizbullah and Hamas attended the funeral ceremony for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. For years, Tehran has provided support to the Palestinian group Hamas, Lebanon’s Hizbullah, and Yemen’s Houthis—all of which are designated as terrorist organisations by the United States and other Western nations—making Iran a target of international sanctions. The Hizbullah delegation included officials and family members of fighters who were killed or wounded. The delegation was led by senior official and former Lebanese minister Mohammed Fneish. Meanwhile, Hamas stated that its delegation was headed by the chief of its political bureau, Mohammed Darwish, and included other bureau members such as Bassem Naim. In July 2024, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed at his residence in Tehran in an Israeli operation after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Most foreign officials and dignitaries paid their respects to Khamenei on Friday. Ali Khamenei, who had led Iran since 1989, died at the age of 86 along with several family members and other high-ranking officials in a US-Israeli strike on 28 February, which sparked a war in the Middle East. Today, crowds gathered at the Grand Mosalla religious complex in the Iranian capital to bid farewell to the late supreme leader, a figure who held final decision-making power over the country’s crucial policies during his tenure. The funeral ceremonies at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla will continue on Sunday, which has been declared a national holiday by the government. The weekend in Iran runs from Thursday to Friday. In a statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry urged the public to attend the ceremony en masse to ‘show the world the greatness of Iran and the glory of national unity and dignity’.