Khamenei to Be Buried in Mashhad After Tehran Farewell Ceremony

Iran’s longtime Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for 36 years, will be laid to rest in his hometown of Mashhad following his death at the age of 86 during a wave of US–Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.

Khamenei, originally from Mashhad — Iran’s second-largest city — will be buried near his father at the revered Imam Reza shrine.

Before the burial, a large farewell ceremony will be held in Tehran, according to a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted on its Telegram account. Authorities have not yet announced the date of the burial.

Following Khamenei’s death, leadership was transferred to a three-member interim council pending the selection of a new supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts. The interim body includes the president, the head of the judiciary, and a jurist from the Guardian Council, which supervises legislation and screens electoral candidates.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that the Assembly’s final meeting to determine a successor could be postponed until after Khamenei’s burial, citing security concerns.

Iranian media also confirmed that the building housing the 88-member Assembly in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was struck on Tuesday in US–Israeli air raids. The Assembly’s main headquarters in Tehran was reportedly hit a day earlier.