The Iranian government declared a three-day public holiday in the capital on Tuesday as preparations intensified for nationwide funeral ceremonies honoring the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with officials expecting massive public participation across multiple cities.
A Revolutionary Guard commander overseeing the ceremonies, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh, said farewell prayers and memorial services would be held Saturday and Sunday, July 4-5, at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran. “The farewell ceremony and prayers for the body of the fallen leader will be held on Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran,” he said, according to AFP. “The burial will take place on Monday, July 6. Tehran province will observe a three-day holiday,” he added.
Earlier, Iranian state media reported that Tehran would observe holidays on July 4-5, while the entire country would mark a public holiday on July 6. Authorities estimate as many as 20 million people could attend commemorative events in the capital.
Additional memorial services are scheduled across the country, including in the holy city of Qom, where ceremonies will be held on July 7. Mashhad, in northeastern Iran and the birthplace of Khamenei, is set to host the burial on July 9, with both cities also declaring national holidays.
Neighboring Iraq has also announced plans for a separate funeral ceremony on July 8. Iraq, like Iran, has a majority Shiite Muslim population and is home to some of the most significant sites in Shiite Islam, including the shrines of Imam Hussein in Karbala and Imam Ali in Najaf.
The funeral arrangements had originally been planned for March but were postponed due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East following U.S.-Israeli strikes in the region, according to officials.
State-linked accounts said Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, assumed the role of supreme leader in early March, becoming the third person to hold the position since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Officials said Mojtaba Khamenei was injured in a bombing that killed his father and several senior officials. He has not appeared publicly since his appointment and has communicated only through official statements, according to Iranian sources.
