According to state media, the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is set to begin in Tehran on ⁠July 4, and he will be buried in his home town of Mashhad on July 9, 2026.

The burial, initially scheduled for March but postponed as the US and Israeli war with Iran dragged on, will follow three days of funeral ceremonies in Tehran from July 4 and another in the holy city of Qom on July 7.

Islamic law requires the deceased to be buried as soon as possible, and ideally within 24 hours of death, but exceptions are allowed, for example in time of war.

Khamenei, 86, was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in February. He was killed on the first day of Israeli and U.S. airstrikes against Iran on February 28. The 86-year-old cleric had been at the helm of the Islamic Republic for 36 years.

Khamenei led Iran from 1989, following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had spearheaded the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini was the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the rule of the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei shaped the military and paramilitary apparatus.

During his rule, Khamenei built Iran into a powerful anti-U.S. force, spreading its military sway across the Middle East through proxy forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, while using an iron fist to crush outbreaks of unrest ‌at ⁠home.

Khamenei remained a strong critic of the United States throughout his rule, while successive U.S. administrations tried unsuccessfully to resolve a dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme.

His successor, son Mojtaba Khamenei, has remained out of public view since the US-Israel war began. Mojtaba also lost his wife in the airstrike and was himself injured.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said that Mojtaba Khamenei appeared to be taking a more active role as negotiations between the two countries continue following an April 8 truce.

More to come…