DUBAI/ISLAMABAD: The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects to Iran’s late Supreme Leader, who was martyred by US and Israeli bombs at the start of the war.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the invitation of Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian also attended Ali Khamenei’s funeral ceremony. The prime minister led a high-level delegation that included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and other senior government officials, a news release from PM Office said here on Friday.
He recalled the lasting contributions of Iran’s late Supreme Leader for Islam. He paid rich tribute to the late Supreme Leader, who guided the Iranian nation for decades, with remarkable wisdom and sagacity.
The prime minister expressed full solidarity with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, Iran’s President Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian and the brotherly people of Iran in this moment of national grief and prayed to Allah Almighty for forgiveness of the departed leader. He also penned down his remarks in the condolence book.
Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions. Khamenei’s body was expected to be taken to Qom, Najaf and Kerbala, the great Shi’ite centres of Iran and Iraq, before being laid to rest on Thursday in Mashhad, home to the country’s holiest pilgrim shrine.
His coffin was unveiled late on Thursday to a throng of sobbing supporters, swaying and beating their heads in time to a sung lament as flowers were thrown from the bier into the crowd.
On Friday the coffin — and those of family members martyred with him — was laid in state in the great prayer hall built to honour his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The funeral is taking place at a critical moment for Iran, where the clerical rulers backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are riding high from surviving what they saw as an existential war against their greatest and most powerful foes.
Authorities aim to mobilise millions of people for the big processions over the coming days, offering transport, food and lodging.
Tehran streets were tightly controlled, with military and police vehicles lining the major roads and police and members of the black-shirted volunteer Basij paramilitary force patrolling on motorbikes. Iran warned the United States and Israel against any attacks during the funeral.
After the coffins arrived on Friday, borne high across the upraised hands of a waiting crowd, they were laid in the prayer hall on a white, stepped dais before a high, intricately tiled, arched recess, flanked by national and black mourning flags.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese National People’s Congress deputy head He Wei, and Iraqi President Nizar Amedi were among the foreign leaders and officials attending.
Families of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, close Lebanese allies of Iran killed in Israeli strikes, attended the ceremony.
Iran’s own political leaders — the president, parliament speaker, foreign minister and others — filed in to weep and pray on Friday morning. A group of generals stood saluting in front of the coffin. Among them was the new Revolutionary Guards head Ahmad Vahidi, having not appeared in public since his appointment for fear of assassination.
In central Tehran overnight, a crowd stood sobbing and chanting, led by a Basij member, as others handed out posters of the late Khamenei. “God willing, only by avenging his blood, demanding justice for it, and ensuring that our leader’s blood is not left unavenged, can this sorrow of the people be somewhat alleviated,” said Mobina Razaaghi, an 18-year-old student from Isfahan, attending the funeral events with classmates.
Killed alongside Khamenei, and displayed in coffins next to his, were his daughter, son-in-law and baby granddaughter, as well as the wife of his son Mojtaba.
Burials are meant to be conducted within a day of death in Islam, but because of the risks of holding a big funeral during the war it was postponed until after last month’s interim truce deal was agreed.
Hotels are offering 50 per cent discounts, schools, mosques and sports halls have been prepared to house mourners, and bus and rail networks are being diverted to serve the main events.
After what authorities are billing as a massive procession in central Tehran on Monday, the remains will be taken to the seminary city of Qom, the centre of Iran’s Shi’ite hierarchy, for ceremonies on Tuesday.
Ceremonies will then be held in Iraq’s shrine cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday.
He will be buried on Thursday, after another procession, in Mashhad near the tomb of the Imam Reza, a figure of great devotion in Iran.
After attending the funeral ceremony, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who had arrived in Tehran earlier in the day departed for Istanbul for his official visit to Turkiye.
A parliamentary delegation led by Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, parliamentarians and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah also attended the funeral along with the prime minister.
According to the Senate Secretariat, Gilani conveyed heartfelt condolences and sympathies on behalf of the Parliament, government, and people of Pakistan to the President of Iran and the Iranian leadership on the passing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He stated that Pakistan shares the grief of the brotherly people of Islamic Republic of Iran. Paying tribute to the religious, intellectual, and scholarly contributions of Ali Khamenei, he said that the late leader played a significant role in promoting the unity of the Muslim Ummah, advancing Islamic values, and providing guidance to the Muslim world. His services and legacy will always be remembered with deep respect and admiration.
Gilani and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant patience and strength to the people of brotherly country Iran in this hour of grief.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting, Barrister Danyal Chaudhry on Friday conveyed heartfelt condolences to the Iranian leadership and the bereaved families, saying Pakistan stood shoulder to shoulder with Iran in this difficult time with its entire military and civilian leadership united in support. While speaking exclusively to media, Danyal Chaudhry said Pakistan’s political and military leadership remained united in its commitment to regional peace, stability and constructive diplomacy, adding that Pakistan has consistently played a responsible role in promoting dialogue and reducing tensions in the region.
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Friday met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
During the meeting, Field Marshal Asim Munir paid rich tribute to the services of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Iran.
Field Marshal Asim Munir departed for Pakistan after attending the funeral prayers of Iran’s late Supreme Leader. Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, along with senior civilian and military officials, bid farewell to Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir before his departure from Tehran.
Meanwhile, Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed El Khereiji and his delegation paid their respects to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian media reported.
Two Romanians previously convicted of a knife attack on an Iranian journalist outside his London home “on behalf of” Iran were jailed Friday for 12 and eight years respectively.
George Stana, 25, and Nandito Badea, 21, were found guilty last month of wounding with intent over the 2024 stabbing of Pouria Zeraati, a news presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International. The duo had denied the charge but were convicted by a jury after a trial.
Israel´s military said Friday it had struck several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon a day earlier in response to attacks on its troops in the area.
The sites were in the areas of the south Lebanon towns of Bint Jbeil, Beit Yahoun, Kounine, and Baraachit, and “were used by Hezbollah to advance attacks against IDF soldiers operating in the Security Zone,” the army said.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday its forces confronted Saudi “warplanes” that they said attempted to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport, according to a statement by the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea.
The Iran-aligned group warned that they would target “Saudi airports and vital interests on land and sea” if the Saudis continue their violations of Yemeni airspace, Sarea said. Flights between Sanaa and Tehran will continue despite any “possible consequences,” he added.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said earlier on Friday that an Iranian aircraft arrived in Sanaa and flew the group’s official delegation to Tehran to attend the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. More than 200 patients were among other passengers on board.
A CMA CGM container ship struck by a missile in the Strait of Hormuz in early May is so badly damaged that the French shipping group may send it for scrapping, its chief executive said on Friday.
Iran’s top negotiator Ghalibaf said, “If the US and Israel do not fulfill their commitments, Iran will resume its appropriate measures,” ISNA reported.
US President Donald Trump said, “I think they (Iranians) have agreed to just about everything we need.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed media reports that officials in Washington believe Israel may have tried to kill Iran’s top negotiators in an attempt to derail ceasefire talks with the United States that were to take place in Pakistan, Euronews reported.
The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that US concern about threats to Araghchi and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf spiked during the April negotiations, to the point that Washington asked regional allies to warn Tehran that Israel could target the two officials.
In an interview with Iranian state television on Friday, Araghchi said he had been aware of the threat. Asked why he had travelled to Pakistan regardless, he said, “We are Iranians, we don’t fear death for our nation.”
When Ghalibaf travelled to Islamabad to meet Vance, Pakistani fighter jets escorted the Iranian delegation’s aircraft from the Iranian border to Islamabad and back, according to the report.
