Iran Vows Retaliation for Ayatollah Khamenei's Death 'at the Right Time'

Iran’s top security body has warned that those responsible for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will face retaliation ‘at the right time’, as the country prepares for a grand funeral ceremony. ‘The clenched fist of the fallen Leader at the moment of his passing will remain an eternal symbol of Iran’s national security doctrine,’ said Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a statement carried by Press TV on Thursday. Zolqadr, a veteran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander appointed to the top security post on 24 March after his predecessor Ali Larijani was killed in a US-Israeli strike, issued the warning ahead of Khamenei’s funeral. ‘The file of revenge for the sacred blood of the great Khamenei and the oppressed martyrs of Iran remains open,’ Zolqadr said. ‘The perpetrators and those who ordered this crime will, at the right time—which will not be long—face proportionate punishment at the hands of the righteous.’ Iran is preparing for a massive funeral ceremony for Khamenei, who was killed in a US-Israeli attack in late February. Large portraits of Khamenei have been installed at the Grand Mosalla complex in Tehran as workers ready the site for the large-scale ceremony. The funeral, delayed by the escalation of the Middle East war, is taking place as Iran and the US observe a ceasefire following the signing of a preliminary agreement to end the conflict. Khamenei, a spiritual figurehead for many Shia Muslims, died at the age of 86 at his residence in central Tehran on 28 February, the first day of the war. The public funeral ceremony is set to begin on Saturday, 4 July. His body will lie in state at the Grand Mosalla, officially known as the Imam Khomeini Mosalla, in central Tehran, a venue typically used for large Friday prayers, official ceremonies, and major religious gatherings. The bodies of Khamenei’s family members who died in the same attack will also lie in state there. Iranian officials expect the funeral to draw between 15 million and 20 million mourners, making it the largest state funeral in the history of the Shia nation.