The Iranian regime is betting a historic turnout at former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral will send a message of national unity and legitimacy by rallying mourners under the slogan “We Must Rise.”
The funeral ceremonies, beginning Friday, will span Iran and Iraq over several days. After lying in state in Tehran, Khamenei’s body will be taken to the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala before returning to Iran for ceremonies in Qom and a July 9 burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
Iranian authorities estimate turnout could reach tens of millions, marking one of the most widely attended funerals in history.
The scale of the preparations reflects the significance of Khamenei’s 36-year rule and the regime’s desire to demonstrate popular support following its massacre of thousands of anti-regime protesters and the war that claimed the former leader’s life.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has urged citizens “of every ethnicity, religion, preference and political tendency” to attend, explicitly linking turnout to the image Iran hopes to project internationally.
“Your widespread presence will be a decisive response to the logic of terrorism, violence, and bullying, and a clear message to the world that the Iranian nation stands united and in solidarity in defending its independence and dignity,” Pezeshkian said Thursday.
Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, likewise called on Iranians to attend in massive numbers, framing participation as an act of revenge for Khamenei’s death.
“The nation’s call for vengeance must ring in the ears of the whole world,” Ghalibaf said, urging citizens to “write a glorious page in the history of Islamic Iran.”
The funeral’s official slogan, “We Must Rise,” alongside imagery of Khamenei’s raised fist, reinforces the regime’s effort to transform the ceremonies into a display of resilience and national unity.
Foreign delegations from more than 30 countries are expected to attend, though the list of sitting world leaders appears limited. According to The Jerusalem Post, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Tajikistani President Emomali Rahmon are expected to be among the highest-profile attendees. China announced that senior lawmaker He Wei will attend, while India said it would send its deputy foreign minister and a state governor. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev will attend as a special envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Moscow Times.
One major question remains whether Iran’s current supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will appear publicly during the ceremonies. The son of Ali Khamenei reportedly suffered injuries in the attack that killed his father and has not been seen publicly since assuming power, though written statements attributed to him have been released. The attack also reportedly killed Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife, Zahra Haddad-Adel, along with Ali Khamenei’s wife, a daughter, a son-in-law, and a grandchild.
The government is undertaking an enormous logistical operation to accommodate the expected crowds. According to The New York Times, officials have established massive parking areas outside Tehran, arranged buses to transport mourners into the capital, and opened military barracks and schools to house visitors arriving from across the country. Crews have also been constructing platforms and crowd-control routes at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, where Khamenei’s body will initially lie in state.
The expected crowds have drawn comparisons to the 1989 funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. An estimated 10 million people attended the funeral, making it one of the largest public gatherings in modern history. The funeral reportedly descended into chaos as mourners surged toward Khomeini’s coffin, causing his body to fall from it. Security forces fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, and at least eight people were killed in the crush.
The 2020 funeral of Qasem Soleimani also drew millions before a stampede killed dozens of mourners.
Mourners from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries have already begun traveling to Iran, and commemorative events are planned in Iraqi cities as well.
Khamenei will be buried inside the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad rather than in a dedicated mausoleum. Khomeini, by contrast, was entombed in a sprawling shrine complex outside Tehran that became a pilgrimage site. Some observers have suggested the decision could spare the government from inevitable comparisons between the two leaders’ public followings, particularly after years of protests that challenged the popularity of Khamenei’s rule.
The timing is also unusual, as Islamic tradition generally calls for burial as soon as possible after death. According to experts, Khamenei’s body has likely been kept refrigerated because chemical embalming is prohibited under Islamic law. The more than four-month gap between his death and burial reflects the turmoil that followed the war and the challenges Iran faced in organizing a funeral during wartime.
Even as indirect negotiations continue, Iranian officials have used the lead-up to the funeral to issue fresh threats against the United States and Israel. Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned of a “harsh retaliation” against any attack.
Members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts over the weekend appeared to endorse the assassination of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that anyone who gains access to the two leaders is obligated to “send them to hell.”
.png)
.png)
