Iran will lay its longtime Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest more than four months after his death, with state television confirming a finalized schedule that begins July 4 in Tehran and concludes with burial on July 9 at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.
Khamenei, 86, was killed on February 28, 2026, in the opening strikes of the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting confirmed his death the following day.
The funeral has been postponed repeatedly since, initially planned for early March before authorities pulled back amid fears of overwhelming crowds and the onset of the broader conflict.
According to the newly announced timeline, public viewing and farewell ceremonies will be held July 4 and 5 at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla in Tehran, before processions move on to Qom and finally Mashhad, where Khamenei will be interred on July 9.
Each procession is expected to stretch across roughly 24 hours, in line with instructions left in his will.
Authorities are bracing for turnout as high as 20 million people across the various ceremonies, and a period of national mourning has been declared to coincide with the events.
Notably, funerals for Khamenei’s daughter and son-in-law, who were also killed in the February strikes, will be held on the same occasion.
The timing carries added significance: mediators say a deal to end the wider war is nearing finalization, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif describing an agreement as closer than at any prior point in the conflict.
Khamenei’s death marks the end of an extraordinary 37-year tenure.
He took power after the 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolutionary cleric who toppled the shah and established Iran’s system of clerical rule, and went on to govern far longer than his predecessor, dramatically reshaping the Islamic Republic and elevating the Revolutionary Guard into the country’s dominant military and economic force.
He has since been succeeded by his son, Mojtaba, seen by observers as an even harder-line figure.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Iran will finally bury Ayatollah Ali Khamenei between July 4 and 9, 2026, nearly four months after his assassination in the February US-Israeli strikes, with burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.
Beyond the funeral itself, the bigger story is the power shift already underway: his son Mojtaba has succeeded him as a more hardline leader, even as a deal to end the broader war appears close.
