The latest developments
• Khamenei’s funeral: Coffins containing the bodies of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several family members are on display in Tehran ahead of funeral processions in multiple locations that millions are expected to attend between July 4-9. It’s not known if Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei will attend his father’s funeral.
• Talks on hold: Iranian negotiators have left Doha as the Islamic Republic pauses diplomacy ahead of the funeral. Qatar said the discussions through mediators between the US and Iran will be scheduled to resume after the ceremonies.
• Tensions remain high: Iran’s army general warned the US and Israel against launching attacks during the procession. The US military, meanwhile, announced that a second Marine unit, typically numbering more than 2,000 Marines, is now operating in the Middle East.
Khamenei's funeral is being held on symbolic dates
Not to be lost in the ceremony of the slain supreme leader’s funeral is the apparently deliberate symbolism of the chosen dates.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s body is scheduled to lie in state on July 4 — the same day the US will celebrate 250 years of independence with large-scale public events across the country, including a speech from US President Donald Trump.
Another key day in Khamenei’s procession coincides with a major Shiite commemoration of a historic religious figure’s death.
The entire spectacle unfolds during the Islamic month of Muharram, a period deeply associated in Shiite Islam with mourning, betrayal and martyrdom – specifically the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, one of the Shia saints to whom Khamenei traces his lineage.
Khamenei’s casket was draped in the sacred flag that once flew over Hussein’s shrine, according to a post on his official X account Friday. The red flag with white lettering is a “symbol of resistance, sacrifice, and unwavering devotion to truth,” according to a post from the Iranian government.
Tight security in Tehran ahead of Khamenei's funeral
Video from the Reuters news agency on Friday showed security personnel patrolling the streets of Tehran ahead of funeral processions for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Coffins containing the bodies of Khamenei and multiple family members were laid out at Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran on Friday.
Funeral ceremonies are expected to take place at multiple locations in Iran and Iraq from July 4 to July 9, and millions of people are expected to attend.
Iran sends Trump defiant message with colossal funeral for slain leader
Four months after he was killed at the outset of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is being memorialized in a weeklong funeral spectacle stretching across five cities in two countries, with millions of mourners expected to attend.
Despite a costly war against two of the world’s strongest militaries and decades of crushing economic hardship, Tehran is sparing no expense to send off Khamenei in a grand ceremony shrouded in religious symbolism that overlaps with the 250th US Independence Day celebrations.
Authorities say they’ve launched one of the largest logistical efforts in the Islamic Republic’s history, mobilizing government employees, universities, labor unions, firefighters, soldiers, aid workers and even religious “mourning groups” to organize the funeral and manage the millions of “pilgrims” expected to travel to cities and holy sites across Iran and Iraq to bid the ayatollah farewell. Authorities in neighboring Iraq, where Shiite Muslims are a majority, say millions of mourners are expected to pay their respects.
For more than 10 days, the overwhelming coverage across Iranian media has been building up to this moment, with tribute songs and documentaries on Khamenei’s life overtaking news of talks with the US that had previously dominated headlines. The scale of the spectacle is designed to send a message to the world and to the Islamic Republic’s enemies: the regime not only survived an existential war, but will stubbornly immortalize its slain leader as a symbol of its resilience.
Read the full story here.
In pictures: Slain supreme leader's coffin on display in Tehran ahead of multi-day funeral
Coffins containing the bodies of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several family members are on display in Tehran ahead of funeral processions from July 4-9.
Tiny coffin containing Khamenei's granddaughter among those on display at Tehran mosque
People were seen streaming into the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla on Friday after the bodies of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and multiple family members were taken to the mosque.
Khamenei and his family members were killed in the opening stages of the US and Israel’s war with Iran in late February.
Iranian state media said the coffins laid out included the bodies of Khamenei’s son-in-law Mesbah-ol-Hoda Bagheri, his eldest daughter Seyyedeh Boshra Hosseini Khamenei, his daughter-in-law Zahra Haddad Adel and his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani.
A photo of an infant, reported by state media IRNA to be of Zahra Mohammadi Golpaygani, was also on display in front of a baby-sized coffin. All the caskets were painted with Iran’s flag.
Religious figures from Afghanistan and Indonesia were among some of the first at the Grand Mosalla to pay their respects, reported IRIB.
Iran pauses diplomacy to focus on funeral for slain leader Khamenei. Here's the latest
Diplomacy is on hold as Tehran prepares for the multi-day funeral of its former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war.
