Tehran: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is all set to be buried in the country. His funeral was already delayed following tensions with the US
and security reasons. Now, authorities have decided on the funeral of the leader who was at the helm for nearly 36 years
Believed to have been killed in the US-Israel strike earlier this year, Khamenei’s body will be kept for his supporters and mourners at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on Saturday and Sunday. The body will be taken through the streets of Tehran on Monday, before being taken to the city of Qom, around 120 km to the south. He will be honoured there on Tuesday.
When and where will Ayatollah Ali Khamenei be buried?
Then on Wednesday, his body will be taken to Karbala (Iraq), which is home to Imam Hussein’s shrine. Imam Hussein was the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. He will then be brought to Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. It is here that he will be buried at the Imam Reza shrine on Thursday.
While several leaders from the country and the rest of the world are expected to participate, his son and current Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, may skip his father’s funeral due to security reasons. Mojataba has yet to come in public since being appointed as the Supreme Leader.
Where was the body kept?
The funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be held after four months of his reported death. While this is an unusual delay as per the Islamic religion. The delay was due to tensions between Iran and the US. While there were rumours that his body was temporarily buried, officials said his body was kept as per religious requirements, News 18 reported. Islam discourages chemical embalming generally.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, counterterrorism expert Dr Mohammed Omar Ali Khamenei’s body was most certainly kept in refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, as Islam bars chemical embalming.
