Iran’s military commander warned the United States and Israel of “harsh retaliation” for any attack during Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s week-long funeral, a state event officials expect to draw 15 to 20 million mourners across Iran and Iraq. Ali Abdollahi, who heads Khatam al-Anbiya, the Joint Command of Iran’s military, issued the warning in a statement carried by state media on Thursday.
The funeral for Khamenei, killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28 at the start of a four-month war, begins Saturday in Tehran. On the same day Iran issued a parallel warning to oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz, saying vessels using routes it had not approved would face a “forceful response.”
Iran’s Top Commander Names the Threat
Abdollahi, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, told “the enemies of Iran, especially the US and the Zionist regime, to avoid any miscalculation and to think about the harsh retaliation our armed forces would make to any threat and aggression against our country.” The statement, carried by Iranian state media on Thursday, framed the funeral week as a red line. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a similar warning on Wednesday, hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Mojtaba Khamenei, the son who has succeeded his father as Supreme Leader, was “marked for death.” Iran’s foreign ministry pledged an “immediate and powerful response” to any threat against its people or leadership.
Mojtaba Khamenei was reportedly injured in the February strike that killed his father and has not been seen in public since. The funeral arrives at a moment when the ruling clerics and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps say they have survived an existential war against their “greatest and most powerful foes.” Iran has buried only one other supreme leader: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.
A Week of Mourning Across Five Cities
The funeral opens with three days of ceremonies in Tehran from July 4, then moves to the seminary city of Qom on July 7, before crossing into Iraq for ceremonies in the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala. The procession ends with burial in Mashhad, Khamenei’s hometown and home to the country’s holiest shrine, on July 9. Officials have said they expect 15 to 20 million mourners in Tehran alone, a turnout that would make the funeral the largest state event in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Public holidays have been declared in Tehran, Qom, and Mashhad. Authorities have ordered public and private offices in Tehran to close from Saturday through Monday, with traffic restrictions making much of the city center inaccessible to private vehicles. Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization has announced temporary airspace restrictions over Tehran and Mashhad during the funeral period.
Hotels in the capital are offering 50% discounts to accommodate visitors, while schools, mosques and sports halls have been prepared to house mourners. Bus and rail networks are being diverted to serve the main events. Military and police vehicles line the major roads, with members of the black-shirted volunteer Basij paramilitary force patrolling on motorbikes, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
| City | Date | Ceremony |
|---|---|---|
| Tehran, Iran | July 4 to 6 | Lying in state at Grand Mosalla, central procession |
| Qom, Iran | July 7 | Ceremonies in the seminary city |
| Najaf, Iraq | July 8 | Shrine ceremonies with regional delegations |
| Karbala, Iraq | July 8 | Shrine ceremonies with regional delegations |
| Mashhad, Iran | July 9 | Burial at Khamenei’s hometown shrine |
The Coffin Goes on Display, and a General Breaks Cover
Khamenei’s coffin was unveiled late Thursday in an unannounced ceremony at the site of his “martyrdom” in central Tehran, state broadcaster IRIB reported. On Friday morning, security forces carried the flag-draped coffin overhead by hand into the Grand Mosalla, a vast prayer complex built to honor Khomeini that hosts major Friday prayers and official ceremonies.
Coffins holding Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law, baby granddaughter, and the wife of his son Mojtaba were placed alongside. The body was laid on a white stepped dais before a high tiled arch, flanked by national and black mourning flags. Mourners in the hall threw flowers from the bier into the crowd.
IRGC Commander Ahmad Vahidi made his first public appearance since the start of the Iran war at the funeral. Photos published by Iranian state media showed Vahidi attending a meeting on funeral arrangements before being seen standing beside Khamenei’s coffin. He also met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will not attend his father’s funeral. Hakim Elahi, the supreme leader’s representative in India, told India Today that Mojtaba wanted to lead funeral prayers but security officials warned him it was too dangerous. “They said it’s very dangerous and we cannot provide security for him. And I think he will not come out,” Elahi said.
- 30+ countries sending leaders or officials to the funeral, per Iran’s deputy interior minister
- 90 countries sending religious leaders, per the same official
- 37 years of Khamenei’s rule, after Khomeini’s 1989 death
- 86 Khamenei’s age at death in the February strike
- 50% discounts at Tehran hotels for mourners
Ghalibaf Calls on Iranians to Avenge Khamenei
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called on Iranians on Thursday to fill Tehran’s streets. “I invite all the Iranian people… to write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran through your presence” at the funeral, he said in a speech carried by state media. He framed the turnout as a direct answer to the war and to the February killing. “The noble and deep-rooted Iranian people are not silent in the face of injustice and arrogance and will not give up on the blood of their leader,” Ghalibaf said.
Ghalibaf also met with Khalil Hamdan, a senior official in the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement, in Tehran on Thursday. Hamdan delivered a written condolence message from Nabih Berri, the movement’s leader, according to IRNA. Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian confirmed that leaders and officials from more than 30 countries, including Tajikistani President Emomali Rahmon, are expected to attend, alongside religious leaders from more than 90 countries.
The nation’s call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world.
The quote came from Ghalibaf’s Thursday speech in Tehran.
A Parallel Warning Over the Strait of Hormuz
The Khatam al-Anbiya command used Thursday’s statements to issue a separate warning aimed at oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz. The joint military command said all vessels passing through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf must use Iran-approved routes or face a “forceful response.” It also said the continued presence of US fighter jets over the strait “causes insecurity in this waterway and threatens regional security.”
Iran’s threat followed a US Central Command statement on a meeting with Middle East officials in Bahrain that said leaders “underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.” The phrase appeared to trigger Tehran’s response. Tensions over the strait have become a central issue in negotiations toward a permanent end to the Iran war, with US and Iranian diplomats meeting with mediators in Qatar on Wednesday.
Iran and the US agreed as part of an interim deal that ships could pass through the strait without paying charges for 60 days, but Tehran later insisted it must control vessel routes and charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway. An effort by Oman and a UN agency to launch a new route near Oman’s shore drew attacks across the Middle East last weekend, while a recent US tanker patrol testing the ceasefire Iran says it won’t hold showed the standoff spreading to the skies over the Gulf. US Navy destroyers including the Arleigh Burke-class USS Donald Cook sailed in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility on July 1.
Who Is in Tehran for the Funeral
Delegations from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, home to the strongest members of Iran’s regional network, have already arrived in Tehran. Families of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, both killed in Israeli strikes, attended the coffin display, alongside senior members of the Amal Movement. Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Pakistani Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi arrived for the funeral, Asharq Al-Awsat reported. Representatives from Russia and China were expected to attend.
An 18-year-old student from Isfahan, Mobina Razaaghi, told reporters she had come with classmates. “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,” she said. The rhetoric from officials and mourners has tracked a wider regional pattern documented in coverage of a new Lebanon deconfliction channel that excludes Israel.
The Burial in Mashhad and a Missing Successor
Khamenei will be buried in Mashhad on July 9 after one last procession. The Islamic Republic has buried only one other supreme leader: Khomeini, who died in 1989 after shepherding the 1979 revolution. The country has rarely been so internally fractured in the decades since, with analysts quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat saying support for the clerical leadership is “paper thin.” Years of sanctions have paralyzed the economy, and security forces put down nationwide protests in January with what Asharq Al-Awsat described as increasing force, “culminating in the killing of thousands of demonstrators.”
Mojtaba Khamenei, who has held the title of Supreme Leader since his father’s death, has remained out of public view. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month that Mojtaba appears to be taking a more active role in talks between the two countries following an April 8 truce.
Diplomacy and the funeral are running on parallel tracks. The Hormuz dispute and a broader negotiation toward a permanent end to the war remain unresolved. US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday that President Donald Trump could get a fresh start on the 60-day deadline for congressional approval if the paused conflict with Iran flares up again.
The strategic backdrop to this week’s funeral is the verdict on the war itself, captured in the strategic stalemate after Epic Fury. Khamenei ruled Iran for 37 years. His burial, the Hormuz standoff, and the next round of negotiations will all unfold within the same week.
