Iran Holds Funeral Prayer for Ali Khamenei

Iran held a large-scale funeral prayer for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla in Tehran on Sunday. The funeral ceremony for Khamenei and his family members was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners. Many of them arrived at the site in the early hours of the morning carrying Iranian flags. The prayer at the main prayer complex was led by senior Shia cleric Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, military officials and senior politicians, as well as religious figures, were among those attending the ceremony. Khamenei was killed in a US-Israeli military aggression against Iran that began on 28 February, which triggered retaliation from Tehran. The official funeral ceremonies began on Friday (3/7), with leaders of friendly nations and official delegations from across the region and beyond paying their respects to the late Iranian supreme leader. According to the official schedule, the public farewell ceremony will be followed by the main funeral procession in Tehran on Monday (6/7). The funeral ceremonies will then continue to Qom on 7 July. On 8 July, ceremonies are scheduled in Iraq—including in Baghdad, Najaf, and Karbala, where the body will be received by religious and political figures before being moved to major Shia holy sites. The final funeral and burial ceremony is scheduled for 9 July at the Tomb of Imam Ali Reza in the northeastern city of Mashhad, one of the holiest sites for Shia Islam.