The Islamic Republic will come to a standstill as it lays Khamenei to rest in a funeral carefully staged to demonstrate the regime’s survival to the very actors responsible for the supreme leader’s death.
Here’s the latest:
- After two days of talks held indirectly between the US and Iran, Iranian officials left Doha. Those talks made “positive progress” and further discussions will be scheduled after Khamenei’s funeral, according to Qatar, a key mediator. It isn’t clear what was discussed in Doha. Iranian officials said they were discussing unfreezing their assets while Axios reported that US envoys were trying to persuade Iran not to introduce tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
- US-Iran tensions remain high, with Iran issuing a fresh warning for vessels to follow Tehran-designated routes through the Strait of Hormuz. And Iran has warned the US and Israel against attacks during the funeral.
- US Central Command has announced that a second Marine Expeditionary Unit, typically numbering more than 2,000 Marines, is operating in the Middle East. The group joins the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, its escorts and embarked Marines that have been in the region since late March.
- Attention now turns to Khamenei’s funeral, scheduled to stretch between Tehran, Qom and Mashhad in Iran and Najaf and Karbala in Iraq from July 4 through July 9. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called on Iranians to turn out in “large numbers” to portray a united front to the world.
- Several foreign dignitaries of varying seniority will attend the funeral, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as well as representatives from China and India.
- It’s not known whether Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader and son of the slain ayatollah, will appear to lead prayers for his father.
- The first images are emerging of the casket holding the body of Khamenei. Iranian state media reported that his body was transported to Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla in Tehran.
- Elsewhere, the US Navy is searching for a missing crew member after a helicopter made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea.
- And Syria’s foreign minister is visiting Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials on his first official trip to the country since Trump suggested Syrian forces could intervene in the conflict
CNN’s Sarah Tamimi, Haley Britzky, Mostafa Salem, Mustafa Qadri, Brad Lendon and Aida Karimi contributed reporting.
If Mojtaba Khamenei attends the funeral, it’ll be his first public appearance since the war began
A central question looming over the funeral is whether Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader and son of the slain Ayatollah, will appear to lead prayers for his father, who died in a US-Israeli strike.
Mojtaba is believed to have been seriously wounded in that attack, which also killed his mother and his wife. He has remained in hiding since the war began in late February, communicating with his supporters only through written statements, never showing his face or using his voice.
Iranian officials have worked to project an image of full recovery, claiming he is even directing Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.
His appearance would be momentous, marking his first public emergence, and helping to establish his legitimacy at home.
But a failure to appear will fuel doubts about his wellbeing, as well as questions over who is running the country. On Wednesday, the leader failed to attend a private ceremony for his late wife.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Wednesday that Tehran would deliver an immediate and powerful response to any threat against its leadership after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Khamenei was “marked for death.”
Not appearing at the funeral would likely be spun by the Islamic Republic as a necessary security measure amid the ongoing conflict. Yet it would leave far more questions unanswered and deepen skepticism about his health and readiness to lead.
Questions are already swirling inside Iran. When asked this week about Khamenei’s attendance, the head of the authority organizing the funeral, Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, deflected. “This matter is not within our domain and the decision lies entirely with the (supreme) leader’s office,” he said.
Who is expected to attend Khamenei’s funeral?
Officials of varying seniority from China, India and Pakistan are among the foreign dignitaries attending the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in joint US-Israel strikes in February.
Pakistan: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has emerged as a key mediator between the Iran and US, will travel to Iran in the coming days to “offer condolences” over Khamenei’s death, the foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
China: Senior Chinese parliamentary official He Wei – who is the vice chairperson of China’s top lawmaking body, the Standing Committee of the National’s People Congress, will represent Beijing, China’s foreign ministry said.
India: Deputy foreign minister Pabitra Margherita and the governor of Bihar state, Syed Ata Hasnain, will attend the funeral, according to the Indian foreign ministry.
Khamenei’s long-delayed funeral represents an opportunity for the Iranian regime to emphasize its diplomatic ties with other countries as well as to project a sense of stability and unity within its borders.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Iran expected “guests from around 100 countries, including heads of government, parliamentary speakers, foreign ministers, special government envoys, other political figures and numerous public delegations.”
But aside from Sharif and Georgia’s President Mikheil Kavelashvili, who semi-official news agency Tasnim said is attending, few foreign leaders will make an appearance. Most countries present, like India and China, are sending senior officials instead.
Two senior Taliban officials – Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister and acting foreign minister – will also be in Iran for the funeral.
