The funeral of Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will take place in July with ceremonies across the country and include a stop in Iraq, it has been revealed.
Mr Khamenei, who had led Iran since 1989, was killed in an air strike in February on the day the US and Israel began their war against the country.
While some Iranian commanders assassinated during the war have already been buried, the ceremonies for Mr Khamenei are expected to be enormous and have taken longer to prepare. The last funeral of an Iranian supreme leader, that of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, was a chaotic affair attended by millions.
This year's funeral will be eagerly watched for any sign of the new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected his father's successor in March but has not been seen in public since.
The supreme leader's representative in India played down that prospect two days before ceremonies began, telling India Today that Mr Khamenei "wants to come out" but that "security doesn't allow him to come".
As leader of Iran's Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah Khamenei held religious as well as political authority for Shiite Muslims in Iran. He also had many supporters in Iraq, where the presence of pro-Iran militants drew the country into the crossfire of the war.
Here is what we know about the arrangements:
Funeral timetable
Details have been announced by a Commemoration Committee for the Bloody Ascension of the Martyred Militant Imam.
It said “public farewell ceremonies” will take place on July 4 and 5 at a mosque in Tehran, the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla. A funeral procession is scheduled for Tehran on July 6, followed by a second procession in the religiously significant city of Qom on July 7.
The final rites will take place on July 9 in Mashhad, where Mr Khamenei is expected to be buried. The city's Imam Reza Shrine is the burial place of Shiite Islam's eighth imam. It is also where former president Ebrahim Raisi was buried after his death in a helicopter crash in 2024.
The final funeral procession route before burial has not yet been determined, the governor of Razavi Khorasan province said. Mashhad is the provincial capital.
Each of the proposed paths “has its own advantages and disadvantages”, Gholamhossein Mozaffari was quoted as saying in Iranian media, and the final route “has not yet been announced”. The lack of clarity “has caused us to face difficulties in planning, because all plans and measures must be finalised by July 4", he added.
Iraqi stop
Iraqi and Iranian officials have confirmed that Mr Khamenei's body will be taken to Iraq before the burial in Mashhad.
Mourners in Iraq will be able to see Mr Khamenei's body in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, the Iraqi government said. A stop in Baghdad has been scrapped "due to limited time".
Government spokesman Maj Gen Saad Maan said Mr Khamenei’s body would arrive on July 7 at the airport in Najaf, where an official funeral would take place. Another funeral for mourners would be held on July 8 in the city, followed by ceremonies in Karbala.
Millions expected
The organising committee said an “unparalleled display of public participation” is expected for the funeral.
Tehran's deputy mayor for social and cultural affairs, Mohammad Amin Tavakolizadeh, said earlier this month that the procession in Tehran is expected to last at least 24 hours, with preparations under way to host up to 20 million people. Iran's population is about 90 million.
Officials and foreign dignitaries, including from Russia and China, will offer condolences in events on Friday. Russia is sending its former president Dmitry Medvedev. Pakistan and India will also be represented.
Mourners from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh are expected to join the ceremonies in Mashhad. Mr Tavakolizadeh said local authorities along the procession route should prepare for large numbers of spectators.
