Iran regime leaders come out of hiding for Khamenei funeral amid attempt to demonstrate power
Regime threatens US and Israel not to attack during week-long funeral proceedings
Some four months after the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his body arrived at a religious complex in Tehran on Friday morning ahead of a large, week-long funeral ceremony that regime authorities are expected to use as a demonstration of strength and national resilience.
has said the three-day mourning period in Tehran alone will draw between 15 and 20 million participants, before the procession continues to the Shia holy cities of Qom in northern Iran, as well as Karbala and Najaf in Iraq. Khamenei is expected to be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, his hometown.
Iranian authorities have issued warnings to the United States and Israel against any attacks during the proceedings, as several senior officials are expected to attend the ceremonies in person for the first time since the assassination,
The commander-in-chief of #IRGCterrorists Ahmad Vahidi attending the farewell ceremony for Ali Khamenei's body tonight in Tehran, #Iran, ahead of his funeral. Vahidi today, feeling more comfortable with the MoU signed, was photographed a few times in public after being… pic.twitter.com/EztSuJzuPF
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) July 2, 2026
“We warn 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,” Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement.
The most prominent leader to emerge is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Ahmad Vahidi, who experts see as the key figure guiding regime policy in the aftermath of Khamenei’s death.
Regime media published images of Vahidi sitting beside the coffin at a private ceremony, his first public appearance since before the war. The general is widely believed to be among the few officials in direct contact with Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, who has not yet made a public appearance since surviving the strike that killed his father and several other family members.
A memorial service was held on Wednesday for #Iran's regime's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's wife Zahra Haddad Adel. No appearance by Mojtaba or any of his brothers. Only figures like Zahra's father, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, can be seen in the footage. pic.twitter.com/ro5wlQI92Q
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) July 2, 2026
Neither the new leader nor any of his brothers appeared in footage from this week’s funeral service for Mojtaba's wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, who was also killed in the strike.
The supreme leader’s representative to India, Ayatollah Hakim Elahi, told a local newspaper that Mojtaba will not likely appear at his father's funeral due to security concerns.
“I was in Iran last week, and I visited some of my friends who met him, and they said he wants to come out,” Elahi said. “But the security doesn’t allow him to come.” He added that the regime’s enemies “have very, very advanced technology and they can recognize him and they can follow him. Where he is. And it’s very dangerous for him.”
The authorities have reportedly mobilized tens of thousands of Basij militia members to manage the movement of the expected millions of mourners, directing them to makeshift parking areas and temporary tent sites in the capital.
Videos obtained by Iran International showed numerous tents erected in parks and public spaces across Tehran to accommodate government supporters as part of extensive preparations by the Islamic Republic for Ali Khamenei’s funeral. pic.twitter.com/symCUovEVk
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 2, 2026
Daily life is expected to be brought to a near-complete halt over the weekend, with highways used as parking areas, shops shuttered, and airspace restrictions imposed.
The regime appears intent on avoiding a repeat of the chaotic scenes that accompanied the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini. During that event, crowds overwhelmed security barriers, delaying the proceedings and at one point causing the body to fall from the coffin. At least eight people were killed in a subsequent stampede.
“I invite all the Iranian people… to write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran through your presence,” said Mohammed-Bagher Ghalibaf, parliament speaker and Iran’s chief negotiator with the United States. “The nation’s call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world.”
The coffin of #Iran's regime's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei near the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya tonight ahead of his funeral. pic.twitter.com/Va5UfrySl6
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) July 2, 2026
On Friday, state media showed a delegation of family members of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, as well as relatives of Imad Mughniyeh, a former senior Hezbollah commander who was killed in 2008 in a Damascus car bombing, arriving to pay their respects to Khamenei.
Iranian media also reported that Ghalibaf met with a representative of Amal, the Lebanese Shiite movement allied with Hezbollah. Amal leader Nabih Berri has been involved in talks with the United States on behalf of the group.
The regime invited dozens of global leaders to attend the funeral, though most senior leaders declined to attend in person.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili, and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are expected to attend, while India will send a lower-level delegation.
Hanan Lischinsky has a Master’s degree in Middle East & Israel studies from Heidelberg University in Germany, where he spent part of his childhood and youth. He finished High School in Jerusalem and served in the IDF’s Intelligence Corps. Hanan and his wife live near Jerusalem, and he joined ALL ISRAEL NEWS in August 2023.
You might also like to read this:
