United News of Bangladesh

Iran will hold funeral and burial ceremonies for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in early July, state media reported on Saturday, as efforts to finalize an agreement aimed at ending the ongoing regional conflict continue. According to Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB, funeral processions, farewell ceremonies and the burial of Khamenei are scheduled to take place between July 4 and July 9. Khamenei was killed in the initial phase of the conflict launched by Israel and the United States against Iran in late February. He was subsequently succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. State media said the funeral ceremonies will begin in Tehran before moving to the holy city of Qom, a major center of Shiite religious scholarship, and later to Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace. He is expected to be buried at the Imam Reza Shrine, one of the most revered sites in Shiite Islam. Funeral rites for Khamenei’s daughter and son-in-law, who were also killed in the February attack, will be held on the same day, the report said. Khamenei led Iran for more than three decades after succeeding Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, following Khomeini’s death in 1989. During his tenure, Khamenei significantly expanded the influence of Iran’s Shiite clerical establishment and strengthened the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which evolved into one of the country’s most powerful military, political and economic institutions. The Revolutionary Guard became a key pillar of Iran’s security apparatus, overseeing the country’s ballistic missile program and maintaining a broad presence across various sectors of the national economy.