Iran to hold three-day ‘farewell ceremony’ for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
March 4, 2026 12:31 pm
Iran will hold a three-day “farewell ceremony” for its late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday (1830 GMT) at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini prayer ground, according to state media.
Funeral procession details will also be announced when finalised, it said.
Khamenei, who led the country for 36 years, was killed at 86 during a wave of US-Israeli attacks on Saturday.
He was originally from Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, where his father is buried at the Imam Reza shrine.
Before the burial, a “large farewell ceremony” will be held in Tehran, the Revolutionary Guards said on their Telegram account.
After Khamenei’s death, power was entrusted to a three-man interim council until the Assembly of Experts elects his successor.
It includes the president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council, the body that oversees legislation and vets electoral candidates.
Fars News Agency, citing an official familiar with the process, reported that “for security reasons”, the assembly’s final meeting could be postponed until after Khamenei’s burial.
Iranian media said the building housing the 88-member body in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, was hit Tuesday by US-Israeli strikes.
- Agencies